Centennial’s boys, Coronado’s girls grab state cross country titles

It was a strong day for valley schools Saturday at the state cross country meet, especially in the Class 4A ranks.

The Centennial boys brought home their second straight state championship, while the Coronado girls claimed their second title in school history at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park in Reno.

“The hardest part in coming up here is traveling the day before,” Centennial coach Chris Martinez said. “We leave at 6 a.m., get up here about 3 p.m. We didn’t run until after 1 p.m. today, so there’s a lot of sitting around and waiting. But the kids have a lot of experience, and they’ve been strong throughout the season.”

The Bulldogs returned six runners from last year’s team, and Martinez said the trio of Tucker Raymond, Ty Huel and Eduardo Lopez-Cortez have formed the leadership core.

Raymond was second overall with a time of 16 minutes, 54 seconds, to lead Centennial to a winning score of 54 — the sixth crown in school history. Reed finished second with 78, and Arbor View was third with 103. Huel was 15th (17:28), sophomore Adrian Kotero was 17th (17:30), and Lopez-Cortez was 21st (17:36).

Faith Lutheran senior Raymond Millero was the individual champion in 16:47, and his teammate and fellow senior Aidan Baughan was fifth in 17:08. Palo Verde junior John List finished third (16:58), and Arbor View senior Mario Gutierrez was fourth (17:01).

Valley senior Christian Franklin won the 3A championship in 16:33, while Democracy Prep junior Oracio Garcia was fourth in 17:45. Beatty senior Jose Granados (17:57, sixth) was the valley’s top finisher in the 2A race.

Coronado claims girls title

Coronado posted a team score of 50 to add a second state title to the one it claimed in 2012, 38 points ahead of Reno. Palo Verde was third with 107.

Senior Porshe Eismann led the Cougars with a second-place finish in 19:50, and they had three other runners in the top 21. Sophomore Kelly Denninghoff was 14th (20:47), senior Ellen Wise was 16th (21:04), and Kylee Baird was 21st (21:21). Centennial junior Ashley Roberts was the valley’s only other top-five finisher. She was fourth in 19:59.

Boulder City was third in 3A with 85 points and was led by sophomore Mary Henderson (fourth, 20:32). Moapa Valley sophomore Emma Hughes was third in 20:24.

In 2A, Laughlin was third with 51 points, led by freshman Leslie Quintero and her second-place finish in 22:27.

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Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2936. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.