Loping into the final turn of the recent Bay Valley Athletic League Cross Country Championship meet, Jessica Siemens knew she had to make a move.

The Deer Valley sophomore had been trailing one of the North Coast Section’s top runners, Freedom’s Lisa Tilcock, for virtually the entire race. But in the home stretch at Shadow Lakes Golf Course in Brentwood, Siemens dug deep and passed Tilcock for the victory. The Wolverine, battling howling cold winds and light rain, finished in 19 minutes, 49 seconds.

“I was really nervous because of (Tilcock) and I’m really glad that I pushed it out,” Siemens said. “Just hearing the crowd cheering and seeing that she was at a close distance, I knew that I could out-sprint her.”

Noah Peña of Heritage claimed first place in the boys race, putting nearly 20 seconds of cushion between him and the second place finisher, teammate Jason Brown.

Siemens beat Tilcock by 7.48 seconds, and the two runners beat the rest of the field by a large margin. The third place finisher, Freedom sophomore Olivia Herrera, crossed the finished line roughly 28 seconds after Tilcock.

Freshman Ann Jellica Nubla was the first Heritage runner to cross the finish line, taking fourth. Fiona Lehmann, a Freedom junior, came in fifth. Heather Hernandez-Shaw, a junior, was the fastest Pittsburg Pirate, placing sixth. Liberty senior Cora Williams finished seventh, Deer Valley senior Cande Salazar eighth and junior Savannah Sellers of Antioch ninth. Liberty senior Alissa Hansen rounded out the top 10.

Freedom’s 40 points earned it the team victory over Deer Valley. Heritage finished third, Pittsburg fourth, Antioch fifth and Liberty sixth.

The boys competition was not so close. In the final stretch of the race, Peña nearly passed the golf cart pace car driven by Heritage head coach Kevin Bain. The junior completed the 3.1-mile course in 16:18, his personal best time. “I really pushed myself to the limit; that was pretty much as hard as I can go,” Peña said. “I was trying (to pass the cart). That was my goal. The cart was my pacer.”

Liberty senior Jesus Morales placed third, roughly 27 seconds after Peña clocked in. Deer Valley senior Dylan Winn finished fourth, Pittsburg senior Gabriel Rodriguez fifth and Freedom junior Joseph Fajardo sixth. Edgar Martinez, a Pittsburg junior, took seventh. Freedom’s Michael Valdez, a senior, placed eighth. Deer Valley senior Keith Lowry came in ninth and Liberty sophomore Cody Meyer crossed the finish line 10th.

Junior Joshua Rafike, Antioch first finisher, came in 12th.

Heritage was also the best overall team that day. Deer Valley finished second, Freedom third, Pittsburg fourth, Liberty fifth and Antioch sixth.

Peña, Siemens and other top finishers are preparing for the Nov. 19 NCS Championship meet at Hayward High School.

In the junior varsity two-mile races, Heritage sophomore Frank Kurtz claimed first place in the boys event, finishing in 11:26. Deer Valley sophomore Sarah Ogden won the girls race, clocking in at 14:45.