Submitted photo – Damian Dinan in action at the NCS championships.

McKinleyville’s Damian Dinan and Arcata’s Ai-Lan McGoldrick led the local charge at this past weekend’s North Coast Section Cross Country Championships at Hayward.

After both runners were edged out for a league title at the recent H-DNL championships, they each responded with impressive performances at the big NCS meet.

Dinan had the highest local placing of the day and finished 14th in the boys Division-5 race, which was good enough to qualify for the prestigious state meet in Fresno this weekend.

He finished Saturday’s 3-mile race in a time of 16 minutes, 12.9 seconds.

The McKinleyville junior, who won six of seven H-DNL events this fall, will be the only local runner competing at the big state meet.

We’ll have more on Dinan’s milestone achievement and a preview of the state championships later in the week.

McGoldrick, meanwhile, placed 15th in the NCS girls Division-4 race, running the 3-mile course in a time of 19:35.7.

It was the highest placing among the H-DNL girls and the senior standout was just one spot out of qualifying for the state meet.

Several other H-DNL girls had impressive showings in the D-4 Section championships.

League champion Ella Owsley of Fortuna placed 22nd, followed by Arcata’s Alauna Thompson in 27th.

The league champion Tigers had four other runners place in the top 79, including Gabrielle Ducate (47th), Lillian Cunningham (48th), Emma Martin (50th), Debi Dorfliger (54th) and Frida King (79th).

In the same race, Fortuna’s Gabby Crosswhite was 65th, followed by teammates Stella Lewis (90th) and Fame Baird (104th).

File photo – Ai-Lan McGoldrick

File photo – Ella Owsley

Boys H-DNL champion Daniel Shaver, meanwhile, placed 31st in the D-3 race, which featured 150 runners, followed by teammates Everett Docherty (63rd), Kaelan Docherty (67th), Ashton Plessinger (88th), Chase Jimenez (90th) Wyatt Zerlang (100th) and Zack Halve (106th).

In the D-3 girls race, Eureka’s Charlotte Leonard was 37th, followed by teammates Sequoia Ashby (67th), Miriam Mende (71st), Anna Grimmett (82nd), Sayo Watanabe (98th),and Neel Kirsten (108th)

Also competing on Saturday, Arcata’s Nathan Whitney was 58th in the boys D-4 race, followed by teammates Levi Browne (64th), Andrew Trieu (70th), Kai Frimodig (71st), Tobias Sanchez (74th), Bruin Nave (81st) and Reece Thompson (83rd). 

In the same race, Fortuna’s Noah Crosswhite  placed 93rd, followed by teammates James Aubuchon (105th), David Gutierrez (123rd), Haydin Mela (126th) and Alex Kilroy (127th).

File photo

Dinan’s teammate Jace Thomson was 50th in the boys D-5 race, while Aidan Davis was 94th, Koen Newell was 113th and Wilson Jones (154th).

In the same race, Hoopa’s Robert Connell placed 147th.

Hoopa’s Julia Jackson capped an impressive season for her by placing 78th in the girls D-5 race, followed by McKinleyville’s Emma Sobehrad in 108th.