Monache suffers 1st boys’ EYL loss in 9 years
Still have chance at share of EYL title
It had been nine years since an East Yosemite League team had defeated Monache High School boys cross country, but Wednesday, Tulare Western ended that winning streak with a tie-breaking victory.
The two teams were tied 28-28 forcing a sixthrunner tiebreaker. The Mustangs claimed the win since their sixth runner, Antonio Gonzalez, finished 10th, while the Marauders’ sixth, Salvador Martinez, placed 14th. Gonzalez ran the 3-mile course in 17 minutes, 42 seconds.
MHS head coach Seth Ishida said Western was a program he looked up to when he first started, and Michael Young was leading the track and cross country programs to over 40 EYL titles. He said they’re still in good hands with the husband and wife duo of Ari and Jordan Perry, and the Marauders have their work cut out for them.
“We did everything we could today, but we got outworked and lacked training consistency a few months ago,” Ishida said. “We had some bad breaks with COVID and a key injury to our No. 4 man, Joe Toledo. We hope to safely get him back for the EYL championship meet.”
Monache’s Ian Queenan PR’D on his mile time and won the race in 15:48. The Marauders Adrian Martinez (16:21) was third, Isaac Ceballos (17:03) sixth, Cristian Ceja (17:27) seventh and Monte Moore (17:45) 11th.
“I told the team we needed heroes today, and Christian Ceja ran about 30 seconds faster than Saturday to beat a pack of three runners and placed seventh,” Ishida said. “Christian had been running seventh on our team, and for him to run seventh in this race was a superhuman effort. He was doubled over for about 20 minutes recovering. He is the example that we need to follow to get the comeback victory this year.”
“It is a lot to ask a team to win for 10 straight years,” Ishida said. “These Western runners were freshman and sophomores last year when they broke our frosh-soph streak of ninestraight EYL titles. You could see the young talent and depth two years ago.”
Tulare Western won the girls race, 23-38, but Monache’s Aislin Taylor placed first in 18:36, and Janae Espinoza was fourth with 20:43.
“Aislin Taylor went wire to wire with another great race,” Ishida said. “She opened with a 5:35 mile that was just blistering and took her teammate Janae Espinoza out to a 6:10 opening mile. It was a little fast, and they both paid for it later on. I like the potential in those first miles, and if we can hold that speed with a little more training, we could see some real fireworks at EYL.
The girls and boys still have a chance to regain a share of the EYL title and continue the title streaks — nine years straight for the girls and 10 for the boys — with a win in the championship race on March 20th.