BELMONT -- The Sobrato Bulldogs are going back to CCS.
Coach Dave Wolfsmith's boys and girls cross country teams placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 24-team Blossom Valley Athletic League Finals meet Monday and will return to Crystal Springs for the Nov. 14 Central Coast Section Championships.
"It's a great way for us to end the season," Wolfsmith said Tuesday. "We're going to be much better teams because of the groundwork we've made this year."
The Sobrato runners should feel confident tackling the 2.95-mile course again, especially the Lady Bulldogs. Despite the surprisingly warm mid-80s temperature, many of them came close to clocking new season-best times. Sophomore Sarah Gilbert did so, finishing first for the Sobrato girls and ninth out of 161 runners in 20 minutes, 22.1 seconds. Her classmate, Courtney Ellenburg, crossed less than a minute behind in 21:08.5.
"I expected Sarah to be there. She's been our top runner the last two meets, but Courtney was like our Runner of the Meet," Wolfsmith said. "For her to step up that much meant a lot."
Senior sisters Rachel (21:49.8) and Ashley Sandberg (22:51.9) placed 31st and 56th, junior Emily Thoms (23:06) took 65th and Lindsey Crane (24:16.2) was 84th, rounding out Sobrato's contingent.
The Lady Bulldogs scored 179 points, which was enough to avenge regular-season losses to Mount Hamilton Division foes Silver Creek and Willow Glen. Evergreen Valley tallied 62 to win the team championship.
Leigh's Melissa Hopper won the individual title in 18:52.8.
Willow Glen continued its BVAL dominance in boys cross country, scoring 84 points to take top honors.
The Sobrato boys (132) didn't clock the times they were hoping for but nearly fulfilled their goal of producing four top-30 finishers. They had three finish in the top 20.
"Looking at the times, it was a really slow meet," Wolfsmith said. "I think the heat caught everyone off guard. The guys really worked hard to get the placings they did."
Junior Winston Van Keulen (16:52) shaved 10 seconds off his previous best time at Crystal springs to lead the Bulldogs in 12th place out of 160. Seniors Alan Rios (17:12.4) and Ben King (17:21) followed in 15th and 19th.
"Winston ran a great race for us. The other guys were right where they needed to be," Wolfsmith said.
Mitch Schenkelberg (17:46.4) was less than a second from breaking into the top 30, finishing three tenths of a second behind Lick's Carlos Montes for 31st. Sobrato's Bruce Pham placed 56th in 18:28.8, and Derek Deisenroth crossed 20 seconds later in 18:48.1 for 68th.
Weston Strum (15:15.5) of Pioneer won the boys crown.
The top three teams at CCS will advance to the CIF State Championships, held Nov. 28 in Fresno's Woodward Park. Gilbert, Ellenburg, Van Keulen and Rios have outside chances of making the individual cut in Division II, Wolfsmith said, but the team season is likely over for the Bulldogs.
"Division II is the strongest again, by far; way stronger than Division I," said Wolfsmith, now in his fifth year with Sobrato. "Our goals are to finish in the top 10 at CCS. If our teams can do that, it would be a real accomplishment."
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