Clovis men, women capture Central Valley Conference titles; Luna (Madera), Walker (Clovis) are individual winners
FRESNO – Led by a first-place finish by Rhiannon Walker, the Clovis Community College women's cross country team totaled 23 points to capture the 2024 Central Valley Conference championship on Tuesday at Woodward Park.
Not to be outdone, the Crush men also took home the team title, scoring 27 points to finish in first place.
Led by head coach CJ Albertson, the Clovis women won their sixth straight conference championship while the men were winners for the second straight year.
Walker took the women's individual race for the second time. She cleared the 5,000-meter course with a season-best time of 18:24.2.
All five of the Crush's scoring runners finished among the top 10. Magy Marcelo was third at 19:55.5, Lisbeth Mendez took fourth with a time of 20:09.6, Genevieve Tamondong finished seventh at 20:23.0, and Maria Garcia was eighth at 20:32.0.
College of the Sequoias was second in the final team standings, led by a second-place individual showing by Dana Ruiz with her time of 19:23.8. Ruiz was joined by Elizabeth Urquilla (5th, 20:11.7) and Arianna Ramirez (6th, 20:15.0) in the top-10.
The top seven finishers in the competition earned All-Central Valley Conference honors:
Rhiannon Walker, Clovis
Dana Ruiz, COS
Magy Marcelo, Clovis
Lisbeth Mendez, Clovis
Elizabeth Urquilla, COS
Arianna Ramirez, COS
Genevieve Tamondong, Clovis
Porterville College was third with a team total of 77 points. The Pirates were paced by an 18th-place finish by Lizbeth Ramirez.
Fresno City College was led by Julissa Thahane in 12th place (21:21.2) while Madera Community College, competing in the evet for the first time, got a 27th-place finish from Ashley Arenas (24:49.9).
On the men's side, Madera's Vidal Luna won the program's first-ever conference championship, as he ran 21:02.3 on the four-mile Woodward Park course, to win the CVC title.
Ivan Barranco of Clovis was second with his time of 21:32.1 to help lead the Crush to the men's team championship.
Similar to the women, the Crush men's five scoring runners all finished in the event's top-10.
Barranco was followed by Joaquin McGee in fourth place at 22:00.5, Izak Samorano in fifth with a time of 22:11.6, Edwin Quiroz-Cisneros in seventh at 22:23.6, and Anders Vasconcellos in ninth with his time of 22:37.3.
Sequoias was second in the team standings with a score of 48 points. Julian Valdivia finished third (21:42.0) to lead COS. He was joined by Levi Wagner in the top-10 with his sixth-place showing, clocking in at 22:15.2.
Earning All-Central Valley Conference honors by finishing among the top seven were:
Vidal Luna, Madera
Ivan Barranco, Clovis
Julian Valdivia, COS
Joaquin McGee, Clovis
Izak Samorano, Clovis
Levi Wagner, COS
Edwin Quiroz-Cisneros, Clovis
Madera finished third with 63 points, followed by Porterville in fourth with 109 points. Madera's Ozzy Hernandez (22:37.3) joined Vidal in the top-10 by taking eighth place while Porterville was led by David Parra (25:53.8) in 24th.
Fresno City was represented by Isaiah Howard in 29th place with a time of 27:23.8.
Woodward Park will once again host the 3C2A State Championships on Nov. 23, but up next is the Northern California Regional Championships on Nov. 8 at Toro Park in Salinas.
(Chris Ruiz, Central Valley Conference)