Still work left to do for RB High’s Akins

The future recently came together for Nia Akins when she verbally committed to the University of Pennsylvania. Now the Rancho Bernardo High senior cross country and track star is ready to finish off the present with a bang.

Akins, who has already had a stellar prep career filled with outstanding accomplishments, has a few more things she would like to do in her final high school cross country season.

“I really want to be top 10 at state,” said Akins, the defending San Diego Section Division II cross country champion. “That has been my goal all year long; to steadily improve up to the state meet and defend my section title. The competition is incredible this year, so it is going to be hard.”

Akins will try to meet her first goal of defending her section crown at Saturday’s CIF San Diego Section Boys and Girls Cross Country Championships at Balboa Park’s Morley Field. The first race begins at 8:30 a.m. and the last starts at 1:25 p.m.

Akins and the Broncos’ girls team will begin the 2.75-mile Division II race at 11:45 a.m. The individual competition could end up being the best of the day with Poway’s Alex Calegari, Canyon Crest Academy’s Kelly Bernd (defending Division II section champion) and Mt. Carmel’s Laura Moran and Kerenza Robinson all expected to challenge for the title.

Akins, who led wire-to-wire in last year’s Division II race and last week captured the Palomar League title, usually sits back early and delivers a strong kick to win. Her main competition know this since they all raced in the Palomar League. Akins did not divulge what her strategy will be this time around.

“I don’t want to say anything yet or give anything away,” said Akins, who won in 16 minutes, 45.04 seconds last year and is hoping to win in 16:30 or better on Saturday. “In the past I have been starting toward the back and working my way up, but I don’t know what I want to do. I know Alex and Laura like to start in front and I know Kelly has the same strategy as me. I probably won’t want to do the same thing I have been doing.”

The Broncos, who also boast strong runners in Kassady Learn, freshman Sydney Presnell, Alyssa Tivadar and Ali Harper, figure to be in a battle with Palomar League champion Westview, Mt. Carmel and San Pasqual for the top spot. The top four teams in Division II will qualify for the state championships.

“Both our boys and girls teams went to state for the first time last year,” Rancho Bernardo coach Terry Dockery said. “It is looking like we are going to be able to repeat that, if everything goes right.”

The Titans will be led by Calegari and Kaitlyn Umsted. Calegari finished just under 10 seconds behind Akins in the Palomar League championships last weekend.

The Del Norte girls will compete in the Division III race, which is slated to start at 8:30 a.m. The Nighthawks, who finished in second place in the Avocado East League, will be led by Hannah Zheng and Isabelle Davis.

Only the top three teams in the division will advance to state. La Costa Canyon, arguably the best team in the state, and Cathedral Catholic are locks for the first two spots. Point Loma, University City and Del Norte will be in a battle for the third spot.

“It is going to be an outside shot for us,” Nighthawks coach Chris Jacobs said. “We are going to need everybody to run well.”

BOYS

Rancho Bernardo, the 2015 Palomar League champions, will be in the hunt to capture its first section championship since 2010 at Saturday’s cross country championships.

The Broncos will be in the 3.1-mile Division II race at Morley Field along with Poway. The race is slated to begin at 1:25 p.m.

“I don’t want to jinx it or sound cocky, but we are in the driver’s seat,” Dockery said of his Broncos. “Nobody has the depth that we do. If everybody is clicking for Mt. Carmel or San Pasqual they can challenge us, but that is a really hard thing to do.”

Not everybody will have to be clicking for the Broncos since they are stacked with talented runners. There is no superstar, but there is very little gap between Rancho Bernardo’s top runner and it’s seventh.

“I don’t need them to do anything extraordinary,” Dockery said. “I just need them to do what they are capable of doing. I am looking for them to be what they have been all year.”

Fuyuki Kuroiwa, Tristan Caparas, Senri Kuroiwa, Jeremy Sanchez and Burak Tufekci all finished in the top 15 for the Broncos at the Palomar League championships last weekend.

The Titans, who should be in a battle with Rancho Bernardo, Mt. Carmel, San Pasqual, Bonita Vista and Steele Canyon for one of the four qualifying spots to state, will be led by senior Colin Jensen and junior Jarett Chinn. The duo finished in seventh and eighth, respectively, at the Palomar League championships last season. Chinn finished in 16th place (16:42.99) at last year’s section championships.

“I think it is going to be interesting,” Poway coach Bruce Jackson said. “I don’t think we need to get anything extra out of the guys to get a qualifying spot, but we cannot have any hiccups.”

Del Norte, who missed out on a state berth last season in Division III after losing a tiebreaker, should be on the bubble to get through again. The Nighthawks, who were co-champions of the Avocado East League with San Pasqual, will need a top-three finish to advance to state for the first time since 2013.

La Costa Canyon is the heavy favorite to win the Division III title. After that, Cathedral Catholic, University City, Ramona and the Nighthawks figure to be battling it out for the final two state-qualifying spots.

Del Norte will be led by senior Cameron Tomlinson, but will need to get strong performances from Igor Landa, Andrew Varvara, Matthew Earney and Jake Kim in order to advance.