CIF San Diego Section Cross Country Finals

On Nov. 23, Bonsall High School took part in the CIF San Diego Section Cross Country Finals. Taking place at Morley Field in Balboa Park, BHS and its runners competed for the chance to move on to the 2019 CIF State Cross Country Championship.

Out of the 23 boys’ teams in the Division 5 league, only the top three would qualify for state, and only the top two girls’ teams out of 15 would qualify.

The three boys’ cross country teams that went to the state meet were from Francis Parker School, Santa Fe Christian School, and Pacific Ridge School. Kenan Pala from Francis Parker School beat Riley Burns, the two-time Division 5 San Diego Cross Country Champion.

Pala and the Francis Parker team were sent to compete at state, while the two girls’ cross country teams that were sent to state were from Santa Fe Christian School and The Bishop’s School. Alaina Zamorano of Christian Academy won the championship title and she competed as an individual at state.

The BHS girls’ cross country team performed well on the course, though they did not go on to state. Isabella and Abigayle Ford placed 49th and 50th respectively with times of 23:11 and 23:12. The Fords broke their personal records for the course.

Milana Collier placed 53rd with a time of 23:25. Faith Gioia also broke her personal record with a time of 25:07 at the Morley Field course. This was the last cross country meet for the Fords and Gioia as they will be graduating this year.

The girls’ cross country team placed 11th out of 15 teams and BHS boys’ cross country team placed 13th out of 23 teams. While the BHS cross country teams did not participate in the CIF State Championship this year, boys’ team captain Austin Alanis placed seventh in the San Diego Section Finals and was the third individual to qualify.

“I was so excited that I was able to return to state this year. State had been my goal since the end of the track season, and I had thought about it every waking moment since then. While I wish I was able to have had my whole team go with me, I still thought about them during the race,” Alanis said.

Alanis proudly represented Bonsall High at the state competition, this being his final year before graduating, where he was eager to see other runners. “I was super excited to run with the other teams and individuals from D5 San Diego since we are all good friends. Three of the other boy individuals and I were actually from Summit League, so it was a very familiar atmosphere during the race.”

Alanis placed 54th out of 2013 runners in the CIF State Cross Country Division 5 Championship race, Nov. 30 in Fresno.

Editor’s note: An article on the state meet will be published in a future issue of the Village News.