Coaches from the Central Coast Section recently honored two local runners for their success on the trails in the fall.
Aptos High senior Marea Zlatunich was named to the All-CCS First Team and Watsonville High freshman Layla Ruiz earned a spot on the All-CCS Second Team.
A committee of five coaches from the CCS named the honorees on the first and second teams, as well as the honorable mentions and the larger awards, like Runner of the Year.
Zlatunich made the First Team for the second straight season after taking second in the CCS Division III race as an individual and leading the Mariners to their seventh straight team title.
Last season Zlatunich was named the section’s Runner of the Year and Junior of the Year after winning the CCS D-III championship as an individual.
She also made it on the podium at the California Interscholastic Federation state meet for the third straight season. Zlatunich took sixth in the D-III race at Woodward Park in Fresno after taking fourth in 2016 and 2015.
Ruiz was one of only two freshmen named to one of the section’s four All-CCS teams — two boys’ teams and two girls’ teams — by the committee. Sacred Heart Prep’s Luci Lambert joined Ruiz on the All-CCS Second Team.
Ruiz ran into the record books multiple times this season. She won the Monterey Bay League Pacific division title to become the program’s first league champion since Martha Luna in 1989 and also became the first female runner from Watsonville to earn a trip to state since Consuelo Matta in 2000 by taking third in the CCS D-I race.
At the state meet, Ruiz finished 30th in the D-I race. She was the second fastest freshman in her division and the seventh fastest overall at the state meet.
She finished off her remarkable first season by taking second in the freshman race of the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships West Regional, which featured dozens of the best young runners from California, Utah, Washington, Arizona, Montana, Idaho and New Mexico.
Her time of 19 minutes, 29.4 seconds would have placed her 45th in the illustrious seeded race in which Zlatunich took 30th.
Santa Cruz High senior Mari Friedman was named the CCS Female Runner of the Year and also took the honor of Senior of the Year. She won individual titles at the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and CCS level and took second in the D-IV race at state.
Bellarmine’s Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau was named the CCS Male Runner of the Year and was also tabbed as the Senior of the Year.
