Granite Bay's Maggie Bell, running the third-fastest all-time mark by a freshman in the 26-year history of the CIF State Cross Country Championships, won the Division II girls title on Saturday in Fresno.
Bell covered the 5,000- meter Woodward Park course in a time of 17 minutes, 29 seconds. Sophomore Samantha Ortega of Saugus placed second in 17:33.
Bell's time was the fourth fastest among girls racing in the five divisions.
D-I champion Sarah Baxter, a junior from Simi Valley who won her third state title, set a new course record of 16:40, bettering the old mark of 16:43 set by Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa in 1996.
Bell becomes only the fifth area girl to win a state title in the 25-year history of the event.
She also becomes Granite Bay's second girls state champion, joining Caitlin Chock, who won D-II in 2002 and 2003.
Bell wasn't the only area freshman to have a strong race. Davis' Fiona O'Keeffe placed sixth in D-I girls in 17:49.
In other area meet highlights:
• Led by Lauren LaRocco's 16th-place finish, St. Francis placed second to Great Oak-Temecula, 57-115, in the D-I team finals. Peyton Bilo (30th, 18:31), Eleanor Ferguson (32nd, 18:34), Madison Rawson (38th, 18:38) and Miranda Myers (48th, 18:49) were the other scoring members for the Troubadours.
• For the second year in a row, Vista Del Lago's Madeleine Ankhelyi (17:54) finished third in the girls D-III race. Vista del Lago placed sixth and section champion Del Oro 12th in team results.
• Granite Bay's Trent Brendel finished 10th (15:30) individually and Del Campo was 10th as a team in D-II boys.
Volleyball
St. Francis, Granite Bay and El Camino have advanced to Tuesday's CIF Northern California Regional Girls Volleyball championships after winning home semifinal matches Saturday night.
In Division I, top-seeded St. Francis defeated No. 4 Menlo-Atherton 25-17, 24-26, 25-23, 25-17 and No. 2 Granite Bay topped No. 3 California of San Ramon 25-20, 25-15, 25-18. Granite Bay will play Tuesday at St. Francis.
In Division II, No. 2 El Camino defeated No. 6 Maria Carrillo of Santa Rosa 25-22, 25-22, 25-20. The Eagles will play Tuesday at top-seeded Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, which is a perfect 36-0 and ranked No. 2 in the nation by Maxpreps.com.
In Division IV, No. 4 Bear River lost 25-12, 23-25, 25-9, 25-15 at top-seeded Sacred Heart Prep of Atherton.
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