The Monte Vista Invitational - Home of the Eliminator!

Posted on Sun, Nov. 27, 2005 Vikes' Knorr takes second By Phil Jensen CONTRA COSTA TIMES FRESNO - Valley Christian High School's Robbie Knorr didn't panic when he got boxed in early in the Division V boys race at the California Interscholastic Federation state cross country championships. The junior kept in contact with the lead duo of Mt. Shasta's Austin Fritzke and Fall River-Mcarthur's Brent Handa, although the gap between the duo and Knorr reached 13 seconds at the 2-mile mark. Knorr roared through the final 1.1 miles to catch Handa and place second, the best finish in the region by a male runner Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. "(At two miles), I was wondering if I could catch up to them. I was just hoping to do my best," Knorr said. "With about 600 meters to go, I started closing on Handa. I was hoping to catch him, and I did." Knorr, a two-time Central Coast Section Division V champion, closed with a great kick and finished the 5,000-meter race with a time of 16 minutes, 8 seconds. Fritzke, the defending champion, won in 15:56. The Vikings finished ninth as a team with 273 points. "I just turned it on right before I got to the grass (about 100 meters to the finish)," Knorr said. "I was hoping for first, but second is awesome, too." Livermore's Diana George also had to bounce back after an early setback. She had many runners to overcome after an unfortunate incident a little more than 100 meters into the Division I girls race. "I tripped at the very beginning on the cement, and I think it screwed up my mental part (of the race)," George said. "It was really frustrating." George fought through the adversity to complete the first mile in 5:43 and the second in 12:13. She finished in 30th place with a time of 19:06. Monte Vista's Chris Simpson passed through the 2-mile mark in the Division I boys race in 10:33 and finished in 16:28, good for 51st place. "At the beginning, I was thinking of staying at 5-flat (for the mile), but I went through at 4:53," Simpson said. "I couldn't pass throughout the race because of big lumps of people, but it played out pretty well." Like all the competitors in the Division I boys race, Simpson had to weather two restarts after a runner fell in the first 100 meters. Castro Valley's boys and girls teams had top-20 finishes in the Division I races. The boys placed 15th with 398 points and were paced by sophomore James Fazzio (76th, 16:41). The girls team was 18th with 451 points. Its top finisher was sophomore Karlina Beringer (61st, 19:36). San Ramon Valley's Alexis Nordine was 120th in the Division I girls race with a time of 20:19. The region's top female finisher and top team came in the Division III girls race. Acalanes' Mo Huber was second in 18:13. Miramonte placed third as a team with 142 points. Its top finisher was Elaine Tanski (seventh, 18:30). Piedmont was the highest-placing team in the East Bay, by winning the Division IV boys title with 96 points. Mark Ceraldi led the way by finishing fifth (16:04). Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep-San Luis Obispo shattered the freshman girls record for the state championship course and recorded the sixth-fastest all-time girls mark (17:11) to win the Division V girls race.