Cibola’s Meyer-Wills wins sectionals, Raiders and YC advance to state
Several local teams participated in their respective sectional cross country events over the last two days.
On Wednesday, the Cibola boys and girls teams qualified for state.
Senior Bennett Meyer-Wills won the Division I Southeast race at Crossroads Park with a time of 16:28.1, just 1.8 seconds faster than runner-up Gibson Kibia of Chandler High School.
Cibola’s Alan Ornelas finished 20th with a time of 17:38.1, while Isaiah Lazaro
finished 21st in 17:44. Enrique Gonzalez clocked a time of 18:00.4 to finish 24. Duarte Cesar finished in 26th place with a time of 18:04.
Kofa’s Arturo Anaya placed 34th in 18:18.1. Cibols’ Rey Estrada ran 44th with a time of 18:46.5.
The Raiders finished third in the boys standings, narrowly missing out on a runners-up finish. Every runner for the Raiders’ boys team advanced to state.
Cibola’s girls team finished sixth in the team standings, clinching a spot in the AIA state championship run.
Isabella Irazola was the team’s best performer, finishing 18th with a time of 21:27.1. Janelle Sanchez ran a time of 22:07.8 to finish 24th, while Adail Corona ran 34th in 23:04.2.
Shamrocks qualify for state
The Yuma Catholic boys cross country team participated in the Cesar Chavez Park DIII metro sectional. YC finished sixth out of 13 teams, earning them a spot in the DIII state championship run.
Caleb Harman finished 9th with a time of 18:00.7,
while Justin Ponce placed 17th in 18:58.9.
Erick Ruiz set a personal-record (19:32.8) and finished 27th. Brandon Bojorquez also ran a personal-record (20:53.)) and placed 50th.
The YC girls team did not qualify, finishing eighth in the team standings. Grace Lanning was the Shamrocks’ best runner, setting a new PR (25:19.9) and finished 30th.