Sonora’s Land again reaches medal stand at CIF state cross country meet

After winning her second consecutive Sac-Joaquin Section cross country championship two weeks ago in Folsom, Sonora High School’s Cassi Land set a goal of finishing in the top five at the state meet at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Land just missed that target Saturday but nevertheless capped a superb sophomore season by finishing seventh among Division IV girls with a time of 17 minutes, 59.6 seconds.

“I got a 30-second (personal record), so I was happy about that,” said Land, who finished ninth at the state meet as a freshman. “The first mile, (top five) seemed possible, but I think I went out a little too fast. I usually try to stay with a certain group and I maybe should’ve stayed with the group behind.”

Joining Land on the medal stand – the top 10 in each division receive medals – was Anastasia Karnaze, a senior from Amador who finished ninth in 18:12.4.

Land’s teammate and fellow section champion Jackson McIlroy was 42nd in the boys race in 16:25.

Merced’s Daniel Ambriz, the third section champion from the Stanislaus District, placed 29th in the Division II boys race in 15:48.

Two other local runners delivered top-25 finishes. Riverbank’s Kim Ruvalcaba (18:35) finished 22nd in the girls D-IV race, and Bret Harte’s Kaela Dishion (18:39.2) was one spot behind.

Amador’s girls, led by Karnaze, placed 13th in the D-IV team standings, and Hughson, led by Kinsey Langley’s 67th-place finish (19:52.4), finished 17th. Sierra’s boys placed 21st in D-IV, led by Arish Bala’s 91st-place finish (16:52.9).

Modesto High’s Orlando Cardenas (16:21.6) took 91st in the D-I boys race, and teammate Marc Alania was 103rd (16:28).

This story was originally published November 29, 2015 at 12:20 PM with the headline "Sonora’s Land again reaches medal stand at CIF state cross country meet."