Ing qualifies for state cross country meet

Folsom High's varsity boys' cross country team was hoping to qualify for the CIF State championships on Saturday at Willow Hills in Folsom and just missed out. The top-three teams in Division I qualify for the state meet and the Bulldogs finished in fourth with 102 points, 20 points behind Turlock, who finished in third place. Sierra Foothill League rival Oak Ridge had a great race and finished in second place with 76 points. Leading the Bulldog effort were James Ing and Sami Koneru-Ansari, who finished 14th and 15th in 16 minutes, 44.6 seconds and 16:45.8, respectively. Ing, a sophomore, is the person who kept Koneru-Ansari, a senior, from qualifying for the state meet. "James is a very dedicated, hard-working and coachable athlete," Folsom High coach Steve Kinoshita said. "He also races fearlessly. James enjoyed an exceptional season, improving steadily at the F/S level. Prior to SFL championships, he was permanently promoted to the varsity team. James immediately embraced the 5K distance." Andrew Koch and Maddox Yee ran 21st and 22nd, posting times of 16:56.3 and 17:00.4, respectively. Folsom's fifth scoring runner was Owen Wiseley, who ran 31st in 17:20.1. In the varsity girls' race, Folsom's Ava Crone placed 30th in 21:46.5. Folsom also ran well at the freshman and sophomore levels, as the sophomore boys' placed second and the freshman boys' placed third. The sophomore boys finished a distant second behind Davis. Frank Ellis led the way with a second-place finish in 11:31.7. He was followed by scoring runners Saamynathan Yegappan (11:57.0), Noah Elliott-Cisner (12:09.1), Callan Crebar (12:14.5) and Brandon Moreno (12:25.4). The freshman boys' team was led by Gustavo Kenny, who placed sixth in 12:14.2. He was followed by scoring runners Tyler Tang (12:35.9), Benjamin Lagunas Eysank (12:41), Ray Cui (13:17.7) and Spencer Tanner (13:20.5). In the girls' freshman-sophomore race, Abigail Johnson ran second overall in 13:50.3.