Caesar sets record, wins ESL meet
Lindsay High School senior, Mckaylie Caesar, finished nearly a full minute and a half ahead of her competitors to lead the Cardinals’ girls cross country team to a first-place team victory Wednesday afternoon in an East Sequoia League meet at Jacob Rankin Stadium in Porterville.
Caesar placed first with a personal best & school record time of 17:56.6 and was followed by teammate, junior Nancy Vasquez in second with a personalbest time of 19:24.9. It was Vasquez first time breaking 20-minutes.
Lindsay placed first in the 5,000 kilometers race with 33 points, followed by Corcoran (41) in second, Sierra Pacific (88) in third, Summit Charter (121) in fourth, Granite Hills (145) in fifth, Woodlake (155) in sixth and Strathmore (166) in seventh.
Other local top 10 finishers were SCCA junior Terri Jimenez (20:50.06) in fifth, LHS sophomore Belen Ferreira (20:53.17) in sixth and GHHS senior Elizabeth Hernandez (21:03.25) in seventh.
Lindsay head coach Joe Dixon said sophomore Bianca Valdez (21:58.59) earned her spot on varsity with a “breakout race” and that Ferreira ran a personal best.
In the boys race, Corcoran beat Lindsay 1747 for first place. Woodlake (106) placed third, Summit Charter (123) in fourth, Granite Hills (131) in fifth, Farmersville (177) in sixth, Sierra Pacific (194) in seventh and Strathmore (206) in eighth.
The Cardinals rounded out the top 10 of local finishers with junior Lionel Aguayo (16:20.92) in fifth, senior Victor Cisneros (16:25.83) in sixth and senior Cristobal Vasquez (16:45.65) fin-
ing the top 10 were LHS senior Rafael Hurtado (16:50.94) in 11th, GHHS sophomore Jose Zavala (17:23.87) and SCCA senior Daniel Jimenez (17:30.76) in 13th.
Aguayo, Vasquez, Hurtado and Zavala’s times were all personal bests and a total of six Cardinals also ran personal bests noted Dixon. Lindsay’s other personal best times came from senior Ismael Ferreira (17:46.5) in 15th place, freshman Alonso Romero (17:56.8) in 17th and junior Gabriel Maldonado (18:30.1) in 18th.
In the Central Section Division IV rankings, Lindsay boys are second and the girls are third. In Div. V, Summit boys are ranked fifth while Granite Hills is seventh. For the girls in Div. V, the Bears are seventh and the Grizzlies are ninth.
Rankings were sent out Thursday morning and full results can be found on Athletic.net.
Marauders boys, girls defeat Delano
Monache High School boys and girls cross country teams defeated Delano at Veterans’ Park Wednesday in an East Yosemite League dual meet. The race covered 3.05 miles.
The Marauders’ won the boys race 15-50 and the Tigers’ girls forfeited the race because they were missing their No. 4 and 5 runners.
Monache’s Ivan Mendez took first with a time of 16 minutes, 56 seconds, Isaiah Sotelo (17:14) was second, Isaiah Mendez (17:28) third, Bryan Perez (17:28) fourth, Giovanni Sanchez (17:41) fifth, Carlos Magana (17:44) sixth and Joachim Del Rosario (17:45) seventh to round out the sweep of the top spots. Delano’s runners placed eighth through 12th.
“They are rebuilding, but have some excellent young runners,” MHS head coach Seth Ishida said Wednesday about Delano. “[Our] guys are a little tired right now because of some heavy training. Their times reflect that effort on short rest.”
Ishida added, “Ivan just made a recruiting visit to [University of California] Davis and really liked what they had to offer. It also helps that our former standout Jesus Salas ran there and has faith in the program. I can picture Ivan at any of the UC’S right now and making an immediate impact. I would not be surprised to see more of our upperclassman runners competing to get a college roster spot right now. Ivan is a great example to follow, but every individual is their own person with a great deal of competitive spirit.”
The girls race was dominated by Marilou Ruiz with a time of 18:54.
“She really likes to put in the work,” Ishida said. “She does not like to be held back with training volume and does not seem to mind tired legs.”
Chanel Bradley and Aislin Taylor ran stride for stride in a virtual tie for second place at 21:00. Marina Barrigan (21:14) was fourth, Aryanna Guzman (21:17) was fifth, Mikayli Moore (22:56) was eighth and Adriana Loya (23:17) was ninth.
“The ladies responded well with short rest and the national-level Asics Clovis Invitational meet hanging over their heads for Saturday morning at 7 a.m,” Ishida said. “It is a little distracting, but it is good to see the serious concern for what lies ahead.”
Monache’s boys and girls teams are ranked second in Central Section Division II rankings as of Thursday morning. In overall Valley rankings the girls are fifth and the boys are eighth.
“I think we are very competitive with Sanger and San Luis Obispo for a Valley title,” Ishida said. “To repeat for the girls’ third title would be a dream come true. Our guys are in the hunt ranked and 4th right now [as of Wednesday] behind a strong Liberty of Bakersfield and Paso Robles.”
Panthers fall to Mustangs
Porterville High School boys and girls cross country teams fell 15-50 and 16-45, respectively, to Tulare Western in an East Yosemite League dual meet Wednesday at Live Oak Park in Tulare.
For the Panthers’ boys, Abraham Silvestre was the team’s top finisher with a time of 20 minutes, 56 seconds in 13th place. Lynlee Davis (22:03) in fifth, Araceli Arreola (23:47) in eighth and Odalys Rivera (24:05) rounded out the top 10 spots in the girls’ race.
The Panthers’ freshmen and sophomore boys team won their race 23-32. Joshua Meneses (12:03) and Luis Ortiz (12:24) placed first and third, respectively.