Monache boys runners settle for seventh at MW Invitational
Burton teams sweep meet
The Monache boys cross country team settled for seventh place at the Mt. Whitney Invitational on Friday.
Monache coach Seth Ishida said the team was still recovering from a tough meet last week as it competed at the national level at the Woodbridge Invitational in Southern California. Ishida stated the team decided to see where it stood against Buchanan, Sanger, Madera South, Porterville, Golden West, Redwood and 15 other teams.
Freshmen and sophomores ran in their age groups. The Marauder boys took seventh with 197 points while Buchanan won with 50 points. Sanger was second with 69 points and new East Yosemite League frontrunner Redwood was third with 79 points.
Monte Moore led Monache, finishing the 3.1-mile race in 16:40 to take 11th. Joey Toledo set another personal record, finishing in 16:59 for 19th place for Monache.
Also for Monache Sal Martinez was 49th in 18:28. Diego Ortiz was 60th in 18:50 and Carson Ishida was 72nd in 19:15.
The Monache girls varsity didn’t field a scoring team and was led by Maggie Sanchez placing 45th in 22:31. Also for Monache Nicole Torres was in 22:55 and Tiffany Garcia was 117th in 32:26.
The Monache frosh/soph girls earned the second place trophy behind Buchanan with 61 points while Buchanan finished with 15 points. Ashley Salazar was the fastest Lady Marauder as she finished in 21:32 for 8th, Sam Martinez was 14th in 22:55, Danika De Lacruz was 16th in 23:47, Citlalih Ferrer was 18th win 24:00, Rheea Gill was 37th in 27:17 and Yasmine Lachino was 45th in 28:34.
The Monache boys sophomores also earned the second place trophy behind Buchanan as Buchanan finished with 17 points while Monache finished with 49 points. Monache was led by Jake Estrada who took fourth in 17:14, Alberto Andrade was 8th in 18:10, Eli Sotelo was 11th in 18:22, Miguel Bedolla was 13th in 18:23 and Elijah Velarde had a big PR of 20:12 to place in 29th.
“We had some ups and downs today, but powered through and put in full effort throughout the race,” Ishida said. “We just came up short by 15 to 20 seconds at almost every position. Monte and Joey had good races and Diego and Carson had to compete in tough scoring positions with a lot of pressure on their backs.
“The heat and timing got us down a little, so that falls on me to improve our race prep. I was very proud of our younger girls that will have to run against upperclassmen for the EYL season. It was fun to see them battle with the national frontrunning Buchanan frosh soph.”
BURTON TEAMS SWEEP MEET
The Burton Middle School boys and girls cross country team both won the titles of the firsrt meet hosted by the school since September, 2019 on Wednesday.
Nine schools participated in the event and were treated to a strong showing of support from Burton’s Hype Squad and football team as wello as Burton students and parents.
The Burton girls, who finished second in their previous meet, won on Wednesday with 46 points. Summit Charter Intermediate Academy was second with 58 points nad Sequoia was third with 114 points.
Burton’s boys maintained their winning streak in league by winning with 27 points. Farmersville was second with 96 points and Sequoia was third with 107 points.
All the teams will return to compete this week in the league championship meet at Sequoia Middle School. Burton’s boys will look to win their first league title in more than 20 years and Burton’s girls hope to capture their first title in nine years.