Prep cross country: Montgomery’s Hanne Thomsen joins elite company with 3rd straight state title

It’s a three-peat for Hanne Thomsen.

The Montgomery junior star won her third consecutive cross country state title Saturday, running to a 22-second victory in the Division 3 race at the CIF championships at Woodward Park in Fresno. Her time of 17 minutes, 10 seconds was the fifth fastest across all girls divisions.

With the win, Thomsen now owns four state titles, the other in track and field. She joins local legends Sara Bei Hall and Julia Stamps Mallon as the only three-time cross country state winners in Redwood Empire history. Bei Hall won four straight from 1997-2000, while Hall won three in a row from 1994-1996.

Thomsen was not the only local to put together a strong showing at state.

Her teammates Seelah Kittelstrom and Amrie Lacefield both recorded top-10 finishes in the Division 3 race. Kittelstrom finished fifth in 17:54 and Lacefield eighth in 18:06 to help the Vikings to an 11th-place finish in the team competition.

The times from the three Montgomery juniors were the three fastest by local runners and were in the top 50 across all divisions in the girls field of nearly 1,000 runners.

Also in the Division 3 girls race, Maria Carrillo finished sixth in the team competition, the Pumas’ best placement since finishing fifth in 2018. Freshman Ashlin Mallon paced the Pumas in her first appearance at state, placing 38th overall with a time of 19:07.

Seniors Gracie Trenam and Kira Moe were next across the line for the Pumas, finishing 52nd and 61st, respectively, with times of 19:18 and 19:26.

“Girls performed pretty close to expectations,” said Maria Carrillo head coach Greg Fogg. “I think a few were off our projections … but four of our seven girls got PRs, so that’s always a good day.”

“I think overall, we did pretty good.”

Analy sophomore Stella Finley, making her state debut, finished 105th in the Division 3 race with a time of 20:07.

Capping off the day was Petaluma junior Reilly Kreutz in the Division 4 race. Making her second straight appearance at state, Kreutz finished 25th overall in a time of 18:57. She was one of four local girls to break 19 minutes.

In the Division 5 race, Technology freshman Josie Hill and Cardinal Newman junior Gwen Brockett, both making their state debuts, placed in the top 75. Hill finished 25th overall in 19:31 while Brockett came across the line in 20:22, good for 75th overall out of the field of nearly 200 runners.

Boys

Maria Carrillo finished 19th in the team competition in Division 3, paced by a strong performance from junior Jack Wilson, who finished 61st overall in 16:18, the fastest time from a Sonoma County boy at state.

The Pumas’ next-best finishers were sophomore Trenton Dawson (117th, 16:50) and senior Grant Sanderson (144th, 17:06). Windsor sophomore Xavier Surgeon placed 124th in 16:53 in his first state appearance in the Division 3 race.

“We have six of seven boys returning but we didnt run as fast as we wanted to today,” said Fogg. “As a group, the boys were a bit flat but three of them PR’d out of seven, so that’s pretty good.”

Healdsburg’s Kaeden Anderson started off the day with a 61st-place finish in the Division 5 race. The junior, making his second state appearance, recorded a time of 16:50.

You can reach Staff Writer Gus Morris at 707-304-9372 or gus.morris@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @JustGusPD.