Top 2016 sports events
1. Stallions place fifth in state FRESNO — In its ever-elusive chase for that podium finish, nine-time Valley Champions, the Madera South boys cross country team finished just out of the top three at the CIF State Cross Country Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
The Stallions, who have placed as high as second in 2013, scored 218 points and placed fifth Saturday. It marked the fourth straight year the Stallions have placed in the top five.
Madera South was led by Div. I individual Valley Champion Miguel Villar, placed 14th with a time of 15:33.4. He finished his career with three top 15 finishes in the state meet.
Sophomore Victor Ochoa was the next Stallion across the finish line in 51st place with a time of 16:09.8. He was followed by senior Christian Nevarez in 55th place with a time of 16:11.4. Nevarez made his return to the state meet after missing last year to an injury.
Senior Michael Ochoa was the fourth Stallion to cross the finish line in 81st place, finishing the race in 16:22.8. Senior Nicholas Hernandez closed out the scoring three seconds behind Ochoa in 85th place.
Junior Adrian Alvarez was sixth on the team and 87th overall, five seconds behind Ochoa. Junior Seth Garcia was the seventh Stallion across the line in 119th place.
The fifth place finish came a little over a week after the Stallions dominated to win their ninth straight Valley Championship and fifth in Div. I.
The Stallions, once again, dominated the competition, outdistancing Clovis 20-90, led by Miguel Villar who claimed his first Valley Championship gold medal after finishing second to teammate Jose Herrera the past two years.
The trio of Victor Ochoa, Nicolas Hernandez and Christian Nevarez finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. The final scorer for the Stallions, Seth Garcia, finished 10th. Madera South’s non-scorers Michael Ochoa placed 11th and Adrian Alvarez was 15th.
2. Walk-off leads to Valley title FRESNO — With one trip around the bases, a run through a stop sign and a headfirst dive into the plate, the Madera Coyotes softball team seized its second straight Div. II Valley Championship with a 4-3, eight-inning win over the Monache-Porterville Marauders in late May.
Madera’s Aaliyah Cuevas lined a ball down the right-field line. The ball ricocheted off the foul pole and the Monache right fielder had trouble picking up the ball cleanly.
Cuevas raced around second and ran though head coach Judy Shaubach’s stop sign around third. When Shaubach whipped her head around, she saw Cuevas sliding head first into home plate to score the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning, igniting a team dogpile at the plate.
“When you win in the bottom of an inning, it’s great,” said Shaubach, who won her third Valley Championship after winning in 1989 and again in 2015. “I can forgive running through a stop sign to win a Valley Championship. She saw something I didn’t see and she had enough speed to catch the defense and avoid the tag.”
3. Soccer teams earn Valley titles; Stallions repeat as Valley Champs Twice is nice.
That’s the best way to sum up the Madera South girls soccer team’s run to its second straight Div. II section championship.
With a 1-0 win over No. 2 seed Redwood-Visalia in Memorial Stadium, the top-ranked Stallions successfully defended their Valley Championship title.
Sabrina Ibrahim assisted on Kimberly Montoya’s game-deciding goal in the 62nd minute.
Despite facing adversity in the last part of the regular season that costs them a County/Metro Athletic Conference championship, the Stallions (20-5-3) regrouped and outscored their three playoff opponents a combined, 9-0, to earn another crown.
Hawks win back-to-back titles If the pressure of going undefeated for an eighth straight North Sequoia League season wasn’t pressure enough, being the No. 1 seed in the Valley Championship match just added to it for Liberty girls soccer head coach Erick Walker.
The Hawks got a goal and assist from Raina Wristen and Martha Ochoa and two clutch saves from senior goalkeeper Michaela Motz to keep the Div. III championship plaque at Liberty for the second straight year.
4. Madera South’s Herrera and Madera’s Smith win Valley titles Madera South’s Eduardo “Lalo” Herrera’s just-missed attempt at the distance triple (800 meters, 1,600 meters and 3,200 meters) at the Central Section Master’s Championship (Valley Championship) at Buchanan-Clovis’ Memorial Stadium in May.
Along with his win in the 3,200 meter run, Herrera won the 1,600-meter run by four seconds (4:12.38).
However, Herrera just missed the distance triple, getting beat at the end in the 800 meter run. He finished the two-lap race with a time of 1:53.85, getting nipped by a quarter-second.
Herrera’s wins gave him back-to back victories in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters.
In her third trip to the Central Section Master’s Championships, Madera’s Addyson Smith finally got the gold medal.
On her second throw of the meet, Smith, a junior, threw 41 feet, 5.5 inches, outdistancing the field by well over a foot.
Last year, Smith was one of three throwers to throw the shot more than 40 feet and placed second. She placed third her freshman season.
5. MALL captures first section title After four tries, the Madera American Little League 11-12-year-old All-Star team won the Section 7 championship and will advance to the Nor Cal State Tournament at River Park Little League in Fresno.
Madera American blew past the three-team Section 7 tournament. They defeated Westside and Lemoore (twice) by a combined 49-3, including an 11-0 victory over host Lemoore in July to capture the section title.
