Record-breaking Engelhardt, Ventura High girls team win state cross country titles

Sadie Engelhardt had heard of the legend of Sarah Baxter.

Saturday morning at Woodwark Park in Fresno, the Ventura High junior produced her own legendary performance.

Engelhardt won her second straight CIF-State Division II championship in 16 minutes, 40.7 seconds, breaking Baxter’s Division II record, to lead the Ventura High girls cross country team to its first state championship in 19 years.

“I’ve heard a lot about her,” Engelhardt said. “Obviously, she was a legend. I’m excited to be among such a credited athlete.”

Baxter won four straight section and state championships for Simi Valley from 2010 to 2013, running a record 16:43 in 2013.

“That was aggressive,” said Ventura head coach Josh Spiker of Engelhardt's effort. “She wanted to give the course record a go.”

Engelhardt was just nine seconds off the course record of 16:31, set by Malibu’s Claudia Lane in 2017.

Melanie True finished sixth (17:57.1), Tiffany Sax was 22nd (18:26.0), Aelo Curtis was 23rd (18:29.2) and Violet Hurguy was 54th (19:11.4) as Ventura ran the fifth-fastest team time in Division II history.

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“We got out really well overall, roughly where we wanted to,” Spiker said.

Ventura scored 79 points to win its third state championship by a 29-point margin over second-place Whitney.

“I’m very excited with the team title,” Engelhardt said. “That was our goal basically today. This whole season, we knew — especially after Clovis — we knew we had the potential to do it. We’re pretty excited.”

Ventura previously won Division I in 2003 and 2004.

“I walked into a team that was already extremely good,” said Spiker, who took over in the summer from longtime coach Tyree Cruz. “Even though we walked into a group of really good athletes and awesome kids, when you string together the whole season it’s hard to be able to win in the end. So this was a great feeling.”

Engelhardt surprised herself by running a 5:03 opening mile.

“It’s not like I knew I was going that pace either,” Engelhardt said. “I was just kind of going with the flow. You have to account for the hills in the middle mile. I definitely will run that differently next year.”

Engelhardt’s season will continue this weekend, when she makes her debut at Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.

“I’m really excited,” Engelhardt said. “I think I can hang with anyone. It’s just a matter of all the factors on that day.”

Feeling it

Injuries affected several of the area’s other top runners and teams.

The Ventura High boys team bid for its own state title came up just short to Channel League foe Santa Barbara, 91-114, in Division II.

Micah Grossman placed 10th (15:28.9), Anthony Fast Horse finished 14th (15:33.2), Hollis Costa was 33rd (15:45.5), Henry Hammel was 35th (15:48.2) and Noah Sloan was 77th (16:21.0) in the Cougars’ second-place finish.

“We were close and just didn’t quite have it,” Spiker said. “Our goal was absolutely to win. Everybody gave everything they had. I don’t think anyone backed off. They left it all on the course.”

Fast Horse, the University Oregon-bound senior, was limited by a leg injury suffered during the race.

“Anthony had a hamstring issue relatively early on in the race,” Spiker said. “That was rough.”

Oaks Christian senior Payton Godsey, the reigning Division IV girls state champion, was scratched from her race with an injury.

Oaks Christian coach Wes Smith indicated Godsey may not have run — and won — in last week’s CIF-Southern Section Division 4 finals if it wasn’t shifted to the flatter rain course.

“Payton ran hurt last week,” Smith said. “We knew that was probably her last race. She got to end on her terms. If it had been the regular course, she may not have even tried it.”

Without Godsey, the Oaks Christian girls finished fifth in the Division IV race with 150 points.

Grace Geyer was 16th (18:26.4), Delaney Napierala was 18th (18:38.9), Elizabeth Walker was 48th (19:30.7), Kate Walker was 58th (19:47.8) and Alexandra Reierson was 85th (20:20.2) for the Lions.

“We did not have our best race today,” Smith said. “We had a couple really good performances and a couple who struggled in the moment. They had the podium with a mile to go and the other teams were just better today.”

Even without its top runner, UCLA-bound senior Dev Doshi, the Newbury Park boys team earned a podium place by finishing third in Division II with 115 points.

“Our top runner had an injury that popped up right after Southern Section finals last week,” Newbury Park coach Kris Karsten said of Doshi. “We kind of held out hope, but it was clear after warmups that he wasn’t able to go.”

Arnav Shetty finished 11th (15:30.6), Micah Dickran was 28th (15:41.0), Asa Fletcher was 43rd (15:53.4), Nate Porter was 47th (15:59.9) and Brandon Guevara was 49th (16;00.5) as the Panthers still finished strong.

“I think they embraced that challenge,” Karsten said. “They weren’t scared of it. I’m just so proud of those guys.”

Girls results

The Newbury Park girls team put together its best performance of the season to place ninth in Division II with 255 points.

Sophia Grant was 17th (18:17.1), Maya Natarajan was 45th (19:03.2), Norah Lehto was 57th (19:13.2), Danielle Brotoke was 98th (19:44.4) and Elyse Grant was 104th (19:53.1).

“They raced smart, they raced with a lot of heart,” Karsten said. “They put it together for our best race of the season. We had a lot of bad luck early in the season with injuries and various things. We had underperformed all season long. We wanted to go out and really put together our best race of the season.”

Thousand Oaks placed 17th in Division 3.

Cassidy Kajita was 18th (18:32.6) Madeline Cooper was 99th (19:59.7), Maegan Farrell was 109th (20:13.9), Maggie De La Rionda was 132nd (20:40.9) and Summer Hayes was 133rd (20:40.9).

Thacher placed 11th in Division V.

Avery Lieb was 48th (19:57), Taylor Gudebski was 61st (20:10), Julie Lui was 88th (20:52), Sarah Sonenshine was 99th (21:17) and Annikka Zhou was 119th (21:51).

Boys results

JR Lesher of Hueneme placed 29th in Division II in 15:42.

Oak Park placed 10th in Division III.

Neal Pettit was 50th (16:08.6), Mark Hodges was 70th (16:23.8), Grant Jones was 81st (16:31.6), Ethan Marley was 96th (16:39.6) and Luke Denti was 97th (16:40.0) for the Eagles.

Making its second straight state trip, Moorpark placed 12th in Division III.

David Raigoza was 21st (15:43.9), Thomas White was 24th (15:45.9), Hunter Lee was 54th (16:12.6), Isaac Garcia was 153rd (17:11.9) and Andres Uribe was 153rd (17:13.0).

“We’re really happy with our performance,” Moorpark coach Daniel Tustin said. “Everyone competed really well down the strength of the race. We moved up steadily throughout.”

Foothill Tech reached the podium with a third-place finish in Division IV.

Chance Leandro was 19th (15:51.6), Braeden Elliott was 46th (16:26.9), Viggo Bortolin was 48th (16:27.6), Baker Carlisle was 57th (16:33.8) and Conor White was 64th (16:40.3).

Oaks Christian placed ninth in Division IV.

Cooper McNee was 15th (15:41.8), Christian Yoder was 17th (15:48.8), Joshua Mitchell was 36th (16:18.0), Vin Krueger was 42nd (16:25.2) and Jaryl Chen was 159th (18:21.8).

“It was a good learning experience for us,” Smith said. “It wasn’t the race they wanted. They’re going to be left hungry for the next 12 months for sure. …  We can have very big dreams for next year.”

Joe Curley is a staff writer for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Engelhardt, Ventura girls win state cross country titles