The members of Ceres High’s and Central Valley’s cross country programs will try to post positive results this fall.
“The more effort they put into it, the more success they’ll have,” Bulldogs’ leader Owen Brown said.
“The biggest goal is self-improvement,” Hawks’ head coach Michael Mrgudic said. “The second goal is to have fun.”
Returnees Erick Valladares-Ponce (Jr.), Cesar Bolanos-Aleman (Sr.), Reymundo Soto (Jr.), Simon Pezzoni (Jr.) and Eduardo Garcia (Sr.) will lead Ceres High’s boys team.
Bolanos-Aleman and Garcia took 29th and 51st, respectively, at the Western Athletic Conference Championships last fall.
Valladares-Ponce and Pezzoni finished 18th and 39th in the frosh-soph division.
Bolanos-Aleman and Garcia placed 95th and 119th, respectively, while competing at the 2021 Sac-Joaquin Section Division-III Sub-Section varsity meet.
Valladares-Ponce and Pezzoni placed 18th and 39th during the frosh-soph race.
Brianna Luna (Fr.), Evelyn Alvarez (Sr.), Jaden Stahl (So.), Erica Vieira (Sr.) and Stephanie Espinoza (Fr.) will lead Ceres High’s girls team.
Stahl and Alavarez are returners.
Luna, Vieira and Espinoza are newcomers.
Alvarez placed 17th at the 2021 WAC Championships. She finished 86th at the Division-III Sub-Section varsity meet.
Stahl won a third-place medal during the frosh-soph league finals. She was runner-up at the WAC’s second and third cluster meets. Stahl took 28th during the Sub-Section frosh-soph competition.
Alexis Landa (So.), Armando Guajardo (Sr.), LaDre Sengsoury (Jr.), Jackson Stokes (So.) and Jonathan Macias (Sr.) will lead Central Valley’s boys team.
Guajardo, Sengsoury, Stokes and Macias are returners.
Landa is a newcomer.
Guajardo and Macias placed 33rd and 46th, respectively, at the 2021 Central California Conference Championships.
Stokes took 25th at the frosh-soph league finals.
Macias, Stokes and Sengsoury finished 37th, 60th and 70th at the Division-I Sub-Section frosh meet.
Marianna Campos (So.), Althea Mumford (Fr.), Alyssa Ontiveros (Fr.), Samaria Hernandez (Fr.) and Alicia Espinoza (Fr.) will lead Central Valley’s girls team.
Campos is a returner.
Mumford, Ontiveros, Hernandez and Espinoza are newcomers.
Campos placed 25th at the 2021 Central California Conference Championships.
Campos took 43rd at the Division-I Sub-Section frosh-soph meet.
Central Valley’s 2022 CCC regular-season schedule consists of three cluster meets.
The Hawks will race against Patterson, Atwater, Buhach Colony, Merced, Golden Valley and El Capitan.
Central Valley’s boys placed fifth overall with a team score of 119 at the league finals last season.
Central Valley’s girls (148) finished sixth in the team standings.
“The future is looking bright for our girls with most of them being freshmen and sophomores,” Mrgudic said. “Next year and the following year we could have a very good varsity squad. Maybe we can contend for CCC titles.”
Ceres High’s 2022 WAC regular-season schedule consists of three cluster meets.
The Bulldogs will compete against Beyer, Grace Davis, Johansen, Lathrop, Mountain House, Los Banos and Pacheco.
Ceres High’s girls didn’t post a team score at the 2021 conference finals due to a lack of numbers.
Ceres High’s boys placed seventh with 157 points.
“If they’re improving, I’m happy,” Brown said.
