CAMPOLINDO 

    The Campolindo boys cross country team had a dominant performance at the state meet, finishing first in Division III at Woodwind Park 5000-meter course in Fresno, finishing 50 points ahead of the second place West Torrance High School.

    The boys’ team was led by Clark Gregory who finished in fourth-14:57.7 followed by Nikola Van Delft-11th-15:24.5, Caden Ehrhorn-29th, Jack Durden-40th and Samuel Hearn-48th with Gregory and Van Delft setting personal records with their times and all finishing under 16 minutes.

    “This was our best team performance ever at the state championships having run the fastest overall time than another Campolindo boys team has ever run at the state championship, which includes our championship teams in 2019 and 2024,” assistant coach Andy Lindquist said. 

    Lindquist added: “Clark set a school record for us at the Woodward Park Course and our fifth runner finished less than a minute behind him. We never had a team that was so consistent from day one until the final day of the season in terms of their training, attitude, and the kind of support they had for us as a coaching staff and each other. I’ve struggled to find the words to describe just how awesome and incredible this team is, not only their race performances, but in the way they conducted themselves at practice. They've really been a coach's dream." 

    The Campolindo girls team finished in seventh in Division III, qualifying for state for the 30th straight year and finishing in the top 10 for the 28th time in the last 29 years.

    The top five finishes were Amalia Contreras-40, Sophie Lechner-43, Jillian Randolph-58, Claire Andrzejek-65 and Kiona McCasland-73, with Andrzejek being the only senior in the group. 

    “The girls ran their best race of the season with Sophie and Claire improving by over a minute from their previous course best,” Lindquist said. “My hats off to them as they really improved quite a bit to become a really solid-state caliber team. The girls team had only two seniors in their top 10 runners so there's definitely a lot of potential there for them to move up and have another great season next year.”

MIRAMONTE

    Though not the first woman to coach the Miramonte boys cross country team, head coach Julia Hall was the first to take the boys to the state championship along with the girls team. 

    The boys team finished in 13th place in Division 4. “The biggest thing through the season was that in spite of some sickness and injuries, everybody put in the work despite all those setbacks,” Hall said. “They stayed patient until we had a good day where it all clicked for us.”
    The team was led by senior Logan Letulle who was first team all-league and finished fourth at the state meet. Second team all-league sophomore William McMorran did not run at the state meet due to his being sick at the time.

    “Logan came in as a freshman and from the very beginning showed a ton of talent,” Hall said. “Through the years, he really figured out the mental side of running as well as putting in a ton of work every day. He figured out how to become a smart racer and to really use his talent.”
    This is the first time in 20 years that both the boys and girls team made it to the state tournament. The girls team had three all-league runners: freshman Marissa Dollard, and sophomores Isabel Mickel and Cameron Kuhns with each finishing in 35, 42, and 87 place, respectively, at the state meet. The other two finishers were sophomore Grace Kosla and junior Bridget Harwood.

    With very few seniors, Hall sees a bright future with the younger runners: “When I took over, we had a very small girls’ team so that has been building up the past two years and we have a ton of young talent.”

    As individual as running cross country can be, Hall saw the team dedicated to making it to state at the start of the school year: “The girls put in a ton of work from the beginning and with a team culture, everyone was supporting and motivating each other to run more miles and work harder. Two runners, Sasha Bevacqua and Teia Adler helped us to qualify for state but they were both injured and could not run in the state meet.”

    During the season, Hall saw the team’s confidence grow when they went to the Rough Rider Invitational and the girls won the small school race. “Logan individually won the small school race and we then won a sweepstakes award after being captured for having the best combined boys and girls finish.”

    Hall was able to handle both teams with the help of her assistant coaches, Karen Shopoff Rooff and Andrew Lewis, and Hall is looking forward to returning as the boys and girls head coach next year.

ACALANES

    For the first time since 2019, the Acalanes boys team qualified for the state tournament and finished in 16th place in Division 4. The team was led by all-league senior Harry Zimmerman who finished in 26th place and was followed by freshman Dane Darby-97th place, sophomore David Ellerbrock-133rd place, junior Alexander Hagen-155th place and sophomore Theo Benmeziane-159th place.

    In actuality, the Dons best race was in the NCS which qualified them to compete in the state tournament. When the team arrived at the meet, Morland and the team planned the way to handle difficult conditions on the course. “It was really a group effort,” Morland said. “The kids knew that it was going to be a difference where they were best able to spend their energy, which enabled us to qualify for the state meet.”

    Zimmerman was the clear leader of the team and earned it from the time he started running for the team as a freshman. “Harry wasn’t the fastest freshman but he just continued to improve and was our number one runner his junior and senior years,” head coach Bruno Morlan said. “His talents started to shine through with all the work that he put in that really started to accumulate. He would improve about 30 seconds for each race from year to year.”
    Zimmerman’s leadership was also important to Morland: “It was really good for all of these freshmen that we have to see that it wasn't just something that came from being talented. It kind of left them with the idea that they're going to have to work hard in order to continue to progress, and that's especially important because we do have a lot of talented freshmen.”

    Two freshmen that impressed were Darby and Jason Rossetter and both have been fantastic, according to Morlan: “Dane was pretty much the fastest freshman most of the year except for one or two races and was solidly our No. 2 runner most of the year.”

    Finishing 16th was not disappointing to Morlan, being in such a tough division, but the youth of the team allows him to be optimistic for the future: “I was really pleased to know that a lot of our runners are going to be back next year and they really just wanted to have some form of baseline that they could judge their future performances against.”