Arcata

Ornelas, Cappuccio lead the way in second league race at Del Norte

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The youngsters continued to set a blistering pace for the rest of the league at the second H-DNL cross country meet of the season in Crescent City on Wednesday.

Fortuna freshman Juan Ornelas took the win in the boys race, denying Arcata senior Reece Thompson a second league win in eight days by less than six seconds.

Arcata sophomore Zoe Cappuccio took the victory in the girls race, beating Gold Beach’s Coco Plaep by 11 seconds.

After placing seventh in his first H-DNL race at Arcata last week, Ornelas enjoyed a big afternoon and crossed the finish line of the 5K race in a time of 17 minutes, 46.3 seconds.

Thompson was second in a time of 17:52.76, followed by Del Norte’s Dylan Rodriguez in third in a time of 18:13.74.

Arcata had the next three finishers and comfortably took the team win.

Levi Browne was fourth (18:21.10), followed by teammates Evan Poston (18:39.18) and Ocean Walker (18:45.25).

Eureka’s Everett Docherty and Ryder Bullman and Arcata’s Parker Pierson and Eoin McGoldrick rounded out the top 10.

Only four seniors featured in the top 14 finishers.

Arcata scored 26 points to take the team win, followed by Eureka (60) and Fortuna (76).

In the girls race, Cappuccio’s big day helped Arcata to the team victory.

The standout sophomore crossed the line in a time of 23:30.11, while Plaep finished the 5K course in 23:41.65.

The next two runners on the day were both Fortuna Huskies, who had three girls in the top 10.

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Sophomore Alexa McCall (23:57.76) placed third, followed by junior teammate Brida Lester in fourth (24:21.64).

Arcata sophomore Nehla Espiritu-Blackstone rounded out the top five in a time of 24:37.36, with freshman teammate Quincy Kelly next best in a time of 25:15.64.

Del Norte’s Zakayla Robinson, Eureka’s Summer Morales, McKinleyville’s Kiara Weldon and Fortuna’s Meztli Chinas rounded out the top 10.

As a team, Arcata scored 27 points, followed by Fortuna (39) and Eureka (64).

The next league race will take place at McKinleyville on Wednesday.

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