The Dublin High School Varsity Boys Cross Country team continued its nearly unprecedented run of success by defending its crown and winning the North Coast Section (NCS) Division 1 Championship on November 23rd at Hayward High School.
This year’s crown marked the 7th time in the past 8 seasons in which Dublin won an NCS title. The Gaels won five consecutive NCS championship meets (2016-2021) and then again in 2023. Since the NCS has been hosting Cross Country Championship Meets starting in 1954, Dublin’s 7 titles in an 8-season span is a feat only surpassed by S.F. University’s 10 (1999-2009) and matched by Livermore (1990-1996).
Dublin ended up dominating the Division 1 field, winning the race in commanding fashion by over 20 points. Upon the merge of all of the divisional races, the Boys finished 1st in ALL of NCS by 31 points, surpassingg East Bay Athletic League rival and highly state ranked De La Salle in the process.
Justin Feng (3rd – 16:09; fastest overall NCS junior), Lucas Lipman (4th – 16:13; fastest overall NCS sophomore) and Daniel Santhiapillai (7th – 16:19) all medaled. Zayaan Lalani (8th – 16:36), Tristan Gan (9th – 16:46), Kevin Pedregosa (12th – 16:52) and Jorge Martinez-Fernandez (22nd – 17:36) rounded out the team scoring.
In the Division 1 Girls Championship, the Gaels finished in 4th place barely missing qualifying for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championships by 5 points. Overall on the day, the girls finished 8th in ALL of NCS on the merge.
Melia Prenton (8th – 19:16), Laasya Balupari (11th – 19:39; #9 DHS All-Time Senior @ Hayward High School) and Kiran Nayyar (14th – 19:49, #20 DHS & #8 Junior AT @ HHS) become first trio in DHS history to qualify for State. Prenton also becomes the 1st girl in DHS history to qualify in 4 CIF State Championships.
Prenton, Balupari, and Nayyar will join the Boys Cross Country team in this Saturday’s CIF State Meet at Woodwark Park in Fresno. The Girls will run at 8:30 a.m. and the Boys will run at 9:30 a.m.
