XC: Van Schendel blazes for Cate at Clovis

Cate’s Kyril Van Schendel ran a strong race and finished fourth at the Clovis Invitational cross country meet on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Van Schendel, a sophomore, covered the 5000-meter course in 16:04, the second fastest time recorded by a Cate runner on the state-meet course, according to coach Karl Weiss.

Senior co-captains Jack Pruitt and Rei Imada were next for the Rams, Pruitt 107th in 17:57 and Imada 112th in 17:59.  Juniors Henry Walsh and Francesco Duffy-Boscagli rounded out Cate’s scoring, finishing right together in 133d and 134th place in 18:28 and 18:38.  Cate’s team time was 1 hour, 28 minutes, 58 seconds, only a minute and 15 seconds slower than the 2005 team which finished fourth on the same course at the state meet.

The Rams finished 16th in their division.

The girls’ team finished 13th, paced by senior Charlotte Monke, who was 25th in 20:18 on the course she grew up on.  Sophomore Isabella Montes de Oca ran a strong race to place 37th in 20:42, followed by senior co-captain Jessica Liou in 86th (22:03).  Freshman Bella Hillyer returned from an injury to finish 100th in 22:29, and fellow freshman Rivers Sheehan rounded out Cate’s scoring in 133d, 23:06.  The girls’ team time of 1:48:38 was less than two minutes behind the 2005 squads’ seventh-place state finish.