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CIF Cross Country: Akins, Calegari lead locals at state

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Nia Akins was hoping to cap her stellar cross country career at Rancho Bernardo High with a top-10 finish at the CIF State Cross Country Championships.

The University of Pennsylvania-bound senior just missed out on reaching that goal, but she did complete the 3.1-mile course at Woodward Park in Fresno in a personal-best 18 minutes, 14.6 seconds to finish in 16th place in the Division II race on Saturday.

Akins, who repeated as the San Diego Section Division II champion last week, bested her time on the course from a season ago by just under 11 seconds. The Broncos took 16th as a team in the Division II race, also getting strong performances from Kassady Learn (71st, 19:00.5) and freshman Sydney Presnell (106, 19:34.7).

Poway junior Alex Calegari was not far behind, finishing the Division II race in 26th place. Her time of 18:21.8 blew away her previous personal best of 18:39, which she set as a freshman. It was a huge improvement over her time last year at state (19:25).

In the boys Division II race, Cameron Tomlinson wrapped up his prep career with a 28th-place finish. The senior, who has battled plantar fasciitis all season, crossed the taper in 15:53.8. It is the second fastest time in school history. The Nighthawks placed 13th as a team.

Rancho Bernardo’s Fuyuki Kuroiwa came in at 16:00.2 in the Division II boys race. That was good enough for 42nd place. Poway was led by Colin Jensen’s 81st-place finish (16:25.9). Jarrett Chinn took 96th (16:32.8) for the Titans, who finished in 19th place as a team.

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