Crystal back on top in Division V state XC

Crystal senior Heidy Avina placed 31st in 18:59.8; junior Allie Willis 32nd in 19:02.3; and sophomore Sophia Cervantes 75th in 20:13.4 to round out the team score in the field of 201 Division V runners.

Lick Wilmerding-SF senior Ella Mogannam won the Division V girls’ race in 16:54.2.

Crystal previously won swept the girls’ and boys’ CIF Division V titles in 2022 and ’23. Last year, the Crystal boys took third place and the girls took fourth. Salter and Dye have been among the Gryphons’ top-five qualifying individual finishers in Fresno in each of their four years, with Salter recording Crystal’s top time in each of the last three.

The Crystal boys settled for 17th place this year.

M-A boys take fifth in Division I

Menlo-Atherton made a splash Saturday in Fresno, running to fifth place in the team element of the CIF Division I state boys’ cross country final, marking the best finish in program history. The Bears entered Saturday’s meet already enjoying a historic season, after winning the program’s first-ever Central Coast Section Division I boys’ team championship two weeks previous.

Redondo Union took the team championship, the program’s first team title in school history.

M-A senior Cason Mitchell, junior Evan Chopra and senior Aidan Sharp all finished the race in the cluster to crack the top 25 individually. Mitchell placed 21st in 15:18.7; Chopra 23rd in 15:18.9; and Sharp 25th in 15:20. Junior Ben Salceda placed 73rd in 15:53, and senior Brady Phan 101st in 16:07.5 to round out the team scoring in the Division I field of 202 runners.

The M-A girls took 17th place, led by senior Caroline Pflaum, who placed 40th in 18:16.1.

Nueva’s Fitzpatrick takes third in boys’ Division V

Nueva senior Ryan Fitzpatrick was the top placer among San Mateo County school, claiming third place individually in the CIF Division V state boys’ cross country final. Fitzpatrick led the Mavericks to a 12th place finish in the team element.

Viewpoint-Calabasas senior Olly O’Connor took the Division V boys’ individual championship in 14:52.6.

In the girls’ Division V race, Nueva senior Julia Schlamp placed 76th in 20:16.

Menlo boys second in Division V

Menlo School reached the podium with a second-place finish in the CIF Division V state boys’ cross country final, led by junior Henry Hauser’s seventh-place time of 15:29.8. Senior Amay Srinivasan took 16th in 15:54; sophomore Oliver Olbekson 21st in 15:58.8; junior Joseph Hurd 40th in 16:16.4; and sophomore Toliver Bates 46th in 16:23.4 to round out Menlo’s team score.

The Menlo girls took 11th in the team element, paced by senior Ariya Kaushek’s 28th place finish in 18:54.9.

Other local finishers ...

Carlmont placed two runners in the top 30 of the girls’ Division I race, with junior Katelyn Elliott taking 20th in 17:59.8, and senior Daniela Cuadros 26th in 18:04.9.

In the girls’ Division III race, Burlingame junior Elizabeth Carroll placed 22nd in 18:15.6, while senior teammate Stella Newman placed 85th in 19:23.8.

In the boys’ Division IV race, Mills took 11th place, paced by sophomore Patrick Jahutka’s 67th place time of 16:16.9, with junior David Eberspacher not far behind at 75th in 16:30. El Camino junior Dylan Bullentini placed 85th in the race at 16:37.7.

In boys’ Division V, junior Idan Haimovich was Design Tech’s only representative, placing 100th in 17:09.8.