The St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) men’s and women’s cross country teams put together strong showings at the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) cross country finals last Saturday, Nov. 30, at Woodward Park in Fresno.
The women’s team finished in second place in the Div. V event. They finished with a score 143 — points represent the finishing places of each team’s top five runners combined. The Pilots finished behind Flintridge Prep of La Canada. The Rebels won back-to-back state titles, with the 2015 team doing it in record time. The team posted a 67 score and an average individual time of 19:12. The Pilot women’s average individual time was more than thirty seconds behind the Rebels at 19:45.
SJND junior Kiera Marshall finished second overall in the competition — out of 196 participants — with a time of 18:18.3. Marshall also finished second in last year’s state final, but in a time of 18:44. The Pilots had the second, fifth (Emily Perez 18:32) and 14th place (Beatrice Levy 19:23) finishers in the competition. 
The Rebels best finisher was Sophie Gitlin who came in seventh place with a time of 18:41. The Pilots had two runners finish ahead of the Rebels’ best runner, but the Rebels had five members finish in the top 21 of the race. 
The Pilots, however, had two members finish 41st and 81st. The Rebels were so dominant, they also had members finish 29th and 30th — their times were discarded because they did not finish in the top five of their team. 
The Rebels’ Natalie O’Brien came in eighth place (18:55) Sasha Codiga finished in 11th place (19:14), Maia Cohen was 20th (19:34) and Jenna Mijares was 21st (19:35). (Participants are given a scoring finish — which is used to determine the team score and the actual finish. Individual runners can qualify for CIF without their team, but they are not given a scoring placement. For example, Cohen finished 24th overall, but was given 20 points because four individual runners without a team finished before her.)
The men’s team finished 13th with a score of 308. Their average individual time was 17:03. Their time was more than a minute behind Div. V winner the Rebels who had an average individual time of 15:57. Flintridge Prep was the first Div. V team to win both the men’s and women’s state championship in the same year.
SJND junior Cooper Teare finished the 3.1-mile course in the fastest time — out of 196 competitors — in 15:07.3. Teare recorded the same time as second place finisher Jack Van Scoter of Flintridge, but Teare’s chest crossed the finish line before Van Scoter. Teare’s time would have been good for 11th overall if you combined all five division championship participants, which included 973 participants. 
After Teare, the Pilots next fastest runner was Daniel Ratto who finished 48th in the team race with a time of 17:01. The next three Pilot runners were Willie Mein (17:09 56th place), Gavin Hill (17:29 78th place) and Connor Waterloo (18:24 125th place). 
The Pilots finished second in last year’s Div. V state final.