ROSEVILLE, Calif. – Senior Daphne Witherell finished 11th overall while junior Kayla Towne and senior Paige Quigley crossed close behind in 15th and 16th place to lead St. Francis to a close 67-75 victory over second-place Oak Ridge in the varsity 4-kilometer race at the Oakmont Invitational cross country meet at Maidu Park Saturday.
Incredibly, the Troubadours accomplished the two team wins despite only eight full team practices leading into the season-opening weekend. First-year head coach Chad Worthen came aboard at the start of August, while excessive heat canceled several workouts in the prior week. St. Francis also did not hold its usual preseason camp and conditioning program due to the coaching vacancy.
"We've had only one quality hard workout together, so to see them come out and perform as well as they did was exciting to see," said Worthen. "We had a lot of the top teams in the section here today. For varsity to come out and pull off the win, when we're just getting started, is exciting for the future."
Witherell edged a pair of Oak Ridge runners with a time of 14:52.6 to take 11th. Towne ran through the chute in 15:12.9, with Quigley at 15:16.4. Juniors Grace Dunham and Ryann Strawn rounded out the Troubie scorers. Overall, St. Francis went 9-12-13-15-18 in the scoring column, with Emma Dobson (43rd) and Remi Vrilakas (55th) displacing.
Meanwhile, Oak Ridge scored 6-10-11-17-31 for 75 total points. Granite Bay scored 4-5-8-25-40 for a third-place total of 82 ticks.
The Troubies also won the junior varsity title, with senior Sarah Charles placing second overall with a time of 18:00.1. St. Francis led that event with 29 total points, eight in front of Pleasant Grove. The Eagles put three among the top four (minus Charles) but St. Francis won with its depth: Grace Himmelmann (8th), Ava Ellis (9th) and Amelia Bell (10th) crossed among the top 10 individuals, then Kayla Hussey (13th), Sierra Lesniewski (15th) and Anna Harrison (17th) shut the door.
St. Francis placed seventh in the frosh-soph race with 227 points, winning a tiebreaker against Rocklin. Freshman Sam Powers led that crew in 25th place at 17:23.60, while Chloe' Hickey took 35th.
"I can't wait to see where we are a month from now," Worthen said. "We'll be in a whole different place than we are right now, that's for sure."
St. Francis returns to action at the Lagoon Valley Classic on September 3.
2022 OAKMONT INVITATIONAL
Maidu Regional Park (Roseville, Calif.)
Girls events only • Winner plus SFHS finishers listed
VARSITY TEAM SCORES - 1. St. Francis, 67; 2. Oak Ridge, 75; 3. Granite Bay, 82; 4. Lodi, 145; 5. Woodcreek, 179; 6. Rio Americano, 205; 7. Bishop Manogue, 208; 8. McClatchy, 328; 9. Del Campo, 240; 10. Pleasant Grove, 244; 11. Ripon, 249; 12. Sheldon, 285; 13. Union Mine, 343; 14. Vacaville Christian, 345; 15. Oakmont, 372; 16. Cosumnes Oaks, 378; 17. Bella Vista, 400.
VARSITY INDIVIDUAL 4K - 1. Amaya Aramini, Bishop Manogue, 14:18.0… 11. Daphne Witherell, 14:52.6; 15. Kayla Towne, 15:12.9; 16. Paige Quigley, 15:16.4; 19. Grace Dunham, 15:24.7; 22. Ryann Strawn, 15:29.2; 43. Emma Dobson, 16:09.0; 55. Remi Vrilakas, 16:39.8; 64. Pamela Vargas, 16:54.9; 69. Magdalena Becerril, 17:10.1; 114. Anita White, 18:52.2.
FROSH-SOPH TEAM SCORES - 1. Whitney, 39; 2. Granite Bay, 92; 3. Colfax, 114; 4. Bella Vista, 128; 5. Lodi, 180; 6. Pleasant Grove, 204; 7. St. Francis, 227; 8. Rocklin, 227; 9. Bishop Manogue, 241; 10. McClatchy, 267; 11. Placer, 286; 12. Sheldon, 326; 13. Ripon, 331; 14. Nevada Union, 358; 15. Oakmont, 358; 16. Folsom, 369.
FROSH-SOPH INDIVIDUAL 4K - 1. Jane Landon, Whitney, 15:18.2… 25, Sam Powers, 17:23.6; 35. Chloe' Hickey, 17:56.0; 64. Mykaela Le, 19:04.6; 67. Stella Davenport, 19:10.6; 76. Zoe Smith, 19:21.3; 84. Lena Schnack, 19:51.4; 87. Ashlyn Smith, 19:53.8; 89. Kyra Lueras, 20:04.5; 97. Chloe Harrison, 20:34.8; 99. Evelyn McNearney, 20:37.3; 112. Lucie Pickering Pick, 21:06.0; 124. Jordan Brace, 21:53.6; 131. Caroline Kesich, 22:15.7; 132. Ashley Sexauer, 22:15.9; 133. Gabby Friedman, 22:16.7; 134. Olivia Charles, 22:17.0; 142. Bianca Espanola, 23:17.6; 144. Peri Hines, 23:22.4; 151. Abbey Pavelchik, 24:01.6; 154. Mackenzie Olmstead, 24:49.2; 162. Grace Mastagni, 25:25.9; 164; Alexandria Reznikoff, 26:24.9; 165. Sonalika Prasad, 26:41.5; 173. Hanna Wysoczynska, 30:35.4; 174. Hailey Ritter, 31:32.9; 176. Hadley Tamblyn, 32:10.9.
JUNIOR VARSITY TEAM SCORES - 1. St. Francis, 29; 3. Pleasant Grove, 37; 4. Rio Americano, 70; 4. Sheldon, 97.
JUNIOR VARSITY INDIVIDUAL 4K - 1. Allison Myers, Pleasant Grove, 17:30.9… 2. Sarah Charles, 18:00.1; 8. Grace Himmelmann, 19:28.9; 9. Ava Ellis, 19:30.8; 10. Amelia Bell, 19:35.3; 13. Kayla Hussey, 19:49.6; 15. Sierra Lesniewski, 20:12.7; 17. Anna Harrison, 20:19.9; 26. Olivia Huerta, 21:18.4; 28. Tatum Brown, 21:56.2; 45. Tiana Smith, 24:28.7; 47. Sydney Eberhardt, 25:01.0.
