Costilla continues pipeline to Merced

Four years ago, Madera South cross country runner Angelica Costilla wasn’t even thinking about going to school for athletics. She was just worried about maintaining her grades and, hopefully, get into college.

“I’ve always wanted to make sure my grades were up,” she said. “Coming into high school, I never thought I would be into sports. I wasn’t athletic at all.”

Not only has Costilla maintained a 4.5 grade point average, but Costilla signed her National Letter of Intent on May 17 to run cross country at UC Merced, continuing a pipeline to the NAIA college.

Costilla will be the third Madera South graduate to become a member of the cross country team and fifth Stallion athlete to become a Bobcat. She joins up with former Stallions teammate Karina Martinez, basically stepping into the footsteps of recently graduated Sofia Rios...