Chico’s Giannini finishes first
Pleasant Valley win boys team title at Northern section meet
COTTONWOOD » Chico High senior cross country runner Mario Giannini has been the anchor of the Northern Section throughout his high school career. Giannini won the Northern Section race his sophomore season in 2019, and after his junior season was canceled due to the pandemic Giannini has picked up where he left off and set course records throughout his senior year. In 10 races in the fall 2021 season, Giannini has seven first-place finishes, one second-place finish and one third-place finish. His most recent victory came in the Eastern Athletic
League Championship Nov. 4 at Hooker Oak Park in Chico.
Pleasant Valley senior runner Tryon Jardin, who finished second in Wednesday's CIF Northern Section Finals race at West Valley High School in Cottonwood, said that runners were competing for second place knowing that Giannini would almost certainly finish first.
Giannini, a senior, lived up to the hype Wednesday, winning the section final race in 15 minutes and 29.18 seconds — 37.2 seconds ahead of the second place Jardin, who finished in 16:07.38. Jardin's teammate Renton McGregor finished third in 16:24.02.
In Jardin's sophomore season he was not running as one of PV's top runners. The senior said throughout the pandemic he worked extremely hard and trained with his teammates despite losing his junior year of competition. Jardin and McGregor have been battling all season long behind Giannini and have switched off as PV's top-2 runners.
Though Giannini took the top spot in the individual race, PV finished as the top team in the Northern Section Finals race Wednesday. The Vikings finished with 29 points, Chico High finished second with 41 points, University Prep finished third with 94, Yreka fourth with 104 points
and Enterprise fifth with 162 points. Colusa finished sixth, Foothill seventh, Trinity eighth, Red Bluff ninth, Orland 10th, Shasta 11th, Live Oak 12th, Corning 13th, Durham 14th and Oroville 15th.
Pleasant Valley had five of its 10 runners finish in the top 11 in the race. After Jardin and McGregor, Jackson Hein finished ninth, Cavin Muff finished 10th and Cristofer Velazquez-Patino finished 11th. Mark Velazquez-Patino finished 21st for the Vikings, Brandon Underwood finished 26th and Austin Hein finished 31st.
Giannini’s teammates Benjamin Wun finished sixth for the Panthers, Nate Solecki finished 12th, Robert Moncrief finished 14th, Avery Munson Clark finished 15th, Daniel Morlet finished 18th and Carter Murphy finished 19th.
Giannini said he was aiming for a faster time, hoping to finish with the second fastest time ever on the West Valley course. He said muddy conditions did play a part in the time but was not making excuses and said he was still happy with the win.
“It was definitely a lot more wet today than my sophomore year. That year it was quite dry but the mud is just part of the race,” Giannini said. “I just didn’t have it today I guess. At the one mile mark I was off pace so I guess I just didn’t get off to a fast enough pace at the start.”
The full results can be found by visiting https:// www.athletic.net/CrossCountry/Results/Meet.as px?Meet=193209&show=all.