The future looks bright for Truckee cross country.

Four Truckee freshmen finished among the top 11 at the 3A State Championship in Reno on Saturday, with Skyler Flora leading the way with a fifth-place finish in the girls’ race.

Truckee’s boys used a seventh- and eighth-place finish, respectively, from freshmen Nathan Ariza and Noah Oberriter to place third as a team behind South Tahoe and Elko. Another freshman, Gabrielle Rinne, finished 11th in the girls’ race.

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and#8220;They did really well, especially for their first year and racing against varsity,and#8221; said Truckee head coach Pat Matava, who admitted that she did not foresee her freshmen performing at such a high level before the season. and#8220;No, I didn’t. I didn’t know what to expect. I had to see how they did. But I didn’t know they would do this well.and#8221;

In the girls’ race, Mary Jo Wright of Elko captured the individual state title by posting a time of 19 minutes and 17 seconds on the 5-kilometer course at Rancho San Rafael Park. Shelby McIntyre of South Tahoe was second in 19:59 and Katrina Breithaupt of Dayton third in 20:13.

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Flora finished in a time of 20:31 to place fifth out of 38 runners total, while Rinne finished 11th in 21:30. The next freshman runner was 26th.

Truckee junior Ruby Wood came in 16th place in a time of 21:57 to round out the Wolverines’ only three scores. Five or more runners were needed to record a team result.

Elko’s girls took the team championship with a low score of 26 to runner-up South Tahoe’s 32. Spring Creek was third at 74.

Connor Henderson of South Tahoe won the individual title in the boys’ race to help lead the Vikings to the team win with 34 points to Elko’s 49 and Truckee’s 60.

Henderson set the standard with a winning time of 17:28, while Wayne Prescott of Elko was second in 17:41 and Tanner Boone of Fallon was third in 18:06.

Ariza and Oberriter were credited with identical times of 18:43 to notch their top-10 finishes. Sophomore Nick Morgan was the next Truckee finisher, as he placed 20th in a time of 19:34. Alex Kopytko was 23rd in 19:50 and senior Kyle Jorgensen was 34th in 20:51 to round out the Wolverines’ top five scores.

Matava credited Morgan for a strong race to help the Wolverines earn their third-place finish.

Conditions were and#8220;super cold,and#8221; Matava said, with overcast skies and a temperature of 24 degrees for the girls’ race and 30s with a breeze for the boys’ race.

and#8220;They were very level-headed and showed a lot of poise,and#8221; Matava said of her Truckee runners.