The Casa Grande boys cross country runners reached the pinnacle of their world, earning a trip to the California Interscholastic Federation state meet coming up Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.
The Vine Valley Athletic League champion Gauchos earned their spot at state by finishing third in the Division III race at the North Coast Section championships held last Saturday at Hayward High School.
Led by Luke Baird’s 20th-place finish over the 3-mile course, Casa Grande totaled 145 points to finish behind winner Maria Carrillo (28) and second-place Campolindo (53). The Gauchos were just a place ahead of Tamalpais, fourth with 146 points. Petaluma finished 16th with 496 points.
The Gauchos ran a team time of 1 hour, 21 minutes, 24 seconds.
Maria Carrillo won the division with one of the all-time great team performances, running a team time of 1:17:09, the best ever for a Redwood Empire team in the 17 years the race has been run over the Hayward High course. It was also the fifth fastest time ever run by any team in any division over the course.
The Pumas were led by senior Colton Swinth, who ran a 15:10.7 to finish second to race winner Dylan Gunn of Campolindo, who won in 15:08.2.
The trip to state will be the fourth for a Casa Grande team, the last coming in 2014.
Baird had finished fourth in last week’s VVAL championships, but he stepped it up to pace the Gauchos in the run for state.
Finishing behind Baird for the well-bunched Gauchos were Logan Moon, 22nd in 16:08.4; William Hite, 27th in 16:12.5; Nolan Hosbein, 33rd in 16:19.8; and Jake Dietlin, 43rd in 16:35.0.
Andrew Gotshall was 60th in 17:05.5 and Aaron Beaube 69th in 17:13.3.
Petaluma was led by freshman Javier Gutierrez, who finished 81st in 17:29.9.
Casa Grande’s Emma Baswell finished 45th in the girls Division III run in 18:39.1.
St. Helena junior Harper McClain won the Division III run, setting a division course record of 17:09.
Maria Carrillo finished third and will send its entire team to state. Campolindo was first, with Alameda second and Tamalpais fourth.
Casa Grande was 14th out of 20 teams, with Petaluma 20th.
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