With a total of nine section titles and 12 runner-up finishes in 12 years under Head Coach Dan Geiger entering Saturday’s 2021 CIF Division III Cross Country Championship, the Cathedral Catholic cross country program is already established as one of, if not the most, consistent in San Diego. When Saturday’s festivities at Balboa Park’s Morley Field were concluded, the Dons had burnished that legacy, winning a second straight girls’ banner and grabbing runner-up honors on the boys side, meaning both teams earned berths in the November 27 CIF State Meet at Fresno.

After breaking a five-year stretch of second place finishes at this meet with a CIF crown in 2019 (there was no CIF Championship in last year’s pandemic-shortened season), the Don boys stepped to the line Saturday looking for a repeat but got edged out by first time winner Hilltop (95-110), tying with El Capitan in the silver medal slot.

Cathedral placed three seniors in its top four, paced by Blake Levy who secured fourth place, covering the 2.96 mile layout in 15:41.4. That left him 26 seconds behind LCC junior Jacob Niednagel, the individual medalist, who powered past Hilltop senior Jimmy Byland in the final 100 yards.

“The boys had hopes for winning it today but Hilltop did a great job and that was the key,” said Geiger. “You have to be ‘on’ on race day.”

View the complete story on the Del Mar Times – Solana Beach Sun – Carmel Valley News website.