BOULDER | Rangeview’s Luke Sundberg earned his first trip to the Class 5A state cross country meet with his performance in Thursday’s Region 3 boys race.
The sophomore standout — who helped the Raiders win the EMAC boys team championship a week earlier — navigated the course at Viele Lake in 16 minutes, 42 seconds, which brought him across the finish line sixth overall in a race dominated by powerhouse Monarch.
Sundberg just needed to get in the top 15 individually to make the 5A state meet Oct. 28 at the Norris Penrose Events Center and easily did that, though his time ranked just the fourth-best for his season and came a week after clocked a season-best 16:27 to finish as the EMAC runner-up.
Rangeview finished with 217 points, besting ThunderRidge by a single point to take eighth in a 12-team boys field. The Hinkley boys — paced by senior Excel Nsengiyumva in 85th place — finished 12th.
The top four automatic qualifying boys team spots from Region 3 went to Monarch, Boulder, Fairview and Ralston Valley.
In the Region 3 girls race, the best finisher from the two Aurora schools was Hinkley senior Grace Ramirez, who finished in 66th place in a time of 23:37.
The Thunderbirds and Raiders, who were led by freshman Renee Tracy in 71st, finished 11th and 12th, respectively.
The top four automatic qualifying girls team spots from Region 3 went to Fairview, Boulder, Legacy and Monarch.
Courtney Oakes is Aurora Sentinel Sports Editor. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or [email protected] Twitter: @aurorasports. FB: Aurora Prep Sentinel
2017 REGION 3 CROSS COUNTRY MEET
Boys team scores: 1. Monarch 40 points; 2. Boulder 72; 3. Fairview 91; 4. Ralston Valley 122; 5. Denver South 127; 6. Lakewood 150; 7. Legacy 167; 8. RANGEVIEW 217; 9. ThunderRidge 218; 10. Pomona 329; 11. Greeley West 334; 12. HINKLEY 376
Girls team scores: 1. Fairview 64 points; 2. Boulder 78; 3. Legacy 86; 4. Monarch 88; 5. Ralston Valley 132; 6. ThunderRidge 133; 7. Greeley West 178; 8. Lakewood 198; 9. Denver South 203; 10. Pomona 333; 11. HINKLEY 349; 12. RANGEVIEW 376
Top 15 boys individuals (state qualifiers): 1. Charlie Perry (Monarch), 15 minutes, 50 seconds; 2. William Dixon (Monarch), 16:00; 3. Yonatan Kefle (Denver South), 16:10; 4. Isaac Russo (Monarch), 16:20; 5. Chase Dornbusch (Lakewood), 16:33; 6. LUKE SUNDBERG (RANGEVIEW), 16:42; 7. Nick Nowlen (Ralston Valley), 16:43; 8. John Parker (Fairview), 16:43; 9. Henry Murphy (Fairview), 16:46; 10. Orion Pipersky (Boulder), 16:47; 11. Carson Williams (Boulder), 16:51; 12. Gavin Jones (Ralston Valley), 16:52; 13. Parker Lee (Legacy), 16:52; 14. Chris Lyders (Monarch), 16:53; 15. Ryan Montera (Legacy), 17:02
Top 15 girls individuals (state qualifiers): 1. Brynn Siles (Legacy), 18 minutes, 28 seconds; 2. Claudie Burgess (Boulder), 18:48; 3. Elizabeth Schweiker (Ralston Valley), 18:59; 4. Carley Bennett (Lakewood), 19:04; 5. Isabella Bowland (Fairview), 19:16; 6. Shae Henley (ThunderRidge), 19:21; 7. Liz Hogan (Monarch), 19:31; 8. Abby Jones (Legacy), 19:37; 9. Lauren Neugeboren (Boulder), 19:38; 10. Marlena Preigh (Fairview), 19:49; 11. Hannah Mae Gigstad (Ralston Valley), 19:51; 12. Izzy Heart (Boulder), 19:56; 13. Megan Starkey (Greeley West), 20:00; 14. Lauren McKenna (Fairview), 20:03; 15. Maria Geesaman (Greeley West), 20:11
Aurora boys team-by-team results (in order of finish)
Rangeview (217): 6. Luke Sundberg, 16:42; 32. Tesamichael Wolde, 17:43; 54. Ryan Slocum, 18:36; 70. Nicholas Provancal, 19:21; 89. Ricky Hurtado, 20:54; 90. Andrew Coleman, 21:06; 92. Keenan Lutsui, 21:19; 97. Soloman Jameson, 21:59; Hinkley (376): 85. Excel Nsengiyumva, 20:36; 86. Jacob Perez, 20:37; 91. Rolando Salas, 21:07; 96. Ramadan Ali, 21:47; 99. Shavaun Mar, 22:22; 100. Leonel Martinez, 22:25
Aurora girls team-by-team results (in order of finish)
Hinkley (349): 66. Grace Ramirez, 23:27; 77. Josie Bemis, 24:14; 91. Yulissa Chavez, 26:01; 92. Charity Baker, 26:16; 94. Dahlia Castillo, 26:23; 97. Fatima Rosales, 27:31; 100. Sara Galindo, 27:42; Rangeview (376): 71. Renee Tracy, 23:42; 93. Caroline Smith, 26:16; 95. Selam Araya, 27:17; 96. Sumer Martin, 27:29; 98. Shynell Moore, 27:35; 99. Beatrice Martinez, 27:42; 101. Mahayla Griggs, 27:54; 102. Dreighton Godfrey, 28:12
