BELMONT >> Santa Cruz High senior Eli Fitchen-Young and Scotts Valley junior Ava Decleve ran personal bests to secure individual titles in Division IV at the Central Coast Section Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

Fitchen-Young completed Crystal Springs’s 2.95-mile layout in a course-record time of 14 minutes, 23.5 seconds. He won the race by more than a minute over the next closest runner, Scotts Valley’s Aaron Weiss (15:42.1).

“I was pretty shocked with it, and super happy,” Fitchen-Young said.

He finished first out of 101 runners in his division — and 529 section qualifiers across all five divisions — to secure his third straight section title and fourth top-three finish.

“He just blasted,” Cardinals coach Greg Brock said.

With the temperature in the 60s and the dirt course softened and dust-free thanks to an early-week rain, runners competed in ideal conditions.

Fitchen-Young’s previous best of 14:43.0 on the course came at the Crystal Springs Invitational on Oct. 12, when he finished second to De La Salle’s Trey Caldwell (14:27.0).

Fitchen-Young was intent on breaking Caldwell’s course record, but doing so while following Brock’s race plan, which called for a slower start that he did Oct. 12.

“In his last race there, he ran a 4:35 opening mile and kinda died a little toward the end,” Brock said. “So we wanted him to be closer to 4:40. So what did he do? He went out at 4:28.”

Fitchen-Young said his quick opening mile wasn’t blatant disregard for the plan. He said he caught his breath on the downhill after the opening mile, and had plenty left for a late-race kick.

“So many people have run this course,” Fitchen-Young said. “It’s probably the best course record I have.”

Decleve (18:24.5) took first out of 86 runners in the girls’ D-IV field.

She completed the course in 18:31.1 as a sophomore to finish second behind senior teammate Ashlyn Boothby, who is now competing at Stanford, and finished fifth as a freshman in 19:10.1.

Falcons coach Todd Hoffman said Decleve was in the lead group of five runners with 800 meters to go and left them in the proverbial dust.

“She’s just took off,” Hoffman said. “She’s so strong.”

Decleve’s strategy was to hang with the lead pack and make a late surge, if she had more in the tank.

“With about 800 to go, I thought, ‘I want this. I can give a little more,’ ” she said. “I love the last 800. The 400 is the most fun part, if I have enough left.”

She proved she did.

“When I crossed the finished line, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I did this.’ ” she said.

Decleve ran the 13th fastest time of the day, regardless of division. A total of 450 girls qualified across five divisions.

Sacred Heart Prep’s Sophie Cheung (18:35.6) took second, and Archbishop Riordan’s Eva Abbott (18:40.1) was third.

Up next is the CIF State Championships, which will be held at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 30.

Boys

D-III: Aptos (74) took third in D-III to advance to the state meet.

The Mariners’ Sam Hansen (15:26.3) took fifth out of 77 runners. Vincent Sandford-Carroll (15:51.0; sixth), Brady Bliesner (16:36.7; 18th), Anthony Sandford-Carroll (16:46.0; 20th), and Andrew Pursley (16:52.4; 25th) also scored for Aptos.

Sacred Heart Cathedral’s Miles Cook (14:52.9) won the individual title, and led the Fightin’ Irish (72) to second place. St. Ignatius (45) won the team title.

D-IV >> With Fitchen-Young’s help, Santa Cruz (95) took second behind Marina (74) to advance to the state meet.

Scotts Valley’s Weiss took second and advanced to the state meet as an individual.

Santa Cruz’s Alan Lee (16:42.3) took 17th, San Lorenzo Valley’s Colton Ryssemus (16:44.8) was 19th, and the Cardinals’ Emiliano Villarreal (16:56.7) rounded out the top 25.

Scotts Valley (160) took eighth.

D-V >> Monte Vista Christian’s Gavin Beckmen (16:37.2) took 13th out of 128 runners in the D-V race. Teammate Justin McCullick (16:46.9) took 19th, and Pacific Collegiate’s Alexander Profumo (16:55.9) took 23rd.

Menlo School’s Landon Pretre (14:24.8) edged Crystal Springs Uplands’ Benjamin Bouie (14:27.9) for the individual title, and the Knights (24) won the team title.

MVC (114) took fourth place.

D-I: Mountain View’s Ryan Chen (15:16.5) won the individual title and led the Spartans (34) to the team title, ahead of Bellarmine (47), and Menlo-Atherton (80).

Watsonvillle’s Nain Garcia-Ferris (17:03.1) took 46th.

D-II >> Los Gatos’ Aydon Stefanopoulos (14:51.8) took first out of 134 runners in the D-II field, and Los Altos (88) won the team title.

Girls

Division IV: Scotts Valley four-peated as D-IV champion with a score of 49. Mills (76) took second, and Sacred Heart Prep (90) was third.

Santa Cruz freshman Isla Roake (19:13.6) took fifth out of 86 runners in D-IV race, which was won by Scotts Valley’s Decleve.

Violet McCutchen (19:50.8; 10th), Hanna Shehorn (19:57.0; 14th), Dylan Turzak (20:07.7; 18th), and Jennifer Brownfield (20:12.8; 20th) also scored for the state-bound Falcons.

San Lorenzo Valley’s Beth Gabrielson (19:54.9) took 13th and teammate Skyla Leggett (20:04.5) took 16th. Santa Cruz’s Amelia Palm (20:06.3) took 17th.

D-I: Watsonville’s Katelynn Ruiz (19:12.7) took 13th out of 83 runners in the D-I field.

Evergreen Valley’s Nora Carino (18:20.0) earned the individual win, and Mountain View (37) won the team title.

The Wildcatz (237) took 10th.

D-II >> Archbishop Mitty’s Evie Marheineke (18:23.6), a Santa Cruz resident, took sixth out of 107 runners in the D-II race to qualify for the state meet, and the Monarchs (218) took eighth.

Marheineke, a UCLA-committed senior, ran the 12th fastest time of the day, regardless of division.

Palo Alto’s Kinga Czajkowska won in 18:02.2.

Saint Francis (47) of Mountain View won the team title.

D-III >> Aptos’ Maya Schiro (18:41.4) took fifth out of 99 runners in the D-III race, and the Mariners (265) placed 11th.

Prospect’s Kylie Hoornaert won the individual title in 17:48.8, and Sacred Heart Cathedral (68) earned the team title.

D-V >> MVC’s Kylie Brunelli (19:28.1) took eighth out of 75 runners in the D-V field.

Castilleja’s Brooke Oliveira (17:56.7) took first, and Crystal Springs Uplands School (36) won the team title.

Pacific Collegiate’s Iris Paten (19:56.9) took 11th. MVC’s Anna Conca (20:10.9) was 13th, and Finley Castro (20:19.7) was 15th.