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JSerra senior Anthony Grover left no doubt about his place among the top cross country runners in Orange County history on Saturday by winning his third consecutive title at the CIF State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Grover won the Division IV title in a time of 15 minutes, 4 seconds and became only the fourth runner in state history to win three CIF State titles.
Grover, who has signed with Wake Forest, wasn’t the only county runner to win a state title Saturday. St. Margaret’s junior Jackson Adelman won the boys Division V race in 15:39.9, leading the Tartans to a second-place finish as a team.
Adelman, who finished second at the state meet in 2018, now has a state championship to go with his back-to-back CIF Southern Section titles.
Led by standout freshman Liesel Blau, the St. Margaret’s girls finished third in the Division V team standings. Blau placed third overall in 18:00.0.
St. Margaret’s brings home a 2nd place finish in the boys and a 3rd place finish in the girls at the California State Cross Country Championships. Jackson Adelman is the state championship and Liesel Blau is All-State with a 3rd place finish. pic.twitter.com/lZzotvbGCP
— SMES Athletics (@SMESAthletics) November 30, 2019
The Dana Hills boys produced an impressive second-place finish in the Division II race behind powerhouse Newbury Park.
Dana Hills senior Carrick Denker (14:59.9) finished third and sophomore teammate Jai Dawson (15:09.9) was sixth overall. Newbury Park’s Nico Young, the nation’s fastest runner this year, won in a time of 14:48.5.
“I think today they ran a great race for the team,” Dana Hills coach Craig Dun said of his two top runners. “Carrick’s leadership all year has been tremendous for this team. Carrick has been a great leader and a mentor for Jai. They work great together.”
Newbury Park won the Division II championship with 39 points. Dana Hills was second (97).
In the girls Division II race, freshman Allura Markow of Dana Hills finished eighth overall and first among county runners. El Toro took fourth and was the highest finishing county team in the division.
Sophomore Emma Hadley finished 10th to lead Canyon girls to a fifth-place team finish in Division II. Capistrano Valley’s Carly Corsinita, who logged the fastest time in the county at the Southern Section finals, finished 14th.
Yorba Linda’s Siena Palicke finished fourth in the girls Division III race and Brea Olinda finished third in the team standings.
Orange Lutheran and Laguna Beach placed third and fifth, respectively, in the girls Division IV race.
🥉 3rd in the state!! Congratulations to our girls varsity team for capping off a fantastic season with a third place finish in the CIF CA State XC Meet!
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 🏃🏾♀️🏃🏼♀️🏃🏻♀️What a year!!
🥇 Trinity League
🥇 CIF-SS
🥉 CIF State#OLuOn2 #Run4Him #running #crosscountry #cifstatemeet2019 pic.twitter.com/AtmgjQSJFe— OLuCrossCountry (@OLu_XC) November 30, 2019
-Lou Ponsi reported from Orange County.
