Ortiz-Osty qualifies for state

RENO – Josefina Ortiz-Osty is 1-for-1.

Ortiz-Osty, running in her first regional meet, qualified for next week’s state meet by virtue of her eighth-place finish at Saturday’s Division I Regional Championships at Rancho San Rafael Park.

“I just ran my normal race,” said Ortiz-Osty, who ran a 20:46 on the soft, wet course. “It’s important to get out near the lead at the beginning so you don’t have so many spots to make up at the end.

”I felt like I had some left. I ended up passing two runners (toward the end).”

Ortiz-Osty led after the first mile, but eventually dropped back toward the end of the lead pack.

The finish wasn’t surprising considering she finished fourth at last week’s Sierra League Championships on the same course.

“She ran a pretty good race,” Carson coach Pete Sinnott said. “Josefina had a good day. She ran with a lot of confidence.

“She took the lead at the mile. I told her to slow down a little. I didn’t want her to go out that fast.”

Ortiz-Osty said running last week and earlier this week helped her immensely.

“I knew where I had to speed up and I knew where I could slow down. I knew I could take it a little easier at the steep hill. Based on my performance last week, I came in looking to finish seventh (and medal).”

The news wasn’t so good for the rest of the Carson girls. The Senators finished seventh with 171 points.

Rheanna Jackson was 30th in 22:05 followed by Blanca Sosa at 32nd in 22:10, Jiavanna Wong-Fortunato in 51st at 23:57, and Athena Favero 52nd at 24:12. Alison Greene and Chloe Hataway competed but were non-scorers.

Reno won the team title with 56 points, followed by Damonte Ranch at 75 and Douglas at 103. Those three are headed to next week’s state meet.

Megan Ruffo, who finished fourth in 20:25, led the Tigers. Madison Cote was 14th in 21:07 and Lizzy Byrne was 25th in 21:46. Leslee Alaniz was 29th and Bailey Gansberg was 31st.

In the Division III-IV race, Sierra Lutheran’s Elaina Marchegger ran a 20:25 to win the race by three seconds over North Tahoe’s Sophia Sanchez. The Falcons finished second to North Tahoe, finishing a scant 12 points behind the Lakers (24-36).

Clare Davison (8th, 22:32), Emily McNeely (9th, 23:12), Taylor Davison (10th, 23:18) and Emma Herron (17th, 24:32) rounded out the Sierra Lutheran scorers.

Marchegger, who finished fourth last year, was briefly challenged by Sanchez, but was able to hold her off at the end.

“I was passed at the end in my last two races, and I wasn’t going to let that happen again, “ she said. “I made it my goal to dig down deep. I even wrote it down. The time wasn’t a PR, but for this course (hills and wetness) it was pretty good.”

In Division 1-A, Dayton’s Kaeli Barwig and Emma Heusser were 30th and 43rd, respectively. Barwig was timed in 23:32 and Heusser in 25:26.

“We wanted Kaeli to get under 24 minutes which she did, and Emma improved by like 20 seconds (from her last race),” Dayton coach Shawn Anderson said.

BOYS

Douglas, led by John Munyan’s third-place finish and an eighth-place finish by Kaleb Morris, placed second in the Division I race.

McQueen won with 48 points and Douglas had 82, nosing out Spanish Springs (85).

Munyan ran a 17:19 and Morris was timed in 17:31.

Carson, with leading runner Ian VanRensselaer sidelined with a stress fracture, finished ninth as a team.

Logan Mead placed 40th in 18:55, Miles Bean was 41st in 19 minutes and Brandon Copeland was 47th in 19:21.

Dayton’s Brady Heusser easily qualified for state with an 18:00 clocking, good for seventh place, and teammate Hunter Hatch finished 15th overall (18:31), grabbing the final qualifying spot.

“I was looking at seventh place going in,” Heusser said. “I wasn’t concerned about time, just wanted to finish (high enough to make state).”

Hatch, who moved from California last fall, was happy about making state. In Santa Clarita, he would play volleyball in the fall and run track in the spring. He’s a cross-country rookie.

“I knew I was right on the bubble,” Hatch said. “I just wanted to run my very best race.”

The Sierra Lutheran boys took second in Div. III-IV thanks to Jared Marchegger, who matched his sister Elaina’s first-place finish. Marchegger was timed in 17:56.

Richard McNeely was seventh in 18:45, Steven Flanagan was 15th in 19:17 and Tyler Waite was 19th in 20:30.