SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior Paige Quigley finished second overall while Kayla Towne and Daphne Witherell also placed among the top 10, leading St. Francis to a winning 43-point total in the Jessup Invitational varsity girls' 5-kilometer race Saturday morning.
The Troubadours swept all three of its competitions, with the junior varsity scoring the 1-2-3-4-5 "perfect finish" for 15 points, while the frosh-soph edged Franklin by a 59-60 margin in the early morning two-mile event.
Quigley battled Bishop Manogue's Ava Luczkow throughout the race, eventually crossing in 20:26.4 to Luczkow's 20:17.3. Towne took fourth at 20:47.7; Witherell came through in eighth at 21:07.60, with Ryann Strawn (13th) and Grace Dunham (23rd) rounding out the scoring finishes. Pamela Vargas and Kelsey Sutch displaced in 33rd and 38th, respectively, with the latter making her season debut after recovering from surgery.
The Troubies' jayvees swept the top five scoring finishes despite not placing any runner in the overall top five. Grace Himmelmann led the way in sixth at 27:10.80, followed closely by Olivia Huerta (27:16.30), who led the SF group for most of the race until the final stretch. Amelia Bell (ninth), Kayla Hussey (10th) and Sarah Charles (11th) completed a tight pack for the Troubies, with Ava Ellis and Sierra Lesniewski claiming the two displacing scores.
St. Francis was one of only three full teams in the JV competition, finishing well ahead of Rio Americano (56) and Amador (70). Delta League rival Franklin boasted the top individuals in Ava Atangan (25:56.70) and Mari Merino (26:15.70), but the Wildcats did not field any other runners in the event,.
In perhaps the most thrilling finish of the day, the St. Francis frosh-soph squad edged fellow Delta League member Franklin by a single point, 59 to 60. Sophomore Carly Hall led the Troubies in eighth place overall at 14:12.3, while freshman Sam Powers placed 13th at 14:49.8. In fact, Powers crossed the line in 14:49.79 to edge Nevada Union Elizabeth Ergo's 14:49.80. Both times officially go into the results as 14:49.8, but Powers' trimming that one hundredth of a second made the difference in the final team title.
Similarly, sophomore Mykaela Le crossed in 16th at 15:08.3, a half second in front of Folsom's Aroha Routray (18:08.8), providing another example of a single place making the difference in the team standings. For that matter, the Troubies' depth – Chloe Hickey took 18th, Ashlyn Smith 25th, Kyra Lueras 26th and Zoe Smith 28th – also made a significant impact on the team standings. After all, third-place Whitney placed two in the top four, while Franklin surrounded Hall at the finish line with the 7-9-10 grouping of Lauren Braverman, Joyce Lin and Cora Lee, respectively. However, Whitney had no other runners among the top 20 overall, while Franklin's No. 5 scorer came in behind the SF displacers Lueras and Zoe Smith.
St. Francis enters a rare two-meet week, co-hosting the lone Delta League Center Meet at Cherry Island on Wednesday, then heading to Willow Hills for the Tom Laythe Invitational on Saturday. The Bella Vista-hosted Laythe Invite takes place on the same course as the Sac-Joaquin Section championships, while the Jessup Invite ran on the same course as the Delta League Championships.‑
2022 JESSUP INVITATIONAL
William Jessup University (Rocklin, Calif.)
Winner plus SFHS finishers listed
GIRLS' FROSH-SOPH TEAM SCORES - 1. St Francis, 59; 2. Franklin, 60; 3. Whitney, 66; 4. Vista Del Lago, 103; 5. Nevada Union, 119; 6. Twelve Bridges, 142; 7. Ripon, 165.
GIRLS' FROSH-SOPH INDIVIDUALS - 1. Eleni Keriotis, Nevada Union, 13:18.61... 8. Carly Hall, 14:12.3; 13. Sam Powers, 14:49.8; 16. Mykaela Le, 15:08.3; 18. Chloe Hickey, 15:09.3; 25. Ashlyn Smith, 15:44.3; 26. Kyra Lueras, 15:44.6; 28. Zoe Smith, 15:45.4; 38. Lena Schnack, 16:13.8; 41. Stella Davenport, 16:14.9; 53. Caroline Kesich, 16:55.4; 54. Lucie Pickering Pick, 16:58.0; 74. Ashley Sexauer, 18:23.5; 75. Evelyn McNearney, 18:24.6; 76. Gabriela Briscoe, 18:24.8; 79. Bianca Espanola, 18:32.5; 80. Rebecca Mochel, 18:33.8; 81. Jordan Brace, 18:33.9; 82. Mackenzie Olmstead, 18:35.3; 83. Olivia Charles, 18:36.4; Gabby Friedman, 18:51.8; 90. Abbey Pavelchik, 19:20.7.
GIRLS' VARSITY TEAM SCORES - 1. St. Francis, 43; 2. Whitney, 58; 3. Vista Del Lago, 94; 4. Franklin, 109; 5. Rio Americano, 159; 6. Ripon, 161; 7. Del Campo, 179; 8. Amador, 230; 9. Rocklin, 247; 10. Cosumnes Oaks, 253; 11. Galt, 293; 12. Middleton, 293.
GIRLS' VARSITY INDIVIDUALS - 1. Ava Luczkow, Bishop Manogue, 20:17.3... 2. Paige Quigley, 20:26.4; 4. Kayla Towne, 20:47.7; 8. Daphne WItherell, 21:07.6; 13. Ryann Strawn, 21:23.8; 23. Grace Dunham, 22:20.0; 33. Pamela Vargas, 23:10.7; 38. Kelsey Sutch, 23:31.3; 39. Emma Dobson, 23:39.8; 41. Remi Vrilakas, 24:02.1; 51. Magdalena Becerril, 24:27.1.
GIRLS JV TEAM SCORES - 1. St. Francis, 15; 2. Rio Americano, 56; 3. Amador, 70.
GIRLS JV INDIVIDUALS - 1. Ava Atangan, Franklin, 25:56.7... 6. Grace Himmelmann, 27:10.8; 7. Olivia Huerta, 27:16.3; 9. Amelia Bell, 27:49.6; 10. Kayla Hussey, 28:04.41, 11. Sarah Charles, 28:04.91; 13. Ava Ellis, 28:45.2; 15. Sierra Lesniewski, 29:15.3; 18. Tatum Brown, 29:34.71; 27. Tiana Smith, 34:27.61.
