While most people around the Bay Area were inside taking shelter from the rain over the weekend, North Coast Section (NCS) cross country runners were pushing through the mud in one of their most significant races of the season. On Saturday, Nov. 23, the NCS Cross Country Championships was held at Hayward High School. Although the meet was highly competitive, with the state championship qualification on the line, most runners had slower times than usual due to the mud that was brought by the wet weather throughout the day.
Even with the rainy weather, some high school teams in and around the tri-cities had some first-time milestones. The Newark Memorial High School girls’ team qualified for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championship for the first time in their school’s history. The girls team got fourth place overall in the Division III three-mile race. Leading the pack for Newark was senior Grace Veloza in ninth place with a time of 19:35. Trailing Veloza was another Newark Cougar, Alice McCarty only four second behind, claiming 10th place out of the 153 runners in the group.
More wins from the female athletes came with an impressive win from the Castro Valley girls’ team. In the three-mile Division I race, the Castro Valley Trojans secured second place. Their top runner, Illiana Nierengarten, came in third with a time of 18:44.8. Although Nierengarten is only in her sophomore year, she made an impression with her win. Seniors Anna and Maya Dughi earned 10th and 12th place for the Castro Valley team. Another notable win came from Trojan Maria Kryuchkov. As a freshman, Kryuchkov was 15th out of the 54 girls racing and received a time of 19:52.3.
Along with the Newark Memorial girls, the boys team also qualified for the state championship with their performance on the Hayward High cross-country course. The team as a whole earned fourth place among the 24 other schools in the Division III category. Newark Memorial’s junior, Kenji Kawabata, claimed an impressive win as he was the first runner to cross the finish line and win the gold medal. Kawabata’s time in the three-mile course was 16:36.4. This was a time that was significantly affected by the weather, as his three-mile time at the Mission Valley meet on Nov. 6 was 14:52.4. Senior Michal Tellez was the next Newark Cougar to cross the finish line claiming the 21st spot with a time of 17:34.6.
The CIF Cross Country Championship will take place Saturday, Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
For a full list of the NCS meet results, visit www.diablotiming.com.
For more on high school cross country, read Tri-City Voice’s article on the qualifying MVAL meet at https://tricityvoice.com/mission-valley-athletic-league-holds-cross-country-championship/
