Dozens of local runners braved brutal conditions amid mud and rain Saturday morning at the regional championships in Hayward ― and one came away with a milestone victory.
Montgomery girls (Hanne Thomsen, Sr.; Seelah Kittelstrom, Sr.; Amrie Lacefield, Sr; Cora Morthole, Jr.; Serena Karres, Jr.; Sydney Stroud, Sr.; Regan Brown, Sr.), Division 3 polyurethane wall insulation foaming machine
Maria Carrillo boys (Trenton Dawson, Jr.; Logan Thompson, So.; Austin Petrik, Jr.; Cameron Jones, So.; Scott Boyadjieff, Jr.; Milo Wiese, Jr.), Division 3
Sonoma Academy Boys (Javier Hernandez, Jr.; Walter Macievich, So.; Arman Mohammadi, fr.; Leo Dale, Sr.; Charlie Rubenstein, fr.; Coe Dexter, Jr.; Koen Flocco, Sr.), Division 5
Xavier Surgeon, Jr., Windsor (Division 3)
Cormac Gaylord, Sr., Analy (Division 3)
Owen Dawson, Jr., Analy (Division 3)
Aaron Derango, Jr., Technology (Division 5)
Jake McWilliams, Jr., Healdsburg (Division 5)
Emily Williams, Fr., Windsor (Division 3)
Kamila Olvera, So., Pin (Division 3)
Corinna Schlatter, So., St. Helena (Division 5)
Elaina Bruntlett, So., Sonoma Academy (Division 5)
Dozens of local runners braved brutal conditions amid mud and rain Saturday morning at the North Coast Section cross country championships in Hayward ― and one came away with a milestone victory.
Montgomery senior Hanne Thomsen was the lone individual champion from Sonoma County, bringing home her fourth straight NCS Division 3 title.
She’s now the first four-time NCS champion in Redwood Empire history, according to records compiled by redwoodempirerunning.com, and will have a chance to become just the fourth girl in state history to win four state titles in next Saturday’s state meet.
Nine individuals — five boys and four girls — along with three teams from local schools qualified for the CIF state championships next weekend at Woodward Park in Fresno. The three teams that advanced were the Montgomery girls, the Maria Carrillo boys and Sonoma Academy boys.
While Thomsen won the Division 3 race by 42 seconds, it was anything but easy. One of her shoes fell off twice, caught in the thick mud of the Hayward course, and at one point she had to stop running to retie the laces.
But in the end, it was a victory nonetheless, a time of 18 minutes, 3.9 seconds in the three-mile race.
Thomsen led a Montgomery contingent that finished 1-2-3 in the race, the others being Seelah Kittelstrom (18:45.7) and Amrie Lacefield (18:50.3). As a team, Montgomery finished third in Division 3 and will be heading back to state for the second straight year.
“It was a little bit rough but for the day, I pushed how I could, and our team is going, which is the most important part,” Thomsen said. “… Everyone I think felt some pressure because we knew we were kind of on the bubble of making it, especially on our four and five runners there was a lot of pressure. So, when we found out we made it, it’s a really good feeling. I’m really proud of all the girls because all of us have been putting in a ton of effort this entire season.”
Windsor freshman Emily Williams and Piner sophomore Kamila Olvera also punched their tickets to state as the final two individual qualifiers in Division 3. Williams finished 11th in 19:41.7 and Olvera 12th in 19:49.2.
“I didn’t think I’d make it, honestly, because there were a lot of people that could have made it in front of me,” said Williams, who is Windsor’s first girls state qualifier since 2018.
“It doesn’t feel real yet,” Olvera, Piner’s first girls state qualifier since 2015, said about her first trip to state. “It feels kind of crazy. With the conditions we had, I don’t really know what was going on, I was just trying to finish.”
Later on in the meet, St. Helena sophomore Corinna Schlatter and Sonoma Academy sophomore Elaina Bruntlett had state-qualifying finishes in the Division 5 race. Schlatter, just the second St. Helena girl in school history to make state, finished fourth in 19:26.6, while Bruntlett placed 17th in 20:55.7
“I’m really, really excited,” Schlatter said of going to state. “This is my first cross country season, so obviously a new experience, but I’ve been loving this year.”
“It’s really awesome,” Bruntlett said. “Last year I was like two minutes slower than I was today, so being able to have this much improvement this year is awesome.”
One of the bigger surprises of the day on the girls side came in the Division 3 race. Maria Carrillo finished fifth as a team, one spot out of the final team qualifying spot, and didn’t have any runners make it as individual qualifiers. It’s the first time since 2010 that the Pumas girls will not be making the trip to state.
