By Noah Perkins /Pt Loma-OB Monthly San Diego Union-Tribune / December 11, 2024
It was a very good year for the Point Loma High School girls cross country team.
The Pointers’ second-place standing at the CIF Division III State Championships in Fresno on Nov. 30 was good for the best finish in school history.
“The team went into it very confident, but not overly confident,” head coach Keith DeLong said. “I was ecstatic with the finish. They were thrilled. Getting there and placing was a huge thing for us.”
The Pointers, who had won the CIF San Diego Section Division III championship two weeks earlier at Morley Field in San Diego’s Balboa Park, finished the roughly 3-mile course at Fresno’s Woodward Park with a team score of 149, trailing first-place South Pasadena’s 106.
“We were moved over to the Western League a couple of years ago,” DeLong said. “We probably have one of the toughest leagues to compete in both in San Diego and statewide. Three of the six teams in our league made it to the state meet. … The kids learn how to compete, and that translates to stronger performances at the big meets.”
Point Loma finished 15th at the state run in 2023.
Seven runners from each competing school ran the course this year, with the total of the top five finishers deciding the team score (lower is better).
For the Pointers, junior Isabella Ramos had a team-best time of 18:26.5 and placed 27th individually. Sophomore Kelly McIntire came in just behind her at 18:39.2 (33rd), followed by sophomore Paige Eudy at 18:59.3 (50th), junior Sara Geiszler at 19:03.6 (57th) and junior Nicole Witt at 19:14.7 (69th). The other Point Loma runners were sophomore Corrine Santoro and junior Zoe Boes.
“Our whole team is really excited,” Eudy said. “We all had a very positive mindset and pushed so hard, not really thinking about the finish but [how] we are going to run strong and do it for the team.”
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Go POINTER’S !