Victory Christian Cross Country Finds Success

By Jeanette Allred-Powless

cross country athletes did a terrific job at the state meet championships in Fresno on Nov. 26. 

Neilson Powless set a new Sac-Joaquin Section record as the fastest freshman ever over the 5K course by finishing 12th overall in the boys varsity with his 16:11 (a 5:13/mile pace).

In the girls varsity race, Victory’s leader Eleah Miner led her team by finishing 90th in 21:31.

The Victory ladies finished 19th in front of Bradshaw Christian for the team awards.

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19  Victory Christian        (25:30  127:27 9:27)
  1     90  Eleah Miner          SR SJS 21:31
  2    142  Holly Harvey         SO SJS 23:31
  3    162  Mary Novak           SO SJS 24:56
  4    168  Emma Welborn         SO SJS 26:31
  5    175  Abigail Fischel      SO SJS 30:58

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The Vikings girls varsity cross country team captured the new Sac-Joaquin Section championship title Nov. 11 at Folsom High School/Willow Hills en route to qualifying for the state championships.

Eleah Minor led the Vikings by finishing 5th in 22:30

Alli Jacobs was 7th in 23:29

Holly Harvey was 8th in 23:46

Mary Novack finished 12th in 24:52

All four of these girls made All- Section Honors

Emma Welborn was 16th in 25:27 and

Abigail Fishel finished 31st in 31:30

Team scores were:

1.)  Victory Christian

2.)  Bradshaw Christian

3.)  Millenium

4.)  Elliot Christian

5.)  Sac County Day

Victory’s Neilson Powless set the new freshman course record on the challenging Willow Hills Course with a new personal best 5K time of 16:33.  It was good enough for the varsity championship title by 1:27 over the 2nd place finisher in the D5 race. Neilson, who qualified to state as an individual, led his Victory varsity team to a close 3rd by a mere six points from the 2nd and last team to qualify for state championships.

Nick Palomo finished 11th (one place out of qualifying to state as an individual) with his 19:22. All Section Honors went to Powless and Palomo.

Donnie Bacchi was 22nd in 20:36

Joel Fischel finished 27th in 20:59

Everett Findlay finished 31st in 21:20

Chet Gorski finished 52nd in 22:48 and

Grant Clark finished 54th in 23:02

1.)  Sac Country Day………65

2.)  Tioga………………………84

3.)  Victory Christian…….90

4.)  Capital Christain……..98

5.)  Foresthill……………….103

Congratulations again to Victory Christian’s state qualifiers: Eleah Minor, Alli Jacobs, Holly Harvey, Mary Novak, Emma Welborn, Abigail Fischel and Neilson Powless. 

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Victory Christian varsity boys and varsity girls both qualified from the sub sections on Nov. 5 at Frogtown (Bret Harte HS) to the section finals.

Freshman standout Neilson Powless captured the overall varsity title to win by more than two minutes.

With Nick Palomo out (taking the SAT’s),

Donnie Bacchi was 9th in 19:40.

Everett Findlay was 22nd in 20:29.

Joel Fischel was 30th in 20:55 (most improved and personal best)

Chet Gorski was 36th in 21:53 as Victory’s 5th finisher.

Grant Clark was 52nd in 23:40 and Steven Bacchi was 53rd in 23:51.

Team scores were as follows:

1.)    Tioga………………..…71

2.)    Capital Christian….94

3.)    Victory Christian…97

4.)    Foresthill……….……98

5.)    Elliot Christian……119

6.)    Faith Christian……121

7.)    Woodland Chris…136

8.)    Sac. County Day…141

9.)    Vacaville Christ….195

In the girls varsity race, Victory’s leader Eleah Miner finished 2nd in 22:20.

Holly Harvey was the most improved, setting her personal best by finishing 5th in 23:09.

Alli Jacobs was 10th in 24:51,

Emma Welborn finished 11th in 24:53,

Mary Novak was 13th in 25:54 and

Abigail Fischel improved to break the 30 min. barrier by finishing 30th in 29:57.

Girls Team scores:

1.)   Victory Christian…..….28

2.)   Bradshaw Christian……48

3.)   Millennium……………...52

Sac. Country Day………87

Our league championships had the girls winning and the boys were 2nd. Victory also had the individual boy (Neilson Powless) and girl (Eleah Miner) league champions.

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