California comes up just short in trophy bid

The California boys missed out on their first state cross country trophy by two points.

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The Rep's holiday show for the 2014-15 season is Elf.

Stockton finished third in the Class 2 boys team standings Saturday with 129 points, followed by St. Vincent in fourth place with 150. The Pintos took fifth out of 16 teams with 152 points.

Freshman Jason Crow was California's top finisher, taking 46th place out of 171 runners in a time of 18:05.80. Sophomore Jordan Bondurant was one spot behind in 18:06.70, while sophomore Caden Kirksey finished 52nd in 18:13.63.

Other Pinto finishers include sophomore Trevor Porter (64th, 18:29.13), junior Isaac Ash (65th, 18:29.75), freshman Colby Sommerer (83rd, 18:42.78) and junior Austin Bolin (140th, 19:47.20).

Tipton junior Isaac Ashton led the Class 1 area individual runners, finishing third with a time of 17:02.39 to take home his second all-state cross country medal. He finished eighth overall last season.

"At districts, I didn't have the greatest race in the world," Ashton said. "I didn't run very well, it was the coldest meet of the year. Both of the kids who beat me in districts were in the top 25 (at state) too. One of them was coming up on my shoulder with about 800 (meters) left, so I knew there was some good competition coming and I just had to finish the race."

Linn junior Cole Stephens posted his third consecutive all-state finish, taking eighth place in 17:16.72. New Bloomfield freshman Caleb Distler also received all-state honors with a 20th-place time of 17:38.04.

See also: 

State Cross Country Results