State cross country

Five days may not seem like a lot of time to prepare for the biggest meet of the year and most likely their lives.

Yet, that is the hand runners that qualified for the state cross country championships will deal with on Saturday in Fresno.

"We'll see what happens," said Marina distance ace Christopher Plascencia, who is going back to the state meet a second straight year.

Poor air quality from the Northern California fires postponed the Central Coast Section finals twice, pushing the meet back eight days to last Sunday.

Plascencia ran nearly 20 seconds slower than his career best at Toro Park in claiming the Division IV title.

"I'd love to get on the podium this year," Plascencia said. "Last week was about just getting through and qualifying. Our training has been geared for this week."

Joining Plascencia in the Division IV race will include Tommy Padilla, who is returning to the state meet for the third time in four years for Palma.

CCS Division IV team champion King City has its eyes on a potential top 10 finish behind Esteban Deniz, Maria Avila and Fausto Medina.

Thanks to Pacific Grove's No. 6 runner, it's headed to the State Division IV meet as well, led by Gabilan Division champion Will Stefanou.

Isaac Gensel put together the race of his life for Monterey in extending his season after winning the Division III title.

"Four years of hard work paid off," Gensel said. "This has been my goal since my freshman year. I'm excited to see what I can do at state."

Division III team champion Greenfield is looking for redemption, especially Rigo Garcia, who lost his shoe during last year's state meet.

"Last year I let my team down," said Garcia, a four-year state meet qualifier. "I'm going back to fix this."

Garcia and teammate Mauricio Arias are the only two seniors on the Greenfield roster.

With the aid of freshman Michael Julian's second place finish in the Division V finals, York will be sending a team to the state meet.

"I'm excited that we're going as a team," Julian said.

Carmel distance ace and Gabilan Division champion Colleen Lang wanted that as well. Instead she'll be going alone as the lone qualifier in Division IV.

"It's my senior year, so I'm excited to be going back," Lang said. "But bummed that I'm going by myself."

Angela Leavitt is going back to the state meet for the third straight year. This year she's going with her Notre Dame teammates after a third place finish in Division V.

Joining the Spirits will be Stevenson sophomore Anna Watson, who is returning for the second straight year.