Published Sunday, Nov. 25, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News

State cross-country championships

Graham, Kraemer win titles

BY ANTHONY GALAVIZ
Special to the Mercury News

FRESNO -- Gunn High's Ruth Graham and Saratoga's William Kraemer overcame a soggy course to win state cross-country championships Saturday.

Graham, a junior, covered the 3.1-mile course at Woodward Park in 18 minutes, 8 seconds to win the Division II girls race by 10 seconds over second-place finisher Caitlin Chock of Granite Bay. Graham finished 12th last season.

Kraemer won the Division III boys race in 15:57, three seconds ahead of Kalan Ray of Barstow. San Lorenzo Valley's Alex Dunn finished 10th in 16:22.

In the team standings, Saratoga was fifth with 173 points; first-place Barstow had 49. St. Ignatius finished 10th with 199 points.

In Division III girls, San Lorenzo Valley came within a point of its third consecutive championship, losing to Campolindo 87-88. St. Francis finished fifth with 195 points.

``We wanted to threepeat,'' San Lorenzo Valley Coach Rob Collins said. ``To lose by one point off a rebuilding year is good for our team.''

San Lorenzo Valley lost two runners off last season's team, including Alejandra Barrientos, a state champion in track. The team has one senior -- Hillary Schwarzbach. She finished 27th at 20:02.

``Hillary is one of our hardest workers,'' Collins said.

The other members of the team include Stephanie Hamilton (a freshman who finished 15th in 19:29), Emily Romo (20th, 19:46), Raquel Barrientos (25th, 19:58), Lindsey Cooper (48th, 20:24), Ellen Beebe (91st, 21:05) and Jenny Lewis (102nd, 21:15).

``We're going to have a lot of girls coming back next year,'' Collins said. ``We're building toward next year. I'm very fortunate to have a group of girls like this.

``Our goal in this race was to keep it close, and they did.''

Aptos' Brett Gotcher finished third in the Division I boys race. His time of 15:47 was nine seconds behind the winner, Erik Maldonado of Don Lugo. Last year, Gotcher finished fifth in 15:31.

``My time was slower,'' Gotcher said. ``I'm not sure why. I set a goal to win this race. I was ready for this race for two weeks.''

Gotcher was bumped coming downhill near the two-mile mark.

``I got clipped,'' he said. ``It took me out of my rhythm when they clipped me.''

Other top area finishers included Presentation's Melissa Grelli, who placed third in the Division III girls race in 18:44.

Also in Division III, Shannon Rowbury and Michelle Gallagher of Sacred Heart Cathedral were fifth (18:50) and sixth (18:57), respectively. St. Ignatius' Ciara Viehweg finished 14th in 19:24.

Aptos' Casey Nevitt finished sixth in the Division I girls race in 18:33. Jesse Baldwin of Milpitas was 17th in 18:55.

In the Division V girls race, Anzar's Carmen Buenrostro finished ninth in 20:12. Castilleja's Eva Markiewicz and Alana Levinson finished 12th (20:30) and 14th (20:32), respectively. Harker's Deepa Mathew was 17th in 20:36.

The Carmel boys finished third in Division IV with 131 points.

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