Garrity heading to state meet

HAYWARD >> Hannah Garrity is going places, starting with Fresno.

The Clear Lake High School sophomore earned a berth in the CIF State Cross Country Championships next weekend at Woodward Park in Fresno by finishing second in the Division 5 girls race Saturday during the North Coast Section Championships at Hayward High School.

Garrity, the undefeated Coastal Mountain Conference champion in 2021, held the lead through the first mile in the 3-mile-long Division 5 girls race. While Amelie Maltz of Lick Wilmerding High School of San Francisco eventually caught up with and passed her, no one else came close. Garrity nailed down her first but probably not last section medal, awarded to the top seven finishers in each of the five divisions at the NCS Championships, with a time of 18 minutes, 19.2 seconds. Maltz took the win in 18:07.7.

Garrity not only had the secondbest time in Division 5, but the 19th best girls time overall regardless of division.

The top six Division 5 girls teams automatically advances to the state meet as do the top five individuals who are not members of the top six teams, but they have to finish in the top 20. That wasn’t a problem for Garrity or Lucy Gott of Sonoma Academy (Santa Rosa), Garrity’s chief rival in the CMC this season. Gott placed fifth overall in 18:39.8 to also earn a section medal.

The Division 5 girls field drew 134 runners, including five from Middletown High School. The Mustangs placed 11th out of 19 teams led by juniors Nicole Pyzer (35th in 20:22.8) and Maya Leonard (49th in 21:16.6). Also for Middletown, freshman Cat Barriga finished 69th in 22:41.1, sophomore Issy Barriga was 87th in 23:22.5, and Olivia Gallagher was 103rd in 24:44.8.

Division 4 boys

Lower Lake entered two runners in the Division 4 boys race and North Central League I champion Daniel Bratton placed 48th out of 144 runners in 17:27.6 while teammate Jose Hernandez was 99th in 18:49.8.

Garrity will run in the Division 5 girls race beginning at noon on the 5-kilometer Woodward Park course. She is the third Lake County girl to reach the state meet in the last five years. Yareli Lozano, a Kelseyville senior, qualified in 2017 and finished 46th while Middletown freshman Brooklyn Huffman placed 53rd in 2018.

The last time a Lake County reached the state meet was 2005 when Lower Lake senior Mike

Perez placed fourth in Division 4.

COURTESY PHOTO The top seven finishers in the North Coast Section Division 5 girls race Saturday at Hayward High School were (from left) Amilie Maltz of Lick Wilmerding, Hannah Garrity of Clear Lake, Adeline Johnson of Branson, Sage Sanderson of Branson, Lucy Gott of Sonoma Academy, Kaira Shlipak of Lick Wilmerding and Lucinda Laughlin of University. All received medals and will advance to the state meet next Saturday in Fresno.

COURTESY PHOTOS From left, Issy Barriga, Olivia Gallagher, Maya Leonard, Cat Barriga and Nicole Pyzer of the Middletown High School girls cross country team placed 11th among Division 5 girls Saturday at the North Coast Section Championships in Hayward.