Evan Noonan wins the boys' sweepstakes at Woodbridge Classic

Dana Hills’ Evan Noonan wins boys’ sweepstakes race at Woodbridge Cross-Country Classic

Two girls compete in a cross country race

By Steve Galluzzo

Sept. 16, 2023 11:35 PM PT

Dana Hills High junior Evan Noonan won the boys’ sweepstakes race at the 42nd Woodbridge Cross-Country Classic on Saturday night at Great Park in Irvine.

Noonan clocked 13:41.3 to kick past runner-up Anthony Fast Horse (13:48.1) of Ventura and Emmanuel Perez (13:50.7) from L.A. Cathedral.

A boy in a Dana Hills uniform smiles and holds his award

“Anthony and I are in the same division in CIF, so we’ve run against each other many times for track too,” said Noonan, who was 20th at the mile mark and fifth after two miles before finishing with a flourish. “You can’t hear anything behind you, I was just hoping he wasn’t coming.”

Herriman (Utah) won the team title with a score of 137, followed by Southlake (Texas) Carroll at 216 and Great Oak with 234.

Jane Hedengren of Provo (Utah) Timpview ran a new national prep record 15:32.5 to edge Elizabeth Leachman of Boerne (Texas) Champion by one-tenth of a second in the girls’ sweepstakes race. Defending champion Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura was third in 15:37.4, bettering her winning time last year (15:42.6), previously the fastest three-mile cross-country time in the United States.

“With the talent in this field I knew the record would be broken,” Engelhardt said. “The early pace was crazy and it never died off. I mean, I ran my fastest, so I couldn’t have asked for more, except to win.”

JSerra Catholic was second in the team standings with 214 points. Air Academy of Colorado Springs was first with a score of 121.