Madera American also pulled out a 3-1 victory over Madera National in the District 10 championship behind pitcher David Ramirez’s complete game two-hitter.
6. Hall of Fame to induct 7 more The Madera Athletic Hall of Fame inducted its sixth class in November.
Longtime Madera Coyote diving coach Bill McAlister led a list of five athletes, a team and a contributor to the Madera Athletic Hall of Fame.
Madera South High School got its first athlete inducted into the Madera Athletic Hall of Fame. Football and volleyball player Landon Guglielmana earned that honor and was inducted posthumously.
Guglielmana’s mother Danene (Bishel) Guglielmana, who was a standout volleyball and basketball player and track athlete, was also inducted.
Longtime contributors to the Madera athletic programs, the DaSilva family, were inducted. Also getting inducted were All-American wrestler Eric Philp, All-conference lineman Anthony Gallegos and two-time All-American swimmer Art Ruble.
In the team category, the Madera Coyote 1997-1998 boys soccer Valley Championship team will also receive induction. It was the school’s first, and only, boys soccer Valley Championship.
7. Perez, Posas earn All-American honors Former Madera Coyote and York College softball player Brianna Perez was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association NAIA All-American second team in June.
She is the first York College softball player to be named an All-American.
The Madera South Stallions wrestling team sent two wrestlers to the Cliff Keen Folkstyle National Championship in Cedar Falls, Iowa, in April.
Carlos Posas earned a fourth place medal and became a wrestling All-American. “Big congrats to Carlos for placing and becoming Madera South’s first wrestling All-American in school history,” Madera South wrestling coach Sal Gonzalez said.
8. Shaubach, Cuevas earn state softball honors Since 1974, CalHiSports has been naming coaches of the years for various high school sports.
For the first time in school history, a Madera Coyote coach has been named to the list. Coyote softball head coach Judy Shaubach was named in June as the site’s Softball Coach of the Year following her back-to-back Div. II Valley Championship.
She is the first Central Section softball coach to be named the coach of the year since 1981 (Leslie Steffen, Hanford).
About a month after Madera Coyote softball head coach Judy Shaubach was recognized by Cal-High Sports as its softball Coach of the Year, Cal-High has given another Coyote a statewide award.
In announcing its state underclassmen team Sunday, outfielder Aaliyah Cuevas was one of just five Central Valley players honored by the website.
Cuevas, a junior, is already the school’s best run producer. She drove in 26 runs this year and has a school-record 81 RBIs this season. She also batted .377 with a team-leading 34 runs, 43 hits, 11 doubles and five triples.
9. Coyotes head to championship The Madera Coyote girls basketball team is headed to the Valley Championships for the first time since 2004.
With a wire-to-wire victory over No. 2 seed Exeter in March, the third-seeded Coyotes will play in Selland Arena’s for the Div. III Valley Championship against top seed Mission Oak-Tulare (The Coyotes lost to the Hawks 44-24 in the championship game)
Madera’s Ashley Hansen led the Coyotes with 21 points. She hit three 3-pointers and was 10-of-14 from the free throw line, including going 6-of-8 from the line, in the final three minutes.
Alyssa Burton exploited mismatches inside for 12 points, 15 rebounds, five offensive rebounds and four blocked shots. Madera recorded 10 blocked shots in stifling Exeter’s inside game.
10. Baseball stadium hit hard by storm With winds of more than 30 miles an hour, the storm inflicted consequences the Madera Coyote baseball team will suffer for the rest of the season.
According to Fernandez, a PG&E pole broke on the west side of Mel Parker Field in late April. The pole fell onto the field and took down the backstop netting, bent support poles, pulled down audio cables and hit the stands.
“The netting also took down part of the announcer’s booth,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez approximates that about 10 feet of pole is left standing.
“The rest came tumbling down,” he said. “When the wind picked up, you could see the pole go back and forth and saw it snap. It came down like no other. We’re lucky there weren’t any fans there. We’re fortunate that no one got injured.”
“The netting just got put up this year,” Fernandez said. “We lost two-thirds of the netting and just 30 feet of the backstop is left. We’re going to need a complete replacement on the backstop. The bleachers were damaged and the announcer’s booth has to be rebuilt as well.”
Fernandez estimates that it will cost $100,000 to replace the backstop.
“It will be a half a million to replace things the right way,” he said.
11. Stallions get showdown win The Madera South Stallions handed their crosstown rivals their final loss of the season with a 49-35 victory Friday to capture the bandsaw trophy after winning the Stadium Road Showdown for the second year in a row.
The Stallions fed off their bigger and louder crowd while the Madera Coyotes received the opening kickoff and played one of the best games of the season in November.
The Stalions jumped out to a 14-3 first quarter lead and led 35-17 at the half. Madera South increased the lead to 49-23 before Madera scored 12 fourth quarter points.
Stallions quarterback Jonah Johnson rushed for 98 yards and threw for 185 yards and scored three touchdowns (two runs, one pass). Jackob Kirkpatrick rushed for 105 yards and scored three touchdowns. Maurice McClain rushend for 90 yards.
Coyotes quarterback Jerry Hernandez threw four touchdown passes and Adrian Wilson rushed for a pair.
