Cibola boys, girls cross-country both win meets

The Cibola boys and girls cross-country teams both defended their titles at the Division I Section III meet at Cesar Chavez Park in Phoenix on Friday.

The boys finished first among 15 teams thanks to placing four individuals in the top six. Senior Thomas Cain, the top-ranked runner in the state, won in 15:48.1, while senior Jake Smith (16:06.3) took third, senior Nicholas Garren (16:59.3) took fifth and sophomore Jacob Avelar (17:10.9) took sixth.

The Cibola girls displayed similar depth in winning their team title. Sophomore Ashley Valenzuela, the top local girls finisher, placed fourth overall in 20:31.9, and three other Raiders — sophomore Zenia Zepeda (6th in 20:58.5), senior Brianna Higgins (7th in 21:00.7) and sophomore Aylin Quintero (10th in 21:15.6) — also placed in the top 10.

Both Cibola teams, of course, qualified for next Saturday’s Division I state meet. For the Raider boys, it will be their 13th straight team appearance at state; for the girls, it will be their 10th straight.

Five other local teams — Kofa’s boys/girls and San Luis’ boys in Division I, and Gila Ridge’s boys/girls in Division II — also qualified for state.

Like Cibola’s boys/girls, Gila Ridge’s boys also claimed a sectional team title. The Hawks won the 13-team Division II Sectional III meet, also held at Cesar Chavez Park, and produced the top two individual finishers overall. Senior Christian DeBoard won the meet in 16:10.3, and was followed by teammate and fellow senior Daniel Marquez (16:21.9). Senior Tristan Worthen sixth in 16:59.8.

Freshman Hailey Faz (25th in 22:38.8) and senior Kaylee Bourguignon (27th in 22:43.4) were the top finishers for Gila Ridge’s girls team, which qualified for state for the 11th year in a row by finishing sixth out of 14 teams (top half qualify).

Kofa’s boys and girls teams, in the same Division I Section III meet Cibola was in, took third and fourth, respectively. San Luis’ boys came in fifth.

Kofa senior Michael Jaso (2nd in 16:05.5) was the individual runner-up, finishing 17 seconds behind the Raiders’ Cain and eighth-tenths placed of a second ahead of the Raiders’ Smith. Jose Valtierra (9th in 17:18.2) also had a top-10 finish.

For the Kofa girls team, which qualified for state for the first time in four years, senior Yulissa Avila (9th in 21:04.5) led the way with a top-10 finish while Miriam Heras (14th in 21:42.1) placed in the top 15.

Senior Alexis Morales (15th in 17:44.8) paced the San Luis boys team, which has now qualified for state three straight years after having done so just twice the previous 13 years.

Senior Alejandra Becerra (67th in 27:08.2) was the top finisher for the San Luis girls team, which finished 11th out of 14 teams.

There was just one individual state qualifier to come out of the Division IV Section I meet — San Pasqual junior Alfonso Aragon, who finished 21st in 18:38.7 in the boys race.

Senior Joshua Rodriguez (37th in 19:40.6) was the top finisher for the Yuma Catholic boys team, which finished 12th out of 14 teams; junior Anny Zhen (33rd in 24:52.6) was the lone Yuma Catholic girls representative.

Results from the Division III Section II meet, which Yuma High competed in, were not available.