Madera's Claudio Moreno should push teammate Benny Madrigal for the individual title at the Grand Masters Cross Country Meet.

Photo by: Wendy Alexander

Under normal circumstances, the Grand Masters Meet is essentially a dress rehearsal for the Valley champion cross country team prior to the State Meet.

This year the meet takes on greater significance not because the Madera boys team should be challenged but due to the fact that this is their last opportunity to put together a good race prior heading into the most important meet of the year.

Repeating as Valley champs is quite an accomplishment for Madera, but in order to realize their ultimate goal of finishing in the top five at the state meet, the team will have to race much better than they did in winning Valley.

McFarland comes into the meet as the number one ranked Division IV team in the state and will always present a challenge while Clovis West, who Madera defeated by a mere four points to capture the Valley Championship, is still a threat as they placed their fifth runner ahead of Madera's fourth runner at the Valley Meet.

Despite finishing third in Valley, Clovis High is a team that could push the Coyotes as Eloy Quintana finished two seconds behind the Valley individual champ in Madera's Benny Madrigal and their third man came in 21 seconds ahead of Madera's third man.

In terms of overall team times at the Valley meet, Madera had a combined time of 82:52 while Clovis was the closest contender in running 82:74.

That being said, Madera is ranked as the number five team in the state for good reason-they are extremely talented, balanced and deep and have the attitude that will not allow them to produce a less than exceptional performance in consecutive weeks.

Given that fact, expect the Coyotes to run roughshod over the competition at the Grand Masters Meet and use this as a springboard to laying claim to their goal of finishing in the top five team at the California State Meet.

The Grand Masters Meet will be held this Thursday at Woodward Park in Fresno with the first race beginning at 8 a.m.

Paul Stanford Paul Stanford is the sports editor for the Madera Tribune. You can contact Paul at 674.8134 ext. 225 or e-mail at pstanford (at) maderatribune.net The Madera Tribune online subscription To subscribe or log on, CLICK HERE. For more information first, CLICK HERE.