By Zach Cavanagh
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Catsimanes Crowned CIF-SS Cross Country Champion
San Clemente senior Hana Catsimanes added the brightest gem to her golden-season crown on Saturday, Nov. 23.
Catsimanes conquered the Division 1 field with a time of 17:21 to capture the CIF-SS Division 1 individual cross country championship on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Riverside Cross Country Course.
Catsimanes’ run paced the Sea View League champion Triton girls team to a fourth-place finish and automatic qualification for the CIF State Championships, which will run on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
The Wake Forest-bound Catsimanes beat out her closest competition in the three-mile race, sophomore Dalia Frias of Mira Costa, by eight seconds. San Clemente junior Kelsie Yamano was the next Triton over the line in 24th at 18:02. Senior Isabelle Sachse finished in 36th at 18:22, freshman Savannah Punak came in 62nd at 18:51 and junior Cameron Green finished 107th at 19:20 to round out San Clemente’s scoring five.
The race was Catsimanes’ fifth straight win, all in high-profile events in the cross country world’s “championship season.”
Catsimanes won the Orange County Championships, Mt. SAC Invitational, Sea View League Finals, CIF-SS preliminaries and now the CIF-SS Finals in consecutive weeks.
After a seventh-place finish at last year’s CIF-SS Finals, Catsimanes actually ran a slower time on her championship run this year. Castimanes ran a time of 17:03 last season on the same course, 18 seconds faster than her winning time.
Catsimanes and the Tritons move on to the state meet on Saturday in Fresno. San Clemente will run in the Division I race at 11:30 a.m.
On the same 5,000-meter course for the Clovis Invitational on Oct. 12, Castimanes ran a time of 17:48. Catsimanes finished 16th in 18:07 at the state meet last season.
Boys Cross Country Finishes 12th at CIF-SS Finals
The San Clemente boys cross country team won’t be joining the girls team on the course in Fresno.
The Tritons finished 12th in the CIF-SS Division 1 Finals on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Riverside Cross Country Course.
The top seven teams advanced to the CIF State Championships and up to five of the top 20 individuals who didn’t qualify with their teams could also advance.
Sea View League champion San Clemente finished with 343 points. Seventh-place Vista Murrieta came in with 257 points.
Junior Brodey Horspool was the top finisher for the Tritons in 27th with a time of 15:27. Junior Ryan Boratynec finished 51st at 15:41, senior Caleb Mettler came in 74th at 15:57, sophomore Hayden Beauchemin landed in 93rd at 16:08, and senior Nathan Kuhn was the final Triton scorer in 127th at 16:27.
Zach Cavanagh
Zach Cavanagh is the sports editor for Picket Fence Media. Zach is a California Journalism Award winner and has covered sports in Orange County since 2013. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @ZachCav and follow our sports coverage on Twitter @SouthOCSports.
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