Sanchez: Alpine’s first CIF state champ
- Updated: December 2, 2022
Courtesy photo
2022 EAST COUNTY PREPCROSS COUNTRY
ECS staff report
Results HERE
FRESNO — Liberty Charter High School can now offer is first CIF state champion representing the community of Alpine.
Senior country runner Micah Sanchez, who previously captured the CIF San Diego Section individual championship in Division V, repeated the performance with a near recordperformance, taking the CIF State title at historic Woodward Park on Saturday (Nov. 26).
Sanchez navigated the 3.2-mile course in 15:14 to claim the Division V individual crown. The time was the sixth-best in state history in the division.
In near-perfect racing condition in the Central Valley, a variety of records fell.
Among the boys, junior Emmanuel Perez of Cathedral Caqtholic won the boys DIV race with a seventh-best all-time divisional time of 15:06. Also, , Evan Noonan won the DIIl boys race with a third-best all time sophomore time of 15:05.
Among the girls, sophomore Hanne Thomsen of Montgomery repeated as the girls DIII champ with a second-best all-time divisional time of 17:13.
Sophomore Sadie Engelhardt won the DII title with a third-best all-time divisional time of 16:58 (third-best all-time for a sophomore). Junior Payton Godsey of Oaks Christian won the DIV crown with a fifth-best all-time divisional time of 17:01 (fourth-best all-time for a junior).
In team competition, it was another “runaway” for the Newbury Park, claiming a fourth straight boys team title, with a DII best course score (24) and team time (74:34).
Additionally, senior Lex Young led the Panthers with an all-time best DII boys time of 14:28, a third-best all-time male course mark. In girls action, Buchanan won their fourth State Championship with an all-time DI team-best score of 40 points and a fourth-best DI time of 89:32.
Lions’ lineup
Liberty Charter placed seventh in the team competition with 240 points and a composite time of 1:25:07, just fie minutes behind champion Crystal Springs in a close competition.Meanwhile, the Lions were one place higher than local rival Francis Parker (287 points, 1:26:16).
Meanwhile, Sanchez led fromthe opening gun.
He led after the first mile in 4:46.6, then was ahead at the next checkpoint in 10:21.4 at 2.1 miles.
Sanchez won medalist honors by a full 11 seconds over runner-up Justin Pretre of team runner-up Menlo.
Among other Lions runners, Samuel Morales was 41st overall (16L49:4), Gabriel Gastelum placed 64th (17:16.1),
Record Book
We’re still researching (it’s a HUGE FILE), but few San Diego Section have gave ever taken a state championship. One of the few top runners was Mark Dani of Valhalla (Class of ’86), who once placed third in the old Kinney National Cross Country Championships. Dani later ran for UCLA and once was champion of the Carlsbad 5000.
Read Dani’s Valhalla Hall of Fame biography HERE
