Ceres High’s varsity boys cross country program enjoyed a breakout performance at the Western Athletic Conference’s third cluster meet last week.

The Bulldogs posted a team score of 65 en route to a second-place finish on Oct. 16 at East La Loma Park in Modesto.

Ceres High took third during its previous two outings versus WAC competition.

“It’s exciting to see their hard work pay off,” head coach Katie Thiele said.  

The Bulldogs topped Lathrop (73), Los Banos (109), Mountain House (141), Beyer (144) and Johansen (148) this past week.

Pacheco (29) placed first for the third time this season.

Lathrop edged out Ceres High during the WAC’s first two cluster meets.

The Bulldogs finished three points (56-59) behind the Spartans at the conference’s second meet.

Ceres High and Lathrop each totaled 60 points during the first meet. The Bulldogs lost by tiebreaker to the Spartans.

“I knew they could get second but I thought it would take everybody to have their best race,” Thiele said. “Other runners were able to pick up the slack.”

Sophomore Ronaldo Flores led Ceres High at East La Loma Park.

A newcomer to cross country, Flores finished eighth overall with a time of 18 minutes, 46 seconds on the 3-mile course. 

“This is my first time doing this,” he said. “I wanted to improve my conditioning for track. The most challenging part is keeping the right mindset. You have to keep a consistent pace or else you’ll get tired.”

Bulldog teammates Bryan Erenas (18:58), Gonzalo Rivera (19:20), Jossue Portillo (19:32) and Fabian Amparo placed ninth, 14th, 15th and 22nd, respectively.

“I’m happy,” Flores said. “The last two weeks, we’ve been training harder. It’s fun. It gets competitive. Other teammates try to beat you.”