Oak Ridge boys, Whitney girls win first SFL meet

The Oak Ridge boys kept Whitney from sweeping the varsity races at the first Sierra Foothill League meet of the season held Wednesday at Sunset Whitney Recreation Area. Oak Ridge put their top-five scoring runners in the top-18, while Whitney's fifth scoring runner placed 21st, giving the Trojans the three-point win, 49-52. Oak Ridge's Carson Karr placed first in the event, finishing the 5-kilometer run in 16:21.2, 15 seconds in front of Whitney's David Hurren, who finished in 16:36. Hurren's teammate, Joel Tajiri, placed third 15 second behind Hurren in 16:51. Oak Ridge's Luke Carroll ran fourth in 16:54, while Rocklin's Leo Lomugdang placed fifth in 16:54.2. Oak Ridge's third runner, Wesley Ewing, placed ninth in 17:10.8 while its fourth and fifth runners placed 17th and 18th, Quentin Hardy finishing in 17:30 and Oscar Carrillo in 18th in 17:33.6. Whitney's third runner, Noah Lopez, ran sixth in 17:00.1. Ty Ertel ran fourth in 20th at 17.46.9 while Perry Hutchison placed 21st in 17:4.4. Jack Sindt was Del Oro's top runner, as he placed seventh overall in 17:08.0. Granite Bay's top finisher was hot on Sindt's heels, finishing .6 seconds behind him in eighth. Meanwhile, Folsom's top finisher, Sami Koneru-Ansari ran 12th in 17:18.9. "Oscar Carillo had a fantastic race," Oak Ridge coach Rob Fairley said. "He was our fifth man and ran 17:33, which is a 40-second personal record for him. I'm really happy with our varsity boys. All of their hard work is paying off. This is the best varsity boys' team effort in 10 years. "Whitney varsity boys' placed fourth at state last year in the Division II. "Carson Karr had a huge break-through race, placing first on the challenging 5K course in 16:21, a 51-second p.r. for him." Following Oak Ridge and Whitney were Rocklin, 62 points, Granite Bay, 91 points, Del Oro, 118 points and Folsom, 132 points. "The varsity boys as a whole did not do enough "homework" during the offseason, and we were missing a few top runners, so performances to date have been predictable," Folsom coach Steve Kinoshita said. "That being said, we are working hard and expect a strong late-season surge." The Whitney girls' dominated the varsity girls' race, scoring 29 points, to runner-up Granite Bay's 51 points. Whitney put all five scoring runners in the top-nine spots, as Karissa Chamberlain won the race in 19:02. Addison Ewers and Sophie Hutchison ran fifth and sixth in 19:36.1 and 19:38.9, respectively, while Gracie Scott placed eighth in 19:46.8 and Ava Kopec finished ninth in 20:02. Granite Bay's top-two runners ran well, led by Emily Allison's second-place finish in 19:05.1 followed by Grace Baxter's third-place finish in 19:14.3. The Grizzlies final three scoring runners placed 14th (Emily McCracken, 20:34.5), 15th, Sophia Dissly (20:39.2) and 17th (Elyse Patmon, 20:52). "We have a lot of promising young talent to go along with our veterans," Granite Bay coach Carla Kehoe said. "We had two freshman boys, Connor Bilodeau and Aiden Atkin, finish in our top-five varsity boys' team and one freshman Elyse Patmon and two sophomores Sophia Dissly and Emily McCracken finish in our top varsity girls' team. The Sunset Whitney course is very challenging and we are very pleased on how our teams executed the race plan. "We are fortunate to be in the SFL with such competitive and strong teams. We feel like our girls will go to state and our boys will be in the mix for a qualifying spot. "We have some great senior leadership with Emily Allison, and a host of juniors that are great role models including Grace Baxter, Lizzy Hansen, Halle Wilson, and Sofia Falk for the girls and Charlie Beater, Devan Wilson, Moses Cho, and Robert Ward on the boys side." Allie Harmon was Rocklin's top finisher, as she placed fourth in 19:15.8. Oak Ridge's Addison Clinton ran seventh in 19:42, Del Oro's Claire Lesiw placed 11th, while Folsom's top-runner Katie Clemens placed 29th in 23:17. Following Granite Bay in second place was Oak Ridge (77), Del Oro (93), Rocklin (123) and Folsom (157). "The varsity girls continue to be led by Katie Clemens," Kinoshita said. "Senior Chloe Cortez and junior Myklin Cooper are returning from non-cross country related injuries and will provide a nice boost into October. We look forward to a strong postseason." Folsom and Oak Ridge battled it out for the freshman-sophomore boys' race with the Bulldogs winning it 39-42. Folsom's top-two finishers were Shreevatson Babu (first, 10:15.5) and James Ing (forth, 10:24.4), while Oak Ridge's top-three finishers were Bailey Van Leemput, Connor Kipf, and Isaac Briggs, who placed fifth through seventh in 10:30.4, 10:32.1, and 10:34.7. Whitney's Tyler Crabtree placed second in 10:17.7, while Granite Bay's Henry Hernandez ran third in 10:19.5. Rocklin was led by Anthony Altamirano's 26th-place finish in 11:15.5, while Del Oro's Connor Perry ran 27th in 11:17.6. Following the Trojans on the scoreboard were Whitney (76), Granite Bay (81), and Rocklin and Del Oro (158). "The freshman-sophomore boys finished first behind Shreev Babu and James Ing," Kinoshita said. "The team is loaded with hard-working talent and has a bright future." The Grizzlies placed first in the fresh-sophomore girls' race scoring 22 points, half of second-place Whitney's 44 points. Oak Ridge (79) and Folsom (92) also had teams race. Whitney's Eva Soto won the race in 12:11.4, following by three Granite Bay runners, Kaitlyn Beckham (12:19), Isabella Lai (12:19) and Sheena Raghuraman (12:24). "Even after moving three athletes to varsity our Frosh/Soph girls easily won our first league meet," Kehoe said. Del Oro's was led by Claire Imrie's eighth-place finish in 12:57.7. Oak Ridge's Mia Long ran 10th in 13:08.1, and Folsom's Brynlee Hodson placed 18th in 13:57.1. "Brynlee at the fresh-soph girls' level has made a nice jump and we look forward to her continued development," Kinoshita said.