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Plendcio, Gibson qualify for state cross country meet

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Two Ramona High School cross country runners will be spending Saturday, Nov. 28, at the CIF state meet on Fresno’s Woodward Park Course.

The San Diego Section boys qualifiers for the Division III state race included Ramona senior Gabe Plendcio, and junior Gwendalyn Gibson was among the Division III girls who placed high enough to earn entry into the state meet.

The top three teams in each division at the San Diego Section meet, which took place Nov. 21 at Morley Field in San Diego, qualify for the state meet as a team, and the fastest five individuals who are not part of a qualifying team are also invited to the state meet. Ramona’s boys finished fifth in the team standings and the Bulldog girls placed eighth among the 15 full teams. Plendcio was fourth in the boys race while Gibson was the 11th girls finisher and the second-fastest runner from a school that will not travel to Fresno as a team.

“I’m excited to go back,” said Plendcio, who participated in last year’s state meet. “It’s been a great season. It’s always a great way to end it up with.”

“I’m just really excited because last year I was so close,” Gibson said. “This year I made it, and that was my goal.”

Last year Ramona’s boys won the section Division III championship and qualified for the state meet as a team. Plendcio was sixth in the 2014 section race with a time of 16:41.48 and finished 37th at the state meet. This year Plendcio had a time of 16:34.91 on the 3.04-mile Morley Field course.

“He had a really good year and he deserves it,” said coach Sherri Edwards. “Mentally he’s a really tough runner.”

Plendcio was sixth as he began his ascent up the incline on the second loop. He approached that incline for the third and final time in third place, although the eventual third-place finisher was Cathedral Catholic junior Hank Tedeusiak, who completed the course in 16:32.89. “The guy had more than I did at the end, but still happy with my place,” Plendcio said.

The first 10 finishers in the Division III race earned all-CIF first-team status while the next ten finishers received second-team all-CIF recognition. Plendcio’s position gave him first-team all-CIF designation for the second consecutive year.

“It’s exciting seeing the season end in that way,” he said.

In 2014 Ramona’s girls placed fifth as a team with then-senior Anna Sundrud qualifying for the state meet by placing ninth and Gibson posting the 19th-place time of 18:38.57 on the 2.75-mile girls course. This year all seven La Costa Canyon runners were among the top nine finishers.

“They made me run faster than I have all season, so I’m thankful that they’re in our division,” Gibson said of the La Costa Canyon runners.

Gibson won both Valley League cluster meets, finishing 26 seconds ahead of the second-place Fallbrook finisher in the Oct. 2 meet and 29 seconds faster than the second-place Fallbrook runner Oct. 29. Her margin of victory in the Nov. 14 league championship meet was 44 seconds.

“This was the first race in which she was actually challenged and pushed,” Edwards said. “I’m happy with the way she ran up with the La Costa girls.”

Cathedral Catholic and University City, who were also state qualifiers, had one runner apiece among the top nine. The first individual qualifier was Point Loma freshman Olivia Wade, whose time was 17:24.13. Gibson had the 11th-place time of 11:27.78.

“She gave it everything she had,” Edwards said.

“I’m happy with how I did. I worked really hard,” Gibson said of 11th place.

The 12th-place finisher, Cathedral Catholic sophomore Elle Waters, took 17:37.33.

“I’m just really excited about today,” Gibson said. “I’m excited for state.”

Gibson was Ramona’s only girl to earn all-CIF recognition this year. A time of 17:37.84 gave junior Marissa Talle 48th place, sophomore Madison Huckey finished 49th with a time of 19:44.62, senior Brittany Davidson concluded her high school cross country career with a time of 19:44.78 for 50th place, Chloe Knowd finished in 52nd place and had a 19:59.01 performance, senior Perla Cruz took 56th place at 20:12.77, and senior Robyn Turner fought though a lingering illness to finish 65th among the 107 runners while completing the course in 21:00.34.

“I’m excited with some of the younger girls, how they ran,” Edwards said. “We’ve got a good crew coming back for next year.”

Two Ramona boys earned all-CIF second-team recognition: senior Colin McNulty placed 12th at 17:09.97 and senior Joey Jauregui had the 18th-place time of 17:34.74.

“Joey and Colin and Gabe were the core of the team the whole year. They were great examples for the boys,” Edwards said. “I wish we could have gone to state for them.”

McNulty was the sixth finisher from a school that did not qualify for the state meet as a team.

“Heartbreaking that he missed it by one place,” Edwards said.

McNulty was 23rd at one point before gaining more than 10 positions.

“I thought Colin had a good race,” Edwards said.

Last year McNulty placed 16th at the CIF meet and Jauregui was 25th.

Cross country team scores are derived by adding the positions of a team’s first five finishers. A school’s sixth and seventh finishers are not scored but can add points to opponents’ totals. La Costa Canyon also won the boys CIF championship and accumulated 57 points, Cathedral Catholic had 73 points, Del Norte finished third with 104 points, University City had the fourth-place total of 106 points, and Ramona was fifth among the 16 full teams with 107 points.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t make it to state,” Edwards said. “The other teams wanted it a little bit more, so it’s a learning experience. At least we challenged and we made our presence known in terms of how close we were.”

Ramona’s next three finishers all made their CIF meet debuts: junior Danny Edwards was 32nd at 18:02.06, senior Jackson Sutter placed 41st with a time of 18:30.36, and freshman Mitchell Sutter took 49th place and finished in 18:53.94. Sophomore Brandan Ruland was the 55th finisher at 19:17.15. The Division III boys race included 111 runners.

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