FRESNO — Sophomores Hakyeom Park of Ripon Christian and Bennie Dimas of Ripon broke into the top 75 on Saturday in the CIF State Cross Country Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Park finished 64th out of 215 in Division V, traversing the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 30.6 seconds.
“We were excited and he was excited,” Knights coach Jared Gos said. “He ran a good race. We thought he improved from his section race.
“He was running against a lot of upperclassmen. This was a fun experience and will serve as motivation for next year.”
Dimas was 75th out of 212 in Division IV (16:58.3).
“He ran a smart race,” Indians coach Paul Calkins said. “He started out within his abilities, increasing his speed as he went along. He passed a lot of runners in the last mile and we are proud of what he accomplished.”
In Division III from East Union, junior Marco Perez was 97th (16:56.7) out of 203 and senior Julia Vezaldenos was 127th out of 214 (20:38.4).
“The boys Division III at was a tough race,” Lancers coach Rick Cuevas said. “Marco was 97th and did great. And now he knows what it will take to compete at the state level. Some of his teammates came with him for support and our goal next year is to win Sections for boys.
“Julia ran a good time. I was pleased for both of them. We started training in May and they have worked hard. Now to take a little time off and get ready for track.”