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The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

The Student News Site of Palo Alto High School

The Paly Voice

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Paly runners fare well in state meet

Senior Herrel Siller Jr. and sophomore Renata Cummins represented Paly at the State Cross Country Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno, Saturday morning.

With a time of 16:12 minutes and a mile pace of 5:13 minutes, Siller finished 31st on the 3.1 mile course rendered muddy and slippery by rain. Siller was one of the 192 runners in his Division II race. In the Division II girls’ race of 190 contestants, Cummins finished 53rd overall with a 6:19 minutes mile pace and a final time of 19:36 minutes.

“Herrel ran his best race of the year,” head coach Paul Jones said. “He had Gunn runners beat him at CCS and the League Meet, but he smoked them at states.”

Siller finished 14 places ahead of the fastest Gunn runner, Zach Klapholz-Brown. Mark Matusak, a senior from Loyola High School, finished 1st in Siller’s race with a time of 15:09 minutes and a mile pace of 4:53 minutes.

Cummins ran after Siller in the Division II girls’ race. “My goal was to get in the top 50, and definitely PR [personal record].”

Despite the coldness and the rain, Cummins was seemingly unaffected by the weather. “I figured everybody else was running in the same conditions,” Cummins said. “They made us take off our sweats really early before our race, so we had to stand around in the cold before the race, and our muscles got tight.”

Cummins’ race started out at a fast pace on the flat first mile, and Cummins completed the first mile in 5.50. “I felt I could have pushed harder on the second mile, but it was really cold,” Cummins said.

“Renata ran well, faster that last year,” Jones said.

Cummins started off the season injured, recovered by the middle of the season, but strained a hamstring near the end. “Her pulled hamstring was an issue; it kept her from training hard at the end of the season,” Jones said.

Tori Tyler, a runner from Gunn, also ran at the state meet, and finished in 3rd place with a time of 18.09. The winning time in Cummins’s race was run by freshman Kauren Tarver of Serrano High School, with a time of 17.48.

Qualifying for the state meet required top placement in the CCS meet held Nov. 13 at Toro Park in Salinas. To go on, runners needed to finish in the top twelve or be amongst the top five individuals who didn’t make the state competition with their team. Siller came in tenth place, and Cummins came in seventh, and were the only two Paly runners to qualify for the state meet.

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