The Menlo School boys’ cross country cemented its status as best in school history as the Knights captured the Division V CIF state championship at Woodward Park in Fresno Saturday.
Menlo didn’t just win the title, they dominated in record-setting fashion. The Knights bettered runner-up Viewpoint-Calabasas by 90 points — 28-118. The team, led by Landon Pretre’s second-place finish, had the second-fastest overall time across all divisions, was the 10th fastest all-time on Woodward’s 5,000-meter course and the Knights’ overall time of one hour, 16 minutes and 37 seconds was the fastest Division V total ever by more than three minutes.
The Knights add the state title to their first Central Coast Section crown since 1998.
Menlo captured the title by placing all five of its scoring runners in the top-20. Woodcrest Christian’s Eyan Turk’s time of 14:32.5 was the only one better than Pretre’s 14:38.8. Pretre’s time was the second-fastest on the day, behind just Turk and he had the fastest time of all CCS runners, bettering Santa Cruz’s Eli Fitchen-Young, who won the Division IV race with a time of 14:41.3.
Pretre’s teammate William Hauser was fourth with a time of 15:02.4; Henry Hauser came in eighth in a time of 15:23.9; Jared Saal was 11th, finishing in a time of 15:32.4 and the Knights’ final points-earning runner, Oliver Olbekson was 19th in a time of 15:58.9.
Menlo’s two other runners included Amay Srinivasan (45th, 16:29.6) and Jonah Block (62nd, 16:47.3).
Overall, San Mateo County runner dominated in Division V. Crystal finished third in the team standings, led by a third-place finish from Benjamin Bouie, who posted a time of 14:54.5. He was one of three Gryphons runners to have top-50 finishes: Tarik Baker was 13th with a time of 15:45.9 and Conrad Chern was 27th in a time of 16:07.2.
Nueva School’s Ryan Fitzpatrick made it five county runners in the top 10 as he finished 10th in a time of 15:27.7.
Division I boys
Menlo-Atherton’s Cason Mitchell and Thomas Bernadicou both had top-75 finishes. Cason, who won the Peninsula Athletic League championship, finished 56th in a time of 15:49.9, while Bernadicous was 70th with a time of 15:57.0.
Clovis North’s Conor Lott won the DI title with a time of 15:04.4, while Mountain View’s Yuval Goldberg was the top CCS finisher, taking 29th in a time of 15:36.8.
Division II boys
Serra finished 13th in the team standings, led by Jack McGuire’s 51st finish in a time of 15:53.2. Aaron Lee was 85th (16:12.6), Andrew Little finished 89th (16:16.3), Alonso Ruiz-Moye was 106th (16:23.3) and Joseph Bronzini was 117th (16:29.2) out of 207 runners.
JR Lesher of Hueneme-Oxnard won the championship in a time of 14:43.0. Aydon Stefanopoulos of Los Gatos was the top CCS finisher, taking fifth in a time of 15:02.2.
Division III boys
Evan Noonan of Dana Hills won the championship in a time of 14:43.7, while Miles Cook of Sacred Heart Cathedral was the top CCS finisher, taking third in a time 14:54.5.
Division IV boys
Led by Ren Kaden, Mills finished 18th out of 24 teams.
Kaden posted a time of 16:51.2 to finish 102nd. David Eberspacher was 111th with a time of 16:59.1, Kyle Venook ran a 17:25.2, Kevin Ren a 17:27.3 and Jayden Xie rounded out the scoring for the Vikings with a 17:32.5.
Santa Cruz’s Fitchen-Young won the title with a time of 14:41.3.
Division I girls
A pair of San Mateo County runners had top-100 finishes among 198 runners.
Menlo-Atherton freshman Caroline Pflaum was 59th in a time 18:44.3, while Carlmont sophomore was 83rd with a time of 19:08.5.
Rylee Blade of Santiago Corona won the title in a time of 16:46.5, while Mountain View’s Maya Eisenberg was the top CCS runner, clocking a time of 18:41.0 to finish 57th.
Division II girls
San Mateo’s Andrea Correa, a junior, posted a top-50 finish to lead PAL runners.
Her time of 18:24.4 was good for a finish of 33rd.
Ventura’s Sadie Engelhardt won the title in a time of 16:57.6, while Palo Alto’s Kinga Czajkoska was the top runner from PAL, taking second in a time of 17:31.5.
Division III girls
Three PAL runners had top-50 finishes, led by Hillsdale’s Naia Hsieh.
Hsieh, a senior, finished 25th in a time of 18:22.9. She was followed by a pair of Burlingame runners — Stella Newman was 29th in a time of 18:31.4, while Elizabeth Carroll was 49th in a time of 18:56.9.
South Pasadena’s Abigail Errington won the DIII race with a time of 16:57.5. Sacred Heart Cathedral’s Jojo Gregg was the top CCS runner, finishing 21st with a time of 18:18.5.
Division IV girls
Mills, led by Miya Cheng, finished 13th in the team standings, out of 24 teams.
Sacred Heart Prep finished 15th in the team standing, as well.
Cheng, a senior, posted a time of 18:15.8 to finish 13th individually — the top finish from a CCS runner. Katie Yee was 37th in a time of 19:08.5, Chloe Amayun was 95th with a time of 20:19.0, Alexa Dunn posted a time of 21:29.1 with Kaelyn Chan rounding out the scoring for the Vikings with a time of 22:00.3.
Sacred Heart Prep was led by Sophie Cheung, who finished 31st in a time of 18:54.7. She was followed by Ashley Amirkhan (20:40.9), Avery Wagner (20:46.5), Leah Bei (21:02.4) and Kate Gray (21:22.5).
Capuchino senior Angelina Jensen finished 76th in a time of 19:54.4.
Chiara Dailey from La Jolla won the title with a time of 16:44.4.
Division V girls
The Crystal and Menlo teams both posted top-1o team finishes, with the Gryphons finishing third and the Knights taking seventh.
Menlo’s Veronica Taira was the top CCS finisher, taking ninth in a time of 18:27.9, while Crystal had a pair of top-20 placers — Anna Salter was 17th in a time of 18:54.4, edging teammate Allie Willis who was 18th with a time of 18:54.5. Rounding out the scoring for the Gryphons were Heidy Avina (56th, 19:50.1), Sophia Cervantes (63rd, 20:01.3) and rounding out the scoring was Liliana Kaludzinski(87th, 20:35.8).
The other scoring runners for Menlo were: Ariya Kaushek (21st, 18:56.1), Amelie Giomi (84th, 20:28.3), Halle Blanchard (104th, 20:58.5) and rounding out the scoring for the Knights was Bella Ewers (105th, 20:59.0).
Nueva School’s Julia Schlamp finished 71st with a time of 20:07.4, while teammated Natalia Sepulveda was 86th in a time of 20:34.9. Priory’s Piper Kalinowski finished 91st with a time of 20:39.3.
Amelia Sarkisian of Brentwood won the title with a time of 17:31.8.
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