Members of Central Valley’s swim program showed improvement during last Friday’s Central California Conference dual meet at Golden Valley.

“As a team, they did fantastic,” coach Julie Brooks said. “We took a lot of firsts and seconds. Some of the kids had personal-best times.”

Olivia Cervantes, Leslie Bobadilla, Monika Castillo and Taleia Lopez led Central Valley’s varsity girls team.

Cervantes, a freshman, swept the 50 free and 100 breast.

“I wasn’t familiar with her before the season,” Brooks said. “She’s been a pleasant surprise. She’s super talented. She just needs to be pushed. I’m really excited to see what she can do. She has the potential to go far.”

Bobadilla took first in the 200 IM and fourth in the 100 free.

Castillo finished second in both the 50 free and 100 breast.

Lopez finished fifth in the 50 free and 100 free.

Central Valley’s JV girls team had six individuals swim against the Cougars.

Aylah Bristow placed first in the 50 free and second in the 100 back.

Madyson Daniels placed first in the 100 free and third in the 50 free.

Natasha Nowaya placed first in the 100 back and fourth in the 50 free.

Mia Mendoza placed second in the 50 free and 100 breast.

Justin Alvarez, the lone member on Central Valley’s varsity boys team, did not compete due to another commitment.

“He was working at sixth-grade camp as a counselor,” Brooks said.

Pacheco tops CHS

Ceres High’s swim program dropped a pair of Western Athletic Conference duals to Pacheco on Friday in Los Banos.

Ceres High’s girls team fell to 1-3 in the WAC after losing 107-50 to the Panthers.

Reagan Hensley finished first in the 500 free and second in the 200 IM.

Genesis Garcia finished second in the 200 free.

Brooke Trio finished second in the 100 free and third in the 50 free.

Amber Hopwood finished second in the 100 breast and fourth in the 200 IM.

Berlin Kahl finished third in the 200 free.

Makayla Hair finished third in the 100 back and fourth in the 50 free.

Jessica Potts finished third in the 100 breast and fifth in the 100 free.

Karla Hinojosa finished fifth in the 100 back.

Maci Farinha finished fifth in the 100 breast.

Ceres High’s 200-medley relay team of Hensley, Hopwood, Potts and Trio finished second.

Ceres High’s 200-free relay team of Hopwood, Farinha, Garcia and Potts finished third.

Ceres High’s boys team fell to 1-3 in league standings following its 120-14 setback at Pacheco.

Jesus Villalobos finished second in the 100 breast, and fourth in the 100 free and 50 free.

Nikahli Garcia finished second in the 50 free and fourth in the 100 back.

TRACK & FIELD

Ceres High boys track and field standout Verlis Smith claimed three medals at the Stanislaus County Championship Meet on March 18 at Riverbank High School.

“I surprised myself,” he said. “It’s my second year doing track. Now I know I can compete against the best around here.”

Smith swept the 100 and 200. He set a personal record in the 200.

“I upped my game because of the competition,” he said. “Nobody wants to lose.”

Smith also teamed up with Austin Munguia, Fermin Esparza and Manny Mendoza to win the 4x100 relay in a season-best time.

“We could have run faster,” he said. 

The Bulldogs totaled 35 points while finishing seventh overall in the team standings.

Crosstown-rival Central Valley (13 points) placed 10th.

Munguia took sixth in the 200.

Esparza took seventh in the 100.

Roberto Tiscareno led the Hawks.

He took third in the pole vault.

“It definitely feels good to take third,” Tiscareno said. “But I could have done better. I ended up jumping 10 feet. There was more left in me. I ran out of attempts.”

Central Valley’s Isaiah Peko, Joseph Alamo, Anthony Ramierez, Kaleb LaFountain, Sergio Mendoza, Roberto Rosales, Elijah DeLeon, Daniel Soares, Elmer Toledo, Alexas Landa and Alex Contreras also competed.

Peko took sixth in the discus and ninth in the shot put.

Alamo took seventh in the long jump.

Ramierez took seventh in the 300 hurdles and 20th in the long jump.

LaFountain took ninth in the discus.

Mendoza took 15th in the shot put.

Rosales took 16th in the 800.

DeLeon took 17th in the 200.

Soares took 18th in the 3,200.

Toledo took 18th in the 1,600.

Landa took 19th in the 1,600.

Contreras took 19th in the 800.

Central Valley’s girls team totaled 24 points en route to an eighth-place showing.

Kalli Hoffman took first in the 200, second in the 400 and third in the 100.

Ashley Anaya took ninth in the 800.

Carmen Ramirez took 11th in the 800 and 15th in the 1,600.

Maria Campos took 14th in the 1,600.

Giselle Mendez took 14th in the long jump and 15th in the 200.

Supria Singh took 20th in the 100.

The Bulldogs (five points) finished 14th in the girls team standings.

Maryn Curry took fourth in the high jump.

BOYS TENNIS

Ceres High’s boys tennis program topped Lathrop and lost to Mountain House in Western Athletic Conference play this past week.

The shorthanded Bulldogs improved to 2-3 in the WAC standings with a 6-3 win over Lathrop on March 22 in Ceres.

Ceres High didn’t field a team last spring due to a lack of numbers.

“We don’t have a full roster this year,” Bulldogs’ head coach Brandon Moring said. “For us to get some victories, it’s good for the guys and their confidence. I’m proud of them. They’re working hard. They have good attitudes.”

The Bulldogs won five of six singles and one of three doubles matches against the Spartans.

Noah Zamora bested Alfred Tolentino 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-4 in No. 2 singles play.

Manuel Calderon bested Aram Baltazar 6-3, 6-2 in No. 3 singles play.

Gilbert Zamora III bested Gabriel Godinez 6-3, 6-2 in No. 4 singles play.

Isaiah Gudino bested Sage Coates 6-3, 7-5 in No. 5 singles play.

Ian Saldana bested Kristopher Florendo 6-2, 6-0 in No. 6 singles play.

Serjio Gonzalez and Fabian Torres bested Gurmatt Singh and Elisher Poklay 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in No. 1 doubles play.

Host Ceres High lost 9-0 to Mountain House on Thursday.

“Win or lose, the expectation was to fight for every point and have fun,” Moring said. 

The Mustangs swept all six singles and three doubles matches versus the Bulldogs.

“They have a top-notch program,” Moring said. “They have really good players that come from a tennis community. That’s tough to compete with. We want to be at that level someday.”

CV wins twice

Central Valley’s boys tennis team continued its run of success against Central California Conference competition last week.

The third-place Hawks improved to 6-2 in the league standings after beating Patterson and Buhach Colony.

“We’re sitting where I thought we’d be,” head coach Mike Rodriguez said. “We have experience. We’re pretty balanced throughout our ladder. We’re deeper than other teams.”

Central Valley edged Patterson 5-4 on Thursday in Ceres.

The Hawks won two of three doubles and three of six singles matches against the Tigers.

Darien Pongbandith and Dylan Chauhan secured the team victory with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Josue Servin and Axel Diaz in No. 3 doubles play.

“They knew they were the deciding match and didn’t worry about the pressure,” Rodriguez said. “They just played.”

Aiden Sinlapaxay and Joaquin Pulido defeated Michael Clauzel and Roverto Medina 6-1, 6-2 in No. 1 doubles play.

Willy Souksavath defeated Malik Nelson 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in No. 3 singles play.

Enrique Lepe defeated Kuljit Uppal 6-1, 7-5 in No. 4 singles play.

Jesus Hernandez defeated Eric Prado 6-1, 6-2 in No. 5 singles play.

Central Valley cruised to an 8-1 victory over Buhach Colony on March 22 in Ceres.

The Hawks won all three doubles and five of six singles matches versus the Thunder.

Sinlapaxay and Pulido prevailed 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 doubles.

Braulio Arellano and Jose Alvarez prevailed 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 doubles.

Kai Sivongxay and Melvin Morales prevailed 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) at No. 3 doubles.

Omar Lepe prevailed 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.

Lourdvic Polanes prevailed 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.

Souksavath prevailed 6-0, 6-4 at No. 4 singles.

Enrique Lepe prevailed 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5 singles.

Jesus Hernandez prevailed 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 singles.