By Ray Hamill — The sophomore and freshmen girls stole the show at the league-opening cross country meet at Arcata High win Wednesday, most notably Eureka’s Clair Gast.

The Loggers sophomore dominated the field on her way to the victory, crossing the finish line close to two minutes ahead of the rest of the field.

Gast finished the 5K course at Arcata High in a time of 21 minutes 22.76 seconds, which was 1:48 better than the second-placed runner.

Sophomores took the top four spots, including a pair of Arcata Tigers, with a freshman in fifth.

Seven of the top 11 finishers on the day were either sophomores or freshmen.

Arcata’s Nehla Espiritu-Blackstone placed second in a time of 23:10.87, followed by teammate Zoe Cappuccio in third in a time of 23:16.67.

The host Tigers took the team win, scoring 27 points followed by Fortuna (44) and Eureka (59).

Fortuna sophomore Alexa McCall placed fourth in a time of 23:19.68, with Arcata freshmen Quincy Kelly fifth in a time of 23:33.79.

Arcata senior Madison Trieu, Fortuna junior Brida Lester, Del Norte junior Zakayla Robinson, Eureka freshman Summer Morales and Fortuna freshmen Elizabeth Stevens and Meztli Chinas placed sixth through 11th.

Junior Kiara Weldon led McKinleyville in 14th and junior Kiera Maloney led Hoopa in 27th.

The boys were also in action, with senior Reece Thompson leading the way in a dominating performance by the Tigers.

For more on the boys race, see Arcata boys take top four spots in H-DNL cross country …

The second race of the H-DNL season will be held at Del Norte next Wednesday.

Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Clair Gast in action for the Eureka Loggers on Wednesday.