Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Arcata’s Ai-Lan McGoldrick, left, and Vivian Gerstein in action in the second round of the H-DNL at Arcata High on Wednesday.

The future of H-DNL cross country is in good hands.

On Wednesday at Arcata High, the newest crop of local prep cross country stars competed in the second round of league action, with a remarkable 10 freshmen from four different schools placing in the top 17 in the girls race.

Arcata’s Ai-Lan McGoldrick led the way again, winning for the third time in four races this season in a time of 20 minutes, 50.4 seconds.

Temperatures in the high 70s were far from ideal for the runners, but it didn’t slow down the Arcata girls’ momentum, with the Tigers again easily taking the team competition.

Arcata had seven of the top 10 individual finishers, scoring 24 total points, well ahead of Eureka (50) and Fortuna (61).

Each school, however, had some impressive showings.

Junior Vivian Gerstein placed second for Arcata in a time of 21:14.9, with Eureka’s KyleeAnna Zinck-Clinton (22:11.0), Fortuna’s Maggie Stacey (22:42.8) and Eureka’s Charlotte Leonard (23:20.6), another freshman, rounding out the top five.

Arcata’s Sydney Trieu, Zoe MacKnicki, Raven Alvarez, Alauna Thompson and Ruth Godlin-Sullivan placed fifth through 10th.

Freshman Willow Beyer paced McKinleyville in 16th.

McKinleyville’s West Wood

Boys results

McKinleyville’s West Wood timed a 17:02.9 on his way to a second straight win in the boys race, 21 seconds ahead of Fortuna’s Collin Stockwell in second.

Arcata’s Jude Ortega (18:02.4) and Miles Johnson (18:04.2) were next across the line, followed by Fortuna’s Logan Calvert (18:12.9) and Eureka’s Ian Bennett (18:29.1), with four different schools represented in the top six showcasing the competitiveness of this year’s league.

Eureka and Arcata tied in the team competition with 50 points apiece, with the Loggers taking the event on a tiebreaker, decided by the highest sixth-place team runners.

Fortuna just eight points back in third.

Fortuna’s Andrew Hansen, McKinleyville’s Max Combs and Eureka’s Jaeden Thayer and Diego Gonzales rounded out the top 10 individual finishers.

League action continues next Wednesday at the Arcata Community Center.

###

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