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Three St. Mary’s runners qualify for state meet 

St. Mary’s High cross country runner Bridget Duffy won her third consecutive North Coast Section Division IV championship on Saturday in Hayward, overtaking Bishop O’Dowd’s Danilla Musante in the last 400 yards to take the title with a time of 18:06, two seconds ahead of Musante. 

Duffy will be joined at the state championship meet by freshman teammate Gabi Rios-Sotelo, who finished the race sixth in 18:37.  

Duffy also won her first NCS title at Hayward High as a sophomore in 1999. 

“It was running through my mind while I was running,” Duffy said of her repeat performance. “I had to win my third.” 

Duffy’s performance is even more impressive considering the fact she was sick last week and couldn’t train for the race for four days. 

“That’s probably the hardest (race) ever because she’s been sick all week,” St. Mary’s coach Denis Mohun said. “Rather than panicking, she stayed in focus of going after (Musante). It was a great race. 

Qualifying for the state meet in Fresno next weekend was St. Mary’s Rudy Vasquez. He finished third in the boys’ race with a time of 15:40. But Vasquez, who won the NCS title last year, wasn’t happy with his performance. 

“It wasn’t what I wanted, not at all,” he said. “I guess I didn’t have it today, but there’s no excuses. Next week is a new race. I’m going to go out next week and run with everything I have.” 

Berkeley High’s Alex Enscoe finished 31st in the Division I boys’ race with a time of 16:45.