November 15th the cross-country team was at West Valley High School competing at Northern Section Finals. It was a record meet with 41 schools and 540 runners.
The top school in each division earned a trip to the State Championship Meet in Fresno on November 30. The top 5 individuals in each division (not from a qualifying team) also earned a spot at the state meet.
Division XI doesn’t send anyone but can earn individual qualifying in the division on 5 group. Division IV (which includes Lassen) sends 2 teams and is the only division able to send 2.
Rocklin Albonico and Kimmie McKernan (4th place) medaled by placing in the top 25 overall. This is a huge accomplishment and a result of dedication and many, many hours and miles.
Our boys varsity team qualified and are headed to state in 2 weeks! It has been 31 years since we’ve sent a boys team and we are very, very excited! They placed 8th out of 22 teams from all 6 divisions and 2nd out of D4 schools, beating Orland to secure a spot.
The top 5 on a Team count toward the score, the next 2 displace other teams. The remaining 2 are alternates who won’t travel unless needed.
In order of their placing, they were:
Rocklin Albonico (10)
Ellis Dockery (9)
Andrew Alcaraz (9)
Jesse Lopez (10)
Evan Neuenschwander (10)
Curtis Mallery (11)
Joe Bertotti (12)
Ethan Williams (9)
Kristian Johnson (11)
We had 2 girls qualify as individuals:
Kimmie McKernan (10)
Cheyenne White (10)
These 11 runners will continue to practice over the next 2 weeks and represent Lassen at the state level.
All our runners have had an amazing season. We have the biggest team we’ve had in a very long time and the season has been full of successes. Last week’s league championship meet was mostly PRs for our team along with a few tears and a just a bit of throwing up. Running is hard work, and these kids have put in blood, sweat, and tears (literally) over the past 85+ days. There are a lot of accomplishments you don’t see unless you analyze athletic.net results or see Kris’s crazy spreadsheets with handwritten times and notes.
Kris and Brooke and the whole LHS staff are so proud of the whole team. Cameron, Aiden, Wyatt, and Kody didn’t go yesterday but are a part of our amazing team!
