Annie Wild and the rest of the Ripon varsity girls cross country team are poised to return to the California Interscholastic Federation Championships.

The Indians made the next step toward state this past Saturday, placing third as a team in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV Sub-Section race at Calaveras County Fairgrounds. They totaled 140 points, finishing behind Christian Brothers (68) and Union Mine (115).

Up next is the SJS Championships on Nov. 12 at Willow Hills Reservoir in Folsom. The top-10 varsity teams in each division and top 10 individuals not part of qualifying teams move onto the Section finale. For lower levels, the top six teams and 10 individuals advance. The top 25 individuals in Sub-Section varsity races and top 20 in the lower levels received medals.

Wild paced the Trans-Valley League champions with her third-place overall finish. She completed the 3-mile rain course in 19 minutes, 04.5 seconds. Following her were Jenna Skavdahl (13th, 20:20.1) and Mallory Govia (29th, 21:17.8).

Ripon’s varsity boys, sophomore boys, JV boys and frosh-soph girls also qualified for the Section meet as teams. The varsity boys took fourth out of 23 Division IV teams with Julio Pelaez (11th, 16:17.2) and Devin Fitzpatrick (22nd, 16:54.6) leading the way.

Sierra’s varsity boys squeaked through to the final by finishing ninth out of 20. Freshman Christian Gonzalez placed 17th in 16:20.1, and sophomore Brady Alves was 45th in 17:17.2.

Lathrop’s Nathaniel Puck (58th, 17:42.4) came up short of a berth to Sections, as Aaron Urtiaga (49th, 17:23.9) of Kimball claimed the final berth. The Spartans finished in 14th place as a team.

Sierra’s Marissa Gonzalez (49th, 21:54.6) captured one of the final two available individual berths in Division III varsity girls. Lathrop’s Taimane Lowery (53rd, 22:00.8) and East Union’s Linda Medrano (56th, 22:07.0). Lowery led the Spartans to a 12th-place team finish.  

Both of Ripon Christian’s varsity squads are moving on in Division V.

The girls team took fourth out of seven and were paced by Maya De Jong (17th, 22:43.1), Addison De Jong (20th, 22:55.9) and Laura Thompson (24th, 23:28.5). The boys ended up eighth out of 13 teams, with Landon Nydam (56th, 20:09.9) leading the Knights.

First-year River Islands made school history with a first-place finish in the Division V freshman boys race, outscoring Central Catholic, 15-47.

Yovani Avila finished third in 13:56.3 on the 2.2-mile rain course. Gabriel Cabiguen (fourth, 14:07.0), Jace Holtz (sixth, 14:26.6) and Logan Orndoff (seventh, 14:43.4) were other top contributors for the Riptide.

Spearheaded by Amani Vaye (seventh, 13:06.1), Caleb Montiel (11th, 13:11.0) and Jared Cook (16th, 13:53.7), Lathrop finished as the Division III freshman boys runner-up. The Spartans were edged out by Mira Loma, 47-49.

Sierra’s frosh-soph girls took second, while Lathrop came in fifth. Monse Saavedra (fifth, 14:53.7), Haley Hill (eighth, 15:00.2) and Haley Gama (Sierra, 10th, 15:11.2) anchored the Timberwolves. Paulina Villareal (16th, 15:56.5) and Sarah Vivero (15:59.4) stood out for Lathrop.

Leading the Ripon sophomore boys and frosh-soph girls to second place in Division IV were James Wilkins (second, 13:00.4), Jonathan Salinas (sixth, 13:33.4) and Vincent Martini (13th, 14:09.6), Emilie Benavides (12th, 16:06.1), Izabella Rodriguez (16th, 16:13.7), Emma Grussing (19th, 16:44.3) and Mollie Walker (20th, 16:47.3).

Moses Gomez (seventh, 18:26.6) and Luke Bair (19th, 19:13.2) helped Ripon’s JV boys take fourth in the Division III-V race.  

Sierra has two Division III sophomore boys qualifiers for the SJS final in Jacob Morrow (24th, 12:44.5) and Ryan McIntyre (30th, 12:48.7).

Manteca did not have any runners qualify out of Division II.

At the SJS Championships, the top three varsity teams in Divisions III-IV and five individuals who finish in the top 14 advance to state. In Division V, it’s the top two teams plus five individuals who place in the top 12.