By james art The next big thing in girls cross country in Northern Nevada is small, but Gioia Coudriet has proven herself among the giants of Northern Nevada’s elite high school runners.
Coudriet, a freshman at Galena, won the girls Class 5A-North Regional Cross Country race Friday at Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno in 19 minutes, 13 seconds to edge teammate senior Eleanor Raker. Raker has been one of the top girls distance runners in the state since her freshman year. But Friday was the first 5K race she ran this fall.
Coudriet, who is about 4-foot-10, 90 pounds, said she relied on her faith to outrun and pull away from Raker to win Friday’s race under cloudy skies and temperatures around 50 degrees.
“I definitely didn’t think I was going to win this race,” Coudriet said. “I felt strength and I had a worship song in my head and I feel like God gave me the strength to fight through.”
She started running in the seventh grade, and that’s when Galena coach Jeff Mann noticed her talent for the first time. He said she started a 1600m race 15 seconds late and still won.
Coudriet said this is the first year she’s developed a serious workout routine.
She has long looked up to Raker.
“Eleanor is definitely a big inspiration to me,” she said. I always admired her and wanted to run with her.
Mann said Coudriet is a natural talent and thrives in a competitive environment.
“She just knows how to compete,” he said. “She knows how to keep her pace. He has natural talent and just an innate ability to compete.”
The state meet – for all classes – is Nov. 2 at Veterans Park in Boulder City.
Carson, the two-time defending regional champion, was second, Douglas was third, Spanish Springs fourth and Reno took fifth. The top five teams qualified for the state meet.
Class 3A
South Tahoe junior Lyla Landy won a close race with North Valleys senior Taylor Dickey to take the Class 3A-North girls title. Landy finished in 19:39, while Dickey was second in 19:31.
Truckee won the team title for the third year in a row. Elko was second, Spring Creek third and Lowry fourth. The top four teams qualified for state.
The Lowry girls cross country team qualified for the state meet for the first time since 2009. The Lowry girls won nine state championships from 2000-2009.
Class 2A
North Tahoe junior Britta Johnson won the 2A-North girls race in 20:08. North Tahoe sophomore Haley Gordon was second (21:20) and North Tahoe senior Alexis Hallenberg was third (21:26).
North Tahoe won the team title, Incline was second and Battle Mountain was third. The top three teams qualified for state.
More: Full results Full results for all regional cross country meets on Friday, October 25, 2024