Cross country teams excel in new leagues

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune

Madera South’s Adrian Hipolito (656) and Dylan Devine riun down the hill No. 1 and 2 at last week’s North Yosemite League championship. Devine won the race with Hipolito right behind to help win the NYL team title.

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The Madera South Stallions boys cross country team dominated the County/Metro Athletic Conference and continued it into the North Yosemite League by easily capturing another league title.

In addition, the girls team followed up with an NYL title for the team sweep last Wednesday at Woodward Park.

Meanwhile, the Liberty Hawks girls cross country also captured a league title in the newly-formed Northwest Sierra Conference by narrowly defeated Fresno Christian last Tuesday, also at Woodward Park.

The Madera Coyotes girls cross country team battled tough and came in second behind a really good Sanger team in the CMAC.

Madera South Stallions

The Madera South boys cross country team showed off its dominance in the NYL by claiming the top four spots and placing five in the top seven for 17 points, 25 ahead of Torres in second.

Seniors Dylan Devine and Adrian Hipolito led the charge for the Stallions. At the first mile, the pair ran side-by-side with Devine bringing Hipolito along with him.

Devine took the lead in the second mile with Hipolito behind him. Devine finished the race in 15:45.03, a little more than five seconds ahead of Hipolito.

Estevan Medina ranked third at the first and second mile checkpoints and finished 11 seconds behind Hipolito.

Vidal Luna placed fifth at the first and second mile, but overtook Matilda Torres’ Benjamin Fernandez in the final mile to finish less than two seconds behind Medina for fourth.

Isaac Chavez placed eighth after the first mile, but moved up a spot by the second. He held his spot and finished the race in 16:52.37, 11 seconds ahead of eighth place to finish the Madera south scoring.

Juan Ramirez was 12th and Edwin Quiroz was 13th for the Stallions.

The Stallions’ girls team was just as dominant with 21 points for a 40-point victory over Roosevelt for the NYL crown.

Jimena Rivera led the race from the beginning. She held a 13 second lead at the end of the second mile and extended it to a 30 second victory.

Valorie Jimenez was third at the first and second mile checkpoints and finished third in 20:20.30.

Jasmine Chavez was second after the first mile, but fell back to fourth at the second. She finished 20 seconds behind Jimenez for fourth place. Olivia Dela Cruz was fourth at the first mile, but fell back to sixth at the second mile, but held onto the placing at the finish, leading teammate Susan Jimenez by 14 seconds for seventh. Jimenez ran sixth at the first mile, but fell back to seventh at the second mile.

The future is bright for the Stallions with all five of their scoring runners returning next year, including three freshmen and a sophomore.

Lizbeth Mendez placed 10th and Rhyanna Cuevas was 12th for the Stallions.

Madera Coyotes

The Madera Coyotes girls team placed two runners in the top 10 and edged out Bullard for second place in the CMAC.

Sanger ran away with the team title with 25 place points. Madera earned 58 points, beating out Bullard by four points.

Angela Garcia led the Coyotes with a sixth place finish. She was seventh at the first mile, but moved up to fifth at the second mile. She fell back to finish sixth with a time of 20:17.96.

Bianca Scott checked in at the mile marker in 13th place, but gained to 10th place after the second mile. She held her spot to place ninth, 20 seconds ahead of 10th place.

Mayce Atherton was 13th after the first mile, but moved up to ninth at the second mile. She fell back to 11th at the finish with a time of 21:13.94.

Natalie Zambrano finished 15th for the Coyotes, followed by Mirian Jimenez in 25th, Jeanette Santiago in 29th and Ashley Arenas in 32nd.

Gabriel Hernandez led the Coyotes’ boys team with a 23rd place finish.

Liberty Hawks

The Liberty Hawks girls team entered the new NWSC and came away with the conference’s first championship and third NWSC title for the Hawks in the fall sports season.

Following up the girls golf and football team, the Hawks came away with the team victory by two points (40-42) over Fresno Christian. Liberty had three runners in the top six, but it was the final runner that made the difference.

Freshman Jaslyn Rodriguez led the Hawks with a second place finished with a time of 21:29.2.

Brook DaSilva placed fifth with a time of 22:49.2 while Sofia Manzano was 12 seconds behind for sixth place.

At that time, the Hawks trailed by two points.

Sienna Federico placed 12th for the Hawks. Then, it came down to the No. 5 runners. The Hawks doubled up with Kaylyn Best placing 18th and Hailey Bugg placing 19th. For good measure, Graicynn Achelpohl placed 21st.

Then, came the waiting game for the fifth Fresno Christian runner. She came in 25th to give the Hawks the title by two points.

The boys team placed third in the NWSC after Yosemite won the meet with 15 place points. Eduardo Gonzalez led the Hawks with a seventh place finish. Carson Loquaci was second in 15th place.

Matilda Torres Toros

The Toros cross country teams are keeping up with the Madera cross country history. In their first year in the NYL, the Toros placed second in the boys race and third in the girls race.

Freshman Benjamin Fernandez led the boys with a fifth place finish. Noah Felix Andrade was nine seconds back in sixth.

Freshman Hunter Hannah placed eighth and Ozzy Hernandez was ninth. Emanuel Gomez placed 14th for the Toros.

Four of the top five runners for the Toros will return next season with three coming back for two or more years.

Buffalo Soito placed 17th for the Toros while Alvino Diaz was 25th.

Irene Martinez led the Toros’ girls team with a top 10 run to place eighth. Bay Garlick was a second from finishing in the top 10 and was 11th. Isabella Mirelez was 14th for the Toros.

Daili Flores was 20th and Natalya Singh was 24th to finish out the Torres scoring.