Cross Country

Lars Eng/Special to the Town Crier
St. Francis High’s Eric Eng finished 11th at the state meet.

Despite its domination of the Central Coast Section, the St. Francis High boys cross-country team didn’t expect a runaway win at the state championships – not with Dublin in its division. The North Coast Section champs beat the Lancers seven weeks earlier on the same course.

“That race was a wake-up call,” St. Francis junior Eric Eng said of finishing 40 points behind Dublin Oct. 7 at the Clovis Invitational. “We came into Clovis a little too confident; it kind of humbled us. It showed us what we needed to do and how hard we needed to work.”

Photo by Malcolm Slaney/
Special to the Town Crier Los Altos High’s Owen Mac-Kenzie, above, set a school record at the Clovis Invitational. Fellow Eagle Naomi Donovan ran the second-fastest time in school history there.

The Los Altos High cross-country team has to hope its strong showing at the recent Clovis Invitational – a major meet featuring more than 100 schools from throughout the state – is a sign of things to come.

The Los Altos boys placed second in their division, tying a school record in the process, and the girls finished 19th Oct. 7 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Courtesy of the Chettiar family
Tanish Chettiar and coach Michael Davidson are all smiles at the junior nationals.

Tanish Chettiar’s standout performance in cross-country earned him a trip cross country last month.

The Los Altos resident qualified for the USA Track & Field National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships in Hoover, Ala.

Courtesy of Craig Blockhus
The Mountain View girls finished just behind St. Francis at state.

Mountain View High’s Serena Myjer ran her best race at the right time. The junior set a personal record at Saturday’s state cross-country championships in Fresno.

With what coach Craig Blockhus called “a strong showing,” Myjer finished the 3.1-mile Woodward Park course in 18 minutes, 46 seconds. That was good enough for 37th place in the Division II girls race; only one other Central Coast Section runner did better among the 192 entrants in the race.