ELVERTA, Calif. – Senior Daphne Witherell finished second overall with a time of 18 minutes, 2.5 seconds, while fellow senior Paige Quigley crossed one place behind in 18:05.8, leading five St. Francis runners in the top five of the girls' 3-mile varsity race, leading the Troubadours to a dominating win at the Delta League Center Meet held at Cherry Island Sports Complex Wednesday morning.

The Troubies scored 26 points overall, 21 ahead of second-place Davis and 55 ticks in front of third-place Franklin. The SFHS frosh-soph squad placed third behind the Wildcats and Blue Devils with 62 points, with Carly Hall (5th), Chloe' Hickey (6th) and Samantha Powers (8th) among the top 10 individuals.

"Improvement is how we gauge how the season is going, and where we're at. A lot of them have improved by minutes, which is exciting to see," said St. Francis head coach Chad Worthen. "I think our prospects are excellent, both for league and as well, for sub-sections, sections, and the prospect of varsity going to state. All teams will continue to improve throughout the season, so we have to continue work hard. We get to preview the section course at the Tom Laythe Invitational on Saturday, so that will be another chance to see where we rate."

Besides Witherell and Quigley, Kayla Towne placed fourth (18:21.1), Grace Dunham took seventh (18:35.3) and Ryann Strawn crossed in 10th (19:08.5) to round out the scoring finishers. Emma Dobson and Pamela Vargas finished in 21st and 22nd, respectively, as displacing finishers. Witherell and Quigley raced side-by-side for almost the entirety of the race, trailing Davis' Norah Dulaney by a few meters throughout. 

In the frosh-soph 1.93-mile run, Hall ran a 12:36.7 for her team-best time. Mykaela Le and Zoe Smith placed 19th and 24th overall for the Troubies' fourth and fifth scors, with Ashlyn Smith (26th) and Stella Davenport (28th) supporting as displacers.

The Delta League cross country season features the one "center meet," the lone event with only the seven member schools in  action. It is also one of the rare meets with only frosh-soph and varsity events, but no junior varsity race. The league championships take place on October 29 at William Jessup.

St. Francis returns to action on Saturday at Bella Vista's Tom Laythe Invitational, held at the same Willow Hills Reservoir course that hosts the Sac-Joaquin Section championships.

2022 DELTA LEAGUE CROSS COUNTRY CENTER MEET
Cherry Island Sports Complex (Elverta, Calif.)
Girls' races only • Winner plus SFHS finishers listed.

FROSH-SOPH TEAM SCORES - 1. Franklin, 48; 2. Davis, 48; 3. St. Francis, 62; 4. Pleasant Grove, 90; 5. Elk Grove, 138; 6. Sheldon, 149.

FROSH-SOPH INDIVIDUALS - 1. Yasmyn Mansouri, Elk Grove, 11:57.7... 5. Carly Hall, 12:36.7; 6. Chloe' Hickey, 12:42.0; 8. Sam Powers, 12:48.0;19. Mykaela Le, 13:18.3; 24. Zoe Smith, 13:42.6; 26. Ashlyn Smith, 13:47.1; 28. Stella Davenport, 13:54.6; 36. Caroline Kesich, 14:20.8; 37. Ashley Sexauer, 14:25.0; 38. Chloe Harrison, 14:25.2; 39. Kyra Lueras, 14:29.2; 47. Rebecca Mochel, 15:04.4; 51. Lucie Pickering Pick, 15:38.9; 53. Evelyn McNearney, 15:46.9; 54. Lena Schnack, 15:49.4; 55. Olivia Charles, 15:54.1; 57. MacKenzie Olmstead, 16:04.8; 58. Gabriela Briscoe, 16:11.8; 61. Gabby Friedman, 16:31.0; 62. Bianca Espanola, 16:44.4; 65. Abbey Pavelchik, 16:58.7; 67. Grace Mastagni, 17:05.2; 69. Jordan Brace, 17:24.8; 71. Sonalika Prasad, 19:15.7; 75. Hanna Wysocynska, 19:53.6; 76. Hailey Ritter, 22:28.0; 77. Hadley Tamblyn, 22:28.7.

VARSITY TEAM SCORES - 1. St. Francis, 26; 2. Davis, 47; 3. Franklin, 81; 4. Pleasant Grove, 108; 5. Cosumnes Oaks, 154; 6. Elk Grove, 158; 7. Sheldon, 168.

VARSITY INDIVIDUALS - 1. Norah Dulaney, Davis, 18:00.6... 2. Daphne Witherell , 18:02.5; 3. Paige Quigley , 18:05.8; 4. Kayla Towne , 18:21.1; 7. Grace Dunham , 18:35.3; 10. Ryann Strawn , 19:08.5; 21. Emma Dobson , 20:02.7; 22. Pamela Vargas , 20:14.7; 25. Remi Vrilakas , 20:19.6; 34. Magdalena Becerril , 21:29.8; 42. Anita White , 22:02.9; 45. Kelsey Sutch , 22:06.6; 49. Grace Himmelmann , 22:27.5; 50. Amelia Bell , 22:28.2; 56. Sarah Charles , 22:47.6; 57. Chloe Rhodes-Nguyen , 22:49.6; 58. Ava Ellis , 22:59.3; 59. Olivia Huerta , 23:02.3; 63. Sierra Lesniewski , 23:31.9; 66. Kayla Hussey , 24:15.4; 67. Anna Harrison , 24:23.2; 68. Tatum Brown , 24:24.2; 79. Tiana Smith , 27:14.3; 83. Sydney Eberhardt, 29:23.4; 84. Adeline McKrell, 30:18.6.