CHICO — Clear Lake High School sophomore cross country star Hannah Garrity took a step up in competition Friday by competing in the Chico Autumn Invitational at Hooker Oak Park in Chico.
Garrity, undefeated in six races during the Coastal Mountain Conference 2021 fall season, was one of 77 runners, many from much larger high schools, who took part in the Autumn Invitational, which is a 5,000-meter race (slightly more than 3.1 miles). She ended up third overall with a time of 19 minutes, 36.42 seconds.
The only two runners to finish ahead of Garrity were the Molina twins — Della and Iresh — of Chico High School. Della won the race in 18:59.33, a little more than a second ahead of Iresh, who crossed the finish lin in 19:00.38.
Garrity has two more conference races — Wednesday against Lower Lake and St. Helena in St. Helena and Oct. 27 at home against Roseland University Prep and Kelseyville — before the cross country postseason opens with the CMC Championships Nov. 10 at Spring Lake in Santa Rosa. From there it’s on to the North Coast Section Championships Nov. 20 at Hayward High School. Top finishers in each division at the NCS Championships — all Lake County teams except Lower Lake (Division 4) compete in Division 5 — move on to the CIF State Championships Nov. 27 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Garrity didn’t have an opportunity to compete in the postseason her freshman season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