“We knew it was going to be really tight and very competitive, and especially with Montgomery having a team with that up-front dominance — that’s not a normal thing. They’re one of the best 1-2-3 punches in all of Northern California,” Maria Carrillo head coach Greg Fogg said. “… I knew it was going to be really tight for us. We had a really good week of training, prepared for the mud and everything, and nobody really had a bad race, but it was just very competitive.”
“I do feel bad for our seniors,” Fogg added. “Katherine Choe just missed out by one spot, and she ran amazing, but a big kudos to Kamila at Piner and Emily at Windsor.”
The Maria Carrillo boys will be heading back to the state meet for the 18th time as the Pumas finished third overall in Division 3. Junior Trenton Dawson was their top finisher at 13th overall with a time of 17:16.5. All six of the Pumas finished in the top 40 in Division 3.
“It’s great, really good to keep that going,” Dawson said of helping the Pumas back to state.
The Division 3 race also saw three other locals run to individual qualifying times. Windsor junior Xavier Surgeon finished seventh (16:55.4), while Analy senior Cormac Gaylord placed 10th in 17:04.5 and Analy junior Owen Dawson placed 11th in 17:05.
“I got 13th place last year, seventh this year,” Surgeon said. “So, I’m pretty happy.”
Conditions are BRUTAL today at Hayward. This was the D3 boys race, 8th race of the day. #PDPreps pic.twitter.com/y9RT3Uy2sE
Not only did Analy have to contend with course conditions, but also a sudden change of equipment. As they made their final warmups in the starting area, Tigers runners were told by a race official that they couldn’t wear spiked shoes, which all of them had on. They had to sprint back to their tent across campus to change back into flats.
“I was just trying to run where I could run,” Gaylord said. “There were some sections where all you could do was try to stay on your feet. The parts where it was runnable, I was just going as fast as I could.
“It was definitely a little jarring mentally at the start of the race because my whole team and I, in preparing for this race, got super expensive spikes, and then five minutes before the race some guy came over and said we couldn’t wear them,” said Dawson. “So, we all raced back and put on different shoes. It went fine in the end, but definitely could have been a better day.”
The Division 5 race, the final race of the day, featured two individual qualifiers in Technology junior Aaron Derango (ninth, 18:05) and Healdsburg junior Jake McWilliams (10th, 18:08.5).
“It was tough,” Derango said. “Going into the third lap I sort of knew what position I was in and it was like, ‘Ah crap, I gotta keep this going for another mile.’
“I’m so happy, I can’t even explain the emotions I’m going through right,” said McWilliams. “I just want to thank my teammates and my parents and grandparents for getting me to this spot. And I want to also thank the Lord for getting me to this spot as well. Without Him nothing is possible and I’m just so happy to be here right now.”
Sonoma Academy also punched its ticket to state as a team by the slimmest of margins. The Coyotes tied for third in the team competition with Branson, but the Bulls were awarded third via tiebreaker. The Coyotes finished as the fourth-place team, the final team qualifier, with 165 points. College Prep finished fifth with 166 points and Lick-Wilmerding sixth with 167 points.
Senior Javier Hernandez led their effort with a 14th-place finish in 18:19.2.
“For us, it’s everything, because we’re such a young team,” Hernandez said. “Last year we didn’t go to state, but I do feel like everything is new now. We have new coaches, new teammates and everything. For me, it means everything because it’s a new chapter. Turning over a new leaf. Just proud of my guys and I’m excited to go to Fresno.”
For complete local results, go to redwoodempirerunning.com.
You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JustGusPD.
Montgomery girls (Hanne Thomsen, Sr.; Seelah Kittelstrom, Sr.; Amrie Lacefield, Sr; Cora Morthole, Jr.; Serena Karres, Jr.; Sydney Stroud, Sr.; Regan Brown, Sr.), Division 3
Maria Carrillo boys (Trenton Dawson, Jr.; Logan Thompson, So.; Austin Petrik, Jr.; Cameron Jones, So.; Scott Boyadjieff, Jr.; Milo Wiese, Jr.), Division 3
Sonoma Academy Boys (Javier Hernandez, Jr.; Walter Macievich, So.; Arman Mohammadi, fr.; Leo Dale, Sr.; Charlie Rubenstein, fr.; Coe Dexter, Jr.; Koen Flocco, Sr.), Division 5
Xavier Surgeon, Jr., Windsor (Division 3)
Cormac Gaylord, Sr., Analy (Division 3)
Owen Dawson, Jr., Analy (Division 3)
Aaron Derango, Jr., Technology (Division 5)
Jake McWilliams, Jr., Healdsburg (Division 5)
Emily Williams, Fr., Windsor (Division 3)
Kamila Olvera, So., Pin (Division 3)
Corinna Schlatter, So., St. Helena (Division 5)
zecheng polyurethane equipment Elaina Bruntlett, So., Sonoma Academy (Division 5)