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Successful start for CHS cross country
•Girls, boys finish second at cluster meet
Virginia Moore
Central Valley varsity girls tennis player Virginia Moore constarted at No. 2 singles versus Patterson and Merced last week. - photo by Dale Butler

Ceres High’s varsity girls and boys cross country teams turned in respectable performances this past week at the Western Athletic Conference’s first cluster meet of the 2019 season.

Ceres High’s girls posted a team score of 45 while finishing second behind Los Banos (21) at O’Neill Forebay in Los Banos.

Johansen (92), Grace Davis (137) and Pacheco (138), placed third, fourth, fifth, respectively.

Mountain House (144) and Beyer (144) tied for sixth.

The Bulldogs had three runners finish in the top eight.

Diana Del Real Serrano led the way.

She took sixth with a time of 23:15 on the 3-mile course.

Jacqueline Rodriguez (23:19) and Wendi Lizola (23:20) finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

Karina Baez (24:23) and Esmerelda Garcia (24:38) placed 11th and 13th.

Ceres High’s boys tallied 60 points en route to a tie for second place with Lathrop.

Pacheco (40) was first.

Beyer (131), Johansen (138), Mountain House (140) and Los Banos (158) finished third, fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.

The Bulldogs had two runners place in the top eight in Ronaldo Flores (seventh, 18:40.60) and Fabian Amparo (eighth, 18:40.80).

Gonzalo Rivera Jr. (ninth, 18:48), Bryan Erenas (12th, 19:13) and Jossue Portillo (26th, 20:00) also scored points for Ceres High.

CCC RESULTS

Central Valley High School’s cross country program competed at the Central California Conference’s season-opening cluster meet on Sept. 18 in Atwater.

Central Valley’s boys team totaled 175 points en route to a sixth-place finish.

Atwater (38) took first.

Buhach Colony (42), Merced (50), Golden Valley (116) and Patterson (125) placed second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Central Valley topped El Capitan (203).

Eric Andrade led Central Valley.

He finished 33rd overall.

Andrade completed the 3-mile race in 18 minutes, 42 seconds.

Hawk teammates Alejandro Gonzalez (18:52), David Cuevas Sanchez (19:04), Nicolas Gil (19:30) and Enrique Martinez (19:52) placed 34th, 38th, 42nd and 48th, respectively.

The competition featured 62 runners.

Central Valley’s girls posted a team score of 167 on its way to a last-place finish.

Merced (31), Atwater (32), Buhach Colony (84), Patterson (99) and Golden Valley (131) took first, second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Priscilla Garcia paced Central Valley.

She finished 29th in a field of 48.

Garcia completed the 3-mile course in 23:21.

Hawk teammates Kelsy Naranjo (25:09), Adriana Huaracha (25:33), Abigail Garcia (25:46) and Guadalupe Gonzalez (25:55) placed 40th, 41st, 42nd and 43rd, respectively.

GIRLS TENNIS

Central Valley’s youth-laden varsity girls tennis team lost to Patterson and Merced in Central California Conference play last week.

The Hawks compiled a 1-6 record during the first half of the CCC season.

“It’s frustrating because we’re in every match,” head coach Mike Rodriguez said. “We’re having a hard time closing out. We can’t win three-set matches for whatever reason. We’re not being consistent with our play.”

Patterson beat Central Valley 6-3 on Thursday in Ceres.

The contest lasted just 21/2 hours.

“We didn’t play really well for the most part,” Rodriguez said. “It was our fastest match of the year.”

Bandna Bhatti, Virginia Moore and Christina Hermenegildo won their respective matches for the Hawks.

Bhatti bested Jazmine Peres 6-3, 6-4, in No. 1 singles play.

Moore bested Clara Thiekoetter 6-4, 6-2 in No. 2 singles play.

Hermenegildo bested Zianna Garcia 6-3, 6-0 in No. 3 singles play.

“Our No. 1, 2 and 3 singles players did their part,” Rodriguez said. “They won pretty easily.”

Sadie Porras lost 6-2, 6-2 to Aaliyah McDonald in No. 4 singles play.

Cassandra Leon lost 6-2, 6-3 to Johanna Camberos in No. 5 singles play.

Edith Amaya lost 6-1, 6-1 to Morgan Lopez in No. 6 singles play.

Natalia Rubio and Sabino Dhillon lost 6-4, 6-3 to Lois Lopez and Yasmine Lewis in No. 1 doubles