Esperanza girls cross country team finishes in second place at state finals

Congratulations to the Esperanza High School girls cross country team for taking home second place at the California state finals this past weekend. With one mile to go in the race, the team was vying for third place with two other schools – Aptos High School (from the Central Coast) and La Costa Canyon High School (from San Diego). They weren’t even in the running for second place; however, they took control of the race, and pushed themselves to the limit, passing girl after girl. As they anxiously waited for the results to be posted, they were hoping that they had done enough work to secure a third place finish. When the second place finish was announced, there was a roar of cheers, tears and embraces all around. Their hard work paid off! Initially, the team was tied with the third place team, but then the scoring went to the sixth runner on each team to break the tie. Katelyn Wilson came through huge for the Aztecs by beating the Aptos sixth runner by 46 places! This success was a total team effort – each runner gave their all. Together, Shannon Mac Kellar and Summer Shea passed over 30 girls in the last mile. The team was led by Sapna Dholakia, who finished in 13th place overall. Teammates Hannah Dumaine, Lauren Reeves and Desiree Oden also had solid races to help the team capture their second place finish. Congrats Aztecs!