Banner day for Albany cross-country teams
Albany cross-country runner Sophie Nordenholz not only pulled off a mild upset to win the CIF State Meet Division 4 championship Saturday, but she recorded the day’s top girls time as well.
The senior covered the 3.1mile course at Woodward Park in Fresno in 16 minutes, 46 seconds to edge Acalanes-Lafayette sophomore Olivia Williams (16:56.2), who the week before had edged her Albany rival at the North Coast Section meet.
Williams’ time was the third best of the day overall; Nordenholz’s was the third best alltime in D4.
Two races earlier, Albany’s boys had thrilled 27-year coach Craig Stern by winning the D4 team title behind a third-place overall finish by junior Sean Morello (15:09.9).
Others team members were sophomore Lucas Cohen (13th, 15:46.3), juniors Jack and Ben Elfenbaum, and senior Kristiyan Klichev. It was the first time Albany had sent a team to the state meet.
More state cross-country: A pair of San Francisco teams, Lick-Wilmerding’s boys and University’s girls, won D5 titles, and Campolindo-Moraga’s girls took the D3 crown. … Tamalpais-Mill Valley senior Caden Carney won the D3 boys race in 15:05, the 10th fastest time at the meet. … Alex Mader (14:56.3) took second and Felix Fein 19th en route to Lick-Wilmerding’s first championship. Mader’s time was the seventh best all day. … It was the state-record 11th title for the University girls, who were led by sophomore
Lucinda Laughlin and junior
Mia Giles. University (100) edged Lick-Wilmerding (103), which got a ninth-place finish from Amelie Maltz. … Campolindo won its sixth girls title behind Ellie Buckley, who finished fifth. … Remarkably, D1 champ Newbury Park (Ventura County) had the four fastest boys times of the day, led by senior Colin Sahlman (14:26.5). Its combined 73:23 team time and team score of 16 set state records.
Boys basketball: Shane O’Reilly had 19 points and Cade Bennett 10 points and six assists to lead No. 1 Campolindo to a 50-42 win Saturday over No. 3 Dublin in the premier game of the NorCal Tip-Off Classic at Dublin High. Courtney Anderson had 17 points for Dublin. The unofficial opener to the basketball season featured eight games and included a 71-67 victory by unranked Oakland Tech (2-0) over Vanden-Vacaville as Ahmaree Muhammad had 20 points and Mahlik Smith 18 for the winners. Two free throws by Muhammad clinched the win. … Highly touted 6-foot-5 freshman Alec Blair had quite a debut with 16 points, 12 rebounds and three steals to lead fourth-ranked De La SalleConcord to a 58-47 win over Elk Grove. It was the coaching debut for former Spartans’ standout Marcus Schroeder. … Jeremiah Dargan, a transfer from De La Salle, had 28 points and Jake King 14 to lead No. 9 Clayton Valley-Concord to a 72-53 win over Lincoln-Stockton. … Ryan Beasley broke loose for 44 points to lead Dougherty Valley-San Ramon (2-0) to a 92-59 win over Woodside Priory-Portola Valley, which got 14 points from Steve Emeneke. Beasley’s outburst was just off the tournament record of 52 set by Deer Valley-Antioch’s Kendall Smith in 2012. … Despite 11 points from Achilles Woodson, No. 6 Riordan lost to Grant-Sacramento 61-50, and No. 7 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland got 15 points from Cameron Brown but lost big to Inderkum-Sacramento 80-54.
The first Oscar Frayer Invitational tournament will be played Saturday at Moreau Catholic-Hayward. The last of the five games will feature No. 13 St. Francis against No. 10 Moreau Catholic at 8 p.m.
Other games are SkylineOakland vs. Albany (2 p.m.), Alameda against CaliforniaSan Ramon (3:30 p.m.), Oakland vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral (5 p.m.) and No. 18 MiramonteOrinda vs. Deer Valley-Antioch at 6:30 p.m.
Frayer, a four-year starter for Moreau Catholic, was killed in a car accident in March near Lodi just days after playing in the NCAA Tournament for Grand Canyon University. He was 23. Two others died in the crash, including Frayer’s sister.