Kaylah Grant went out in her final cross country race of her high school career with an 18th place finish at the CIF State Cross Country Championships in Fresno.
Grant led a pack of four runners from Morgan Hill who took on the best the state had to offer on Nov. 25, joining teammate Audrey Reed, Sobrato’s Jessica Faulk and Oakwood’s Kate Marcotullio.
Grant took 18th overall in Division III with a time of 18:59.7, which was more than a minute behind the state champion in Redwood’s Gillian Wagner who won with a time of 17:49, a good 13 seconds ahead of the next closest finisher.
Oddly, if Grant could have repeated her performance at Toro Park, she would have been right up there with the DIII winner. But Woodard Park is slightly longer than Toro Park where Grant won her CCS title
The 18th place finish is a few spots back of Grant’s junior year run where she took 11th overall.
She goes out a three-tome participant in the state meet.
In her first meet, Reed took 35th overall in Division III with a time of 19:34. Reed was only 20 seconds off her third place time at CCS and was a few seconds off cracking the top 30 in state.
Reed was 9 seconds back of the 29th and 30th place runners but showed she was ready for the big stage.
Also running in her first race, Faulk finished with a time of 21:09.4 to finish 143rd overall out of more than 200 runners.
The Sobrato freshman was about 30 seconds off of her mile pace from CCS, but held her own on the longer course.
Oakwood’s Marcotullio took 81st in a field of 200 runners in the Division V race.
Her time of 20:49.4 was a season PR for the 3.1 mile distance.
“Kate ran well and I think was pleased with the experience, and she was definitely pleased with her time,” said coach Karen Arnold in an email. “She finished in the top half of all of the Division 5 competitors, and was the ninth finisher among the 16 runners from the Central Coast Section which included the strong teams from Nueva and Castilleja Schools.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly left out Jessica Faulk’s performance at state.
