Almaden Resident

Sports

Barnett romps to 13th-place finish at state--top CCS placer in field

By Dick Sparrer

Stephanie Barnett finished first in the Central Coast Section, two weeks in a row.

The talented Leland sophomore won the CCS Division II girls cross country title on Nov. 11 when she breezed over the Toro Park course in Salinas in 18:12. Then she backed up that effort by finishing first among CCS runners in the state meet held Nov. 25 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Barnett covered the 3.1-mile course in 18:15 to finish 13th in the state. Her nearest CCS rival was Amy Schnittger of Aptos, who ended up 30th in 18:45. Schnittger, a junior, had finished second to Barnett at the CCS finals, running 18:34. Barnett, who was 22 seconds faster than Schnittger at the section meet, beat her Aptos rival by 30 seconds at state.

Barnett's time left her just four seconds out of the top 10, but she was well off the winning pace of 17:20 set by the race winner, Woodbridge sophomore Christine Babcock.

It was an impressive field of young runners that finishing in the state's top 20 in the Division II race. Only six were seniors--just two of them finishing ahead of Barnett--and six were juniors. Barnett was among four sophomores in the top 20 and four were freshmen. Of the eight freshmen and sophomores, four hit the finish gate before Barnett.