YC cross country teams advance to state

The Yuma Catholic boys and girls cross country team each qualified for the state meet Saturday after placing fourth and fifth, respectively, at the regional meet held in Phoenix.

Jacob Harmon placed eighth for the Shamrocks with a time of 17 minutes, 34 seconds and Michael Aguilera finished 20th (18:12). Yuma Catholic finished with a team score 121, which was 64 points shy of the mark set by first place finisher Valley Christian.

"We've improved a lot after not qualifying a single boy for state last year, let alone a team," Yuma Catholic coach Ralph Farr said.

Samantha Barczynski placed fifth in the girls' race with a time of 21:22, followed by teammate Jaclyn Hill at ninth (21:48). Only the top five girls' teams qualified for state, and the performance of Barczysnki and Hill helped the Shamrocks sneak in.

"I knew we had two who'd run the race well," Farr said in reference to his top 10 finishers. "I just didn't know how the rest of the roster would fare."

Yuma Catholic will compete in the state meet Saturday which will be held at the Cave Creek golf course in Phoenix.