Prep cross country: SH Prep, Menlo win WBAL titles

Sacred Heart Prep took home the West Bay Athletic League boys team cross country title and Gators' Max Cluss won the individual title while Menlo captured the girls title over the weekend at Crystal Springs cross country course in the Belmont hills.

The Menlo-Atherton boys finished second to Carlmont in the Peninsula Athletic League championships while the Woodside girls placed second to the Scots, also at Crystal Springs, where the Central Coast Section Championships in five divisions will be contested Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.

Cluss won the 2.95-mile race in 16:05.92, ahead of second-place Kamran Murray of Menlo (16:16.98) Sacred Heart Prep's top five all finished in the top 15 with Calvin Katz (4th, 16:44.06), Axel de Vernou (5th, 16:47.22), Matthew Chun (11th, 17:33.14) and Jake Wheeler (15th, 17:51.00) following Cluss.

Priory, which finished fourth, and Eastside Prep, which finished fifth, each had two runners among the top 16. For Priory, Jason Drexler Sadler was 12th in 17:36.22 ad Ronan Nyrne was 16th in 17:52.67.

Carlos Anye Nunez raced eighth for Eastside Prep in 17:21.44. Christopher Mansilla was 1th in 17:47.28. Pinewood's top runner was Quincy Linder in 19:01.40. Menlo placed sixth.

The Knights' seven girls all finished top 16. Juniors Charlotte Tomkinson was third in 18:52.9 and Kyra Pretre fourth in 19:00.7 in a field of 82. Freshman Pia Gallo finished sixth in 19:42.9. Sophomores Marisa Castagna was 12th (20:44.4), Stella El-Fishaway came in 13th (20:55.5), Maddie Sanders 14th (21:02.6) and junior Katie Aufricht 16th (21:17.1). 

Woodside resident Anna Mokkapati of The King's Academy won the WBAL girls race in 18:20.14. Castilleja's Tevah Gevelber was second in 18:25.28.

Castilleja, which finished second to Menlo with 54 points, also had two other runners among the top 10: ninth-place Abigail Krenz (20:03.79) and 10th Lauren Traum (20:22.73). Angie Wang was11th in 20:37.97.

Sacred Heart Prep ran third with 72 points, led by Genna Gibbons in fifth with a time of 19:16.13. Caitlyn Perkocha was eighth in 20:03.76 and Luci Lambert placed 15th in 21:16.07.

In the PAL championships, Woodside's Casey Orton ran second behind winner Justin Hsu of Carlmont, 15:57 to 16:02. Menlo-Atherton's Ethan Mimeles right behind in 16:04. Woodside's Nathan Bowman was 10th in 16:34.

Among PAL girls, Woodside's Elle Marsyla (19:02) and Sarah Perry (19:04) finished third and fourth. M-A's Sara Osterberg was seventh in 19:23.

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