Eastlake High School sophomore Jaelyn Williams and Bonita Vista senior Ian Ridge will represent the Metro Conference at this year’s California state championship cross country meet Nov. 25 at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
Williams finished first in the Division I girls race in 17:06.4 while Ridge placed ninth in the Division II boys race in 16:30.8 at last Saturday’s San Diego Section championship meet at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.
For individual qualifiers, the top five place-finishers not on a qualified team get a chance to run at the state meet.
At the time of her race, Williams’ time was the fastest on the day for female runners. However, La Jolla sophomore Chiana Dailey (Division IV champion) later eclipsed her time with a section-best 16:57.7 on the 2.96-mile course in the last race of the day.
El Camino senior Omar Reyes had the fastest boys time of 14:47.4 in winning the Division I race.
Williams finished third as a freshman last year but took off and ran away from everyone in the 124-deep field this year, leading by 21 seconds at the mile mark and winning by 48 seconds over runner-up Tessa Buswell, a senior from Poway.
While showcasing her speed, Williams also showed everyone she is starting to learn how to win races.
“I was just trying to keep going,” the diminutive Lady Titan said. “It was hard for me because there was little competition. I just want to run my race and not focus on the other runners. I’m hoping to get first at state.”
Ridge, who finished a close second to Olympian senior Angel Cordero at the preceding conference finals, trailed Division II race winner Luke Buentello, a senior from Vista, by 41 seconds in the 130-deep field.
“I feel pretty excited,” Ridge said. “I really surprised myself. I was definitely not expecting what happened. I had zero expectations of going to state or even being in the running for a league championship.”
Cordero finished 10th in the 125-deep Division I race in 15:42.8 to just miss the state cut for individual qualifiers. Otay Ranch junior Aviva DeVore finished ninth in the Division I girls race in 18:46.8, also just missing qualifying for the state meet.
Williams, Ridge, Cordero and DeVore all earned First Team All-CIF honors. The top 10 finishers in each division are named to the all-division first team while the next 10 place-finishers are bestowed with second team all-division honors.
“It feels really nice,” Cordero said. “I’m proud of how I did in the race. I felt really strong. I feel really proud of my team.”
Metro-Mesa League boys champion Olympian High School placed sixth among Division I teams while league champion Eastlake finished ninth in the Division I girls race.
“All the guys did a heck of a job,” OHS coach Brandon Velasquez said. “They did it together. The leadership stepped up. The young guys became motivated to be as fast as the top guys.”
Other top 20 South County runners included High Tech High Chula Vista sophomore Isabella Nazario (15th, Division IV girls) and San Ysidro senior Valeria Jimenez (17th, Division II girls).
