Subsections 11-9-2019
Close to all of the S-J Section's approximately 200 schools were represented at yesterday's qualifying round for the S-J Section
Championships next weekend in Folsom. Divisions I-V were represented, mostly with complete teams. Estimates of
the total athletes competing in this very large event at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds near Angels Camp, ranged from 5000 to 6000.
The Honker Varsity girls qualified a team for the Section Meet by placing 10th in the D3 bracket. Leading the way for the
Honker gals was sophomore Lauren Negrete who placed 11th in the 143 competitor race over 3.0 miles. Temperatures
were on the warm side in the afternoon with a significant dust factor. This was Negrete's first time on the challenging hilly 3.0 mile
course posting a 21:02 mark. Her team consisted of Jordan Wilson (40th, 22:21), Jenna Henry (44th, 22:30), Isabelle Reid (93rd, 25:44),
Jackie Lopez (107th, 26:40), Calli Henry (135th, 30:40), and Cali Martin (138th, 31:36). While most of the team is comprised
of sophomores and freshman, this is the Honker's varsity team and they delivered.
The Honker Varsity boys, were led by junior Austin Holtz who placed 42nd of 184. Holtz qualified as an individual qualifier, not
on a top 10 boys team, and will compete at Sections. His time of 18:13 was off his best as the Honkers were
a bit untested in the hills, training mostly on the flat with few opportunities to race in the hills. Justin Negrete followed up Holtz with a
48th place finish in 18:23, also qualifying for Sections. Both Holtz & Negrete were also among YC's five Section qualifiers last year, but only Holtz had an opportunity to run with the air quality cancelling most races. On Saturday however, the Honkers had to settle with
a 14th place team finish as they were without the services of 2 of their top 5 runners.
Coach Buzbee