St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) athletes Cooper Teare and Kiera Marshall swept the individual championships at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Div. V state cross country meet last Saturday, Nov. 28. 

The 5K, or 5,000-meter, course took runners through Woodward Park in Fresno. There were five races each in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

SJND
Teare, a senior, beat out 200 other participants in the men’s Div. V race, while Marshall finished before 203 other cross-country athletes. 

Teare finished with a time of 14:58.5. He was the only runner in the Div. V meet to finish in under 15 minutes. In fact, only two other participants, out of 990, in all five division meets completed the race in under 15 minutes (Luis Grijalva of Armijo — 14:50.1 and Callum Bolger of San Luis Obispo — 14:57.4). This is the second year in a row Teare was crowned the Div. V individual men’s champ. Last year, Teare completed the trek in 15:07.3 to win the race. He beat out Jack Van Scoter of Flintridge Prep in La Jolla in a photo finish. Van Scoter also completed the race in 15:07.3. No photo finish was needed this year. Teare beat second place finisher Evan Pattinelli of Flintridge Prep by more than 40 seconds (15:39.3). Teare shaved off more than 17 seconds from last year’s state final time.

Marshall came away with the individual crown after completing the course with a time of 17:40.3. She was one of two participants to finish in under 18 minutes in the Div. V meet (Alex Stout of Pacific Collegiate in Santa Cruz — 17:59.7). Winning the individual meet was a triumph for Marshall as she finished second in 2015 and 2014. She finished second in last year’s Div. V state meet with a time of 18:18.3. In 2014, she completed the race with a time of 18:44. Marshall cut more than a minute off her time from her sophomore year. All three races took place on the same course.  

The SJND men’s and women’s teams competed in the team event. The women’s team finished fifth overall, while the men’s team finished eighth. Sophomore Emily Perez finished fourth overall with a time of 18:22.7. Women’s team members junior Beatrice Levy (43rd place — 20:13.2), sophomore Araceli Zavala (106th place — 21:34) and freshman Danielle Perez (146th place — 22:25.2) rounded out the top five. Only the top five finishers of a team are counted toward the team score. SJND finished with a score of 223. Flintridge Prep won the team championship with a score of 51 — lowest score wins.

The men’s team scored 260. Desert Christian in Lancaster, Calif., won the team meet with a score of 70. Senior Willie Mein was the second Pilot runner to finish the race with a time of 16:24.4 for 22nd place. Others to complete the course for the Pilots included freshman Dominic Padre (73rd place — 17:07.5), senior Gavin Hill (101st place — 17:30.8) and freshman Zavier Annis (133rd place — 17:55.6).

Alameda
The Alameda women’s team finished 16th in the Div. III race out of 24 teams. Sophomore Lauren Lum paced the Hornets with a time of 18:32.2 and a 20th-place finish, out of 204 participants. Senior Lara Vetter completed the race with a time of 19:00 for 47th place. Maya Carpenter (98th place — 19:53.2), Rachel Wellman (135th place- 20:17.3) and Chloe De Verrier (173rd — 21:19.8) rounded out the top five. 

Encinal
Encinal women’s sophomore cross-country runner Shelby Nelson competed solo in the Div. IV race. She finished in 64th place (19:51.1).