By Ray Hamill — The race for this year’s H-DNL boys cross country championship is heating up, as the top three contenders continue to build momentum.

On Wednesday afternoon, Fortuna sophomore Juan Ornelas and juniors Evan Poston of Arcata and Ryder Bullman of Eureka occupied the top three spots for the third time in the three league races they have competed in together.

And there was little to separate the talented trio in the charge to the finish line.

Competing at Arcata High School, Ornelas edged Poston for the victory, his third in four league races this fall.

Ornelas completed the 5K course in a time of 16 minutes, 3.17 seconds, which was barely a second faster than Poston, who timed 16:04.25.

Bullman finished third in a time of 16:23.85.

In his three league races this year, Poston has placed first, third and second, while Bullman has placed third, second and third.

Neither Poston nor Bullman competed in the second league race of the year at Del Norte.

Ornelas, meanwhile, has been setting the pace for the league runners in recent weeks, winning three straight races after placing second to Poston in the league opener.

No doubt all three will be among the frontrunners at the upcoming league championships, which will be held at the Arcata Marsh on Nov. 15.

Poston’s Arcata teammates Ocean Walker (16:43.27) and Caden Demers (17:02.00) rounded out the top five on Wednesday to help lead the Tigers to the team win with 21 points.

Eureka (41), Del Norte (91) and McKinleyville (99) rounded out the top four teams.

Individually, Eureka’s Reese Sipma placed sixth, followed in turn by Arcata’s Sebastian Amaro, Jaxon Lewis and Parker Pierson and Eureka’s Sean Morris.

Luke Padilla led Del Norte in 13th, while Jason Weldon led McKinleyville in 17th and Marek Powell led Hoopa in 51st.

In girls action, it was a familiar story.

Eureka junior Claire Gast continued to dominate the field, as she has been doing since first competing in league events last season.

Since then, Gast has won nine of the 10 H-DNL events, including the league championships last fall.

On Wednesday, she completed the 5K course in a time of 20:23.05, almost a minute and a half faster than the field.

Fortuna junior Madison Ruiz placed second for the second straight week in a time of 21:51.07, followed by Arcata’s Zoe Cappuccio (22:20.93) in third.

Fortuna’s Elizabeth Stevens (22:26.21) and Brida Lester (22:34.38) were fourth and fifth.

Arcata had five of the top 10 finishers to take the team win with 33 points, followed by Fortuna (40) and Eureka (59).

Arcata’s Sonya Chisholm, Hadley Brownfield and Nehla Espiritu-Blackstone placed sixth through eighth, followed by Del Norte’s Zakayla Robinson in ninth and Arcata’s Sydney Ventuleth in 10th

Kiera Maloney led Hoopa in 19th, while Faith Menexas led McKinleyville in 24th.