GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY: Centennial girls break through for team title

Understandably, Kayla Roberts looked a little dejected just after finishing the Division I state girls cross country meet Saturday at Sunset Park.

In the lead for much of the race and running better than even she expected, the Centennial sophomore lost out to a strong finishing kick by Douglas’ Lindsey Adams.

What Roberts realized moments later, was her second-place effort helped the Bulldogs win the state title.

The state runner-up each of the last two years, Centennial’s girls got strong showings from their entire team and ran away with their first state crown since 2000. The Bulldogs scored 45 points to Palo Verde’s 62. Douglas was third with 83.

“We finally got over the hump,” Centennial coach Roy Sessions said. “Kayla was a big part of that. The last couple of days, I just told her that she was the leader of this team; it was her team. I wanted her to step up, and she did.”

Roberts, who finished 12th in last year’s state meet, was second to teammate Alexis Gourrier in last week’s Sunset Region meet.

Gourrier again set the early pace, but Roberts pulled in front and led by three seconds over Gourrier just before the 2-mile mark in the 3.1-mile race. Adams was third, 13 seconds behind Roberts.

But the Douglas runner kept pecking away at the lead and passed Roberts with a little more than 200 meters to go.

“I ran better than the race I wanted to, but I’m just a little disappointed,” Roberts said. “I expected to be near the front, but there are a lot of amazing runners here. They’re all amazing.”

Adams finished first in 18 minutes, 43.3 seconds. Roberts was second in 18:46, followed by Bishop Manogue’s Hannah Covington in 19:09.1 and Gourrier in 19:12.8.

Centennial also was buoyed by a strong effort from Marieta Wright, who was 10th in 19:57. Centennial’s five scoring runners all finished in the top 25.

“They wanted this so bad,” Sessions said. “We knew it was just a matter of time with a young group. It was frustrating for a while, but it was also motivating. This group worked hard, really put in the work.”

DIVISION I-A

Truckee flexed its muscle, showed its speed to run away and hide from the Division I-A field.

Skyler Flora and Gabrielle Rinne reenacted their 1-2 finish from last year, again taking the top two spots in a dominating effort that helped the Wolverines breeze to the team title.

Flora won the race in 18:44.1 Rinne was second in 19:18.4, well ahead of Spring Creek’s Julia Mahlke, who finished third in 19:41.4.

The Wolverines, who had five of the top eight scoring runners, had 21 points. Spring Creek was second with 34.

Del Sol junior Ingrid Zarate was the top Southern Nevada finisher. Zarate, who only began running cross country this season and won last week’s Southern Region race, finished 12th in 20:59.4.

“It was tough competition,” said Zarate, who played tennis at Del Sol last year. “The girls were very good. They were all very fast. It seems like they were very prepared, and I came here not really knowing what to expect.

“I had a lot of accomplishments. I discovered that I can run.”

DIVISION III

The Meadows’ girls stood around after the race, hoping to hear good news.

It never came.

The Mustangs ran a strong race and had six of the top 19 finishers, but lost the team title by two points to North Tahoe. The Vikings, who had the race’s top two finishers, had 46 points. The Meadows scored 48.

North Tahoe’s Quinn Lehmkuhl won the race in 19:35.5, and teammate Tara Gallant was second in 20:04.1.

Jeneke Heerema paced The Meadows, finishing fourth in 20:40.4.