Submitted photo – Damian Dinan, fourth from right, celebrates his fourth-place finish in Hayward on Saturday.

A pair of H-DNL champions qualified for the CIF state cross country championships after a strong showing by both at Saturday’s North Coast Section meet in Hayward.

McKinleyville’s Damian Dinan and Eureka’s Sequoia Ashby, who were both crowned league champions earlier this month, continued their impressive seasons by qualifying for the state meet.

Dinan placed fourth overall in the boys Division-5 race, completing the three-mile course in a time of 16 minutes, 4.8 seconds.

Ashby, meanwhile, placed 15th in the girls Division-3 race, finishing in a time of 19:19.6.

Several other H-DNL runners also made the trip for the section meet.

The league champion Arcata boys placed sixth as a team in Division 4.

Arcata’s Nathan Whitney finished 19th overall in a time of 16:45.9, with Reece Thompson just one spot further back and crossing the finish line in a time of 16:46.3.

Teammate Evan Poston placed 32nd, while Levi Browne was 36th, Kai Frimodig 37th, Eoin McGoldrick 48th and Ocean Walker 52nd.

Noah Crosswhite led Fortuna in 88th.

The H-DNL champion Arcata girls, meanwhile, placed 10th.

Freshman Bella DeCarli led the Tigers in 35th, finishing in a time of 21:09.9, followed by teammate Josephine Maguire in 48th, Nicole Nozawa in 67th.

Gabriella Crosswhite led Fortuna in 82nd.

Eureka’s Everett Docherty also impressed and placed 26th in the boys Division-3 race, crossing the line in a time of 17:08, while teammate Sean Morris was 47th, Ryder Bullman 53rd, James Coleman 55th and Chase Jimenez 64th

McKinleyville freshman Miles Day also had a good day at the prestigious meet in the Division-5 race and placed 76th, while teammate Jace Thompson was 89th.

Hoopa senior Julia Jackson led the Warriors and placed 74th in the Division-5 girls race.

Submitted photo – Eureka’s Sequoia Ashby, left, celebrates her state qualification on Saturday.

File photo – Damian Dinan

File photo – Sequoia Ashby