Runners wraps up season, careers at state

FRENSO — The state cross-country championships were held Saturday at Woodward Park here, with the meet marking the end of the season and the careers of a few senior runners that qualified for the big race.

Qualifying as individuals in the race were Sabrina Benavides and Hector Nichols.

Benavides, a Southwest High senior, advanced to the Div. II race and in her first state appearance ran the course in 20:00.9. She ran against 195 other athletes.

Nichols, an Imperial High senior, ran in the Div. IV race and completed the course in 16:50.1 for a 56th-place finish in the race that had 196 participants. This was Nichols’ second consecutive trip to the state race.

Rounding out the list of individual state qualifiers was Brawley Union High’s Jaasiel Contreras.

The young freshman ran in the girls’ Div.

III race and completed the race in 19:56.4. The 14-year-old finished 60th in the event that had a whopping 210 runners.

Rounding out the local competitors at the state meet was the boys’ team from Holtville High.

The Vikings competed in the Div. V race, which had 24 teams and 207 individual runners.

Holtville took 17th as a team and saw all seven of its runners cross the finish line.

Leading the Vikings was senior Christian Queriapa, who clocked a17:44.4, closely followed by Fabian Rendon (17:47.9) and Eddie Quintero (17:50.1).

Andy Rios finished in 18:33.6 followed by Alan Jimenez (18:37.5), Jonathan Osuna (19:00.1) and Manuel Panales (20:35.6).