Denair cross country runner Sal Virgen will compete one more week thanks to his finish in the Sac-Joaquin Sub-Section Meet, but the rest of his teammates just missed out on the final qualifying spot.

Virgen, a junior, covered the three-mile Frogtown course at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in 18 minutes, 57.2 seconds on Saturday, placing him 22 nd overall out of 162 runners.

The top 10 schools plus the top runners not on those teams qualified for the Section Meet this Saturday at Willow Hills Reservoir in Folsom. Denair’s team missed by just one spot, finishing 11 th overall.

The other Coyotes who ran last weekend were Jose Ponce (45 th overall, 20:11.7), Simbalenko (53 rd , 20:23.7), Angel Rodriguez (113 th , 23:24.8) and Adrian Monzon (139 th , 24:48.7). Denair was missing its No 3 runner, Isaac Maldonado, who was sick.

“I am proud of my team for the way they ran,” said Coach Matthew Groom. “We were one spot short of qualifying as a team, despite missing one of our top runners. … Sal did really well. He pushed himself to get one of the medals for the event. This will be Sal’s first trip to Folsom and I expect him to compete well.”

For Virgen to make it to the State Meet on Nov. 29 in Fresno, he would have to finish in the top 12 in Folsom.