As Tam High senior Lucas Ruark sprawled on the ground exhausted after his first-place finish at the MCAL boys cross country final on Wednesday, he put his hands over his face and shouted, “Finally, finally.”
Ruark has been dreaming of winning MCALs since he was an eighth-grader. That was the year Tam’s Caden Carney captured the Red-tailed Hawks’ last individual title until Ruark crossed the finish line with a time of 15 minutes, 35.1 seconds on the 3.1-mile course on the College of Marin Indian Valley campus.
“I knew it was a fast field and I had to go out fast or it would not work out,” said Ruark. “I knew I had to break 16 (minutes) to get a top finish and win this.”
After placing fifth last season and third in 2023, Ruark led from start to finish like he owned the course. Close behind throughout the race was Terra Linda’s Shahan Ajmani, who finished second in 15:41.6.
“I think he just went for it today,” Tam coach Phil Oreste said of Ruark. “He figured he was the No. 1 seed, and he wanted to see if anyone could keep up with him.”
After a two-year absence from the winner’s circle, Redwood dethroned Tam for the team title with a first-place score of 42. Tam had hoped for a third-straight banner, but came up just short with 50 points for second.
The Giants relied on depth and team chemistry to steal back the MCAL crown. Oliver Bush was third in 15:49.1, Gabriel Cavanagh was fifth, Cole Sandrich took ninth, Thanos Givas was 12th and Cole Robertson was 13th.
“That was the biggest thing with our team this year — that we had so much depth,” said Redwood coach Nykky Graydon. “It was a lot of hard work for them this season — so many team strategy meetings. They put so much into it. We had to lock in the last few weeks. It was great to see all of their hard work pan out for this one.”
Led by Ajmani and a sixth-place showing from Roman Makaruk, Terra Linda was third with 64. Archie Williams (79), Marin Catholic (149), San Marin (160), Branson (185), Novato (222) and San Rafael (241) followed.
Until 2023, Tam had not won the MCAL team title since 2007. Oreste gave all the credit to Redwood this season for rebounding from the Giants’ third-place finish in 2024. Tam beat Archie by a point for first a year ago.
“Our guys did what they were supposed to do today,” said Oreste. “You have to give credit to Redwood for putting together a stronger race than we did.”
