File photo – The Eureka boys cross country team placed first at Del Norte this week.

The Eureka boys continued to impress in the latest H-DNL cross country meet at Del Norte on Wednesday, as did Arcata freshman Ai-Lan McGoldrick.

The Loggers won for the third time in four league meets, holding off Fortuna by just three points in what is a competitive field this season.

Fortuna’s Collin Stockwell took first place in the boys race in a time of 15 minutes, 17 seconds, with Arcata’s Jude Ortega 23 seconds back in second place.

After finishing third in each of the past two races, Ortega timed a PR of 15:40 for his best finish of the season.

The win was Stockwell’s second of the season, after also taking first at last month’s Clam Beach Invitational.

Arcata’s Miles Johnson was third (15:43), with Eureka’s Ian Bennett (16:16) and Jaeden Thayer (16:17) rounding out the top five just a second apart.

Fortuna’s Logan Calvert was sixth, followed by McKinleyville’s West Wood, Eureka’s Diego Gonzales and Jordan Urban and Fortuna’s Andrew Hansen.

The Eureka boys led the way in the team competition with 40 points, followed by Arcata (43), Fortuna (52) and McKinleyville (118).

Freshmen girls continue to impress

McGoldrick continued her outstanding debut season with her fourth first-place in four H-DNL races.

The freshman standout continues to get better, timing a PR of 19 minutes flat over the three-mile course, nine seconds ahead of teammate Vivian Gerstein, who also had a PR and has placed second in every league race.

The Tigers continued to showcase their depth with six of the top-10 finishers, four of them freshmen, and comfortably took the team competition again with 25 points, well ahead of Eureka (46) and Fortuna (62).

Fortuna’s Maggie Stacy also set a PR for her best finish of the day, placing third in a time of 19:35.

Eureka’s KyleeAnna Zink-Clinton was fourth (20:00), followed by teammate and freshman Charlotte Leonard in fifth (20:07).

Arcata’s Raven Alvarez and Aluana Thompson, Eureka’s Anna Grimmett and Arcata’s Ruth Godlin-Sullivan and Sydney Trieu rounded out the top 10.

Grimmett, another freshman, timed a 20:37, which was a PR, and her eighth-place finish was a substantial step up from her previous best league finish of 17th at Arcata.

Next week’s league meet will be hosted by McKinleyville.

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Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.