Young talent shines on the high school track
SC sophomore Ratliff, PCS freshman Koontz part of next wave
SANTA aRUZ >> It’s not often that runners can wear spikes in a cross country race. But strange times allow for such measures, especially when the race was held on Santa Cruz High’s track.
Cardinals sophomore Jim Ratliff dominated in the 3,200-meter race to lead his team to a 19-38 win over Pacific Collegiate School in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League meet Thursday. It was the second week of racing during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ratliff won in 10:11 — a personal best by eight seconds.
“I just want to build up an aerobic base for later in the year,” Ratliff said of his early season goals. “In track season, I’m probably going to focus more on speed. Yeah, pretty much getting good mileage and get in good shape.”
Runners wore masks and remained socially distanced from other teams throughout the double dual meet. They shed their masks at the starting line.
The meet, highlighted by Ratliff’s win, showcased the next generation of top distance runners. PCS freshman Spencer Koontz took second in 10:38, ahead of third-place finisher Hunter Kelly (10:52) of Santa Cruz.
“This is the first two-miler I’ve ever run in a race,” Koontz said, “so I was just kinda getting the feel of it. It’s the beginning of the
season, so I wanted to feel it out.”
Kelly was followed by teammates Kees Vandermeir (11:03) and Will Trowbridge (11:31).
PCS had an incomplete girls team. And for the second straight week, there were wasn’t a real challenge for Santa Cruz’s Isabel Sanchez. The senior, who will compete for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next year, won in 11:22. She fell shy of her personal-best time of 11:13.
“Right now they’re only allowing two teams to race against each other at a time, so it’s a little …,” Sanchez said, “especially today racing at our own school — it felt kinda weird. It felt like track season, a time trial, but I’m making the most of it. … I’m just happy to race, happy to be out here. And I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and Pinto Lake.”
Cardinals Isla Hawkins (14:00), Maya Kingsly (14:22), Maris Burchell (15:05) and Natalia Kamimuro (15:06) rounded out the top five.
Also at Santa Cruz, Harbor and Soquel squared off. The Knights boy swept the top five spots for a 1548 win. The Harbor girls had an incomplete squad.
Eli Ainsworth rolled to the win in 10:10 and was followed by teammates Brody Staley (11:03), Jack Spencer (11:20), Kevin Falkenroth (11:27) and Nick Edmonds (11:47).
Ainsworth was hoping to break his personal-best time of 9:52.
“Kinda upsetting that we’re doing a little track race during cross country, but at least we’re out here,” Ainsworth said. “I’m more excited to be out here. The adrenaline is running, I’m feeling good.”
Joseph Hibberd led Harbor with his 12:05 finish to take sixth.
In girls action, Soquel senior Emma McCain, who will also compete for Cal Poly-SLO next season, won in a personal-record 11:49.
McCain enjoyed running on the flat surface at Santa Cruz — a start contrast to Soquel’s home course.
“It’s much easier for me,” McCain said. “The hill at our course kinda gets to me every time. Yeah, I was just excited to get to run the 3,200, because I haven’t run it for a couple of years.”
Harbor teammates Olivia Chen (12:56) and Neva Lunine (13:09) took second and third, respectively. Soquel’s Nola Salazar (13:25) and Maya McCain (13:34) rounded out the top five.
At Scotts Valley
SCOTTS VALLEY — Scotts Valley High sophomore Amber Boothby rolled again in the Falcons’ second SCCAL and right on her heels was her younger sister, Ashlyn.
Amber finished the new 2.51-mile on-campus course, which featured varied surfaces and two challenging hills, in 15:03. Ashlyn was second in 15:41.
Their finished helped the Falcons beat San Lorenzo Valley, 21-40.
Kaitlin Seigle (17:05) and Haven Finley (17:38), both Cougars sophomores, finished third and fourth, respectively. Scotts Valley’s Greta Feague (17:44) beat out Ceiba junior Nellie Rubio-Pintor (18:06) for fifth place.
In boys’ action, Falcons junior Jeremy Kain earned his second win on the young season. He finished in 12:31 to beat out runner-up Cory Nounnan (12:51), a senior at SLV.
Scotts Valley senior Patrick Goodrich (12:54) and sophomore Jack Brownfield (13:33) finished third and fourth, respectively. SLV senior Casey Crouch (13:38) beat out Falcons junior Austin George (14:05) for fifth place.
Scotts Valley beat SLV, 21-37.
Junior Tommy Shaughnessy was the top Kirby finisher, taking 14th in 16:12. Ceiba junior Giovanny Melgoza
took 27th in 18:04.
At Pinto Lake County Park
WATSONVILLE — Watsonville’s boys posted the four fastest finishes in a meet against an incomplete Pajaro Valley team on the 2.93-mile course at Pinto Lake County Park.
Senior Domingo Martinez (17:12), junior Sebastian Abonce (17:23), and freshmen Jesus Vega (19:09) and Omar Delgado (19:44) led the way for the Wildcatz.
Sophomore Jesus BasultoMorales (20:03) placed fifth to lead the Grizzlies.
St. Francis took on Aptos’ St. Abraham’s Classical Christian Academy and the Sharks junior Julian Vargas (16:06) won. St. Abraham’s Leif Martin (17:19) took second and St. Francis Santiago Ramirez (18:18) was third.
In girls action, Watsonville’s Layla Ruiz (18:55) posted another win. Senior teammate Denise Corrales (21:47) and sophomores Dahlia Barranco (22:17) and Alexa Pedraza (26:39) followed for the Wildcatz. Pajaro Valley freshman Kimberly Aguirre-Orozco (27:20) took fifth place.
Freshman Azerati Ramirez (22:11) led Sharks teammates Claire Burke (25:31) and Samantha Mercedes Martinez (26:26) across the finish line ahead of St. Abraham’s Libby Reynolds (26:36) in fourth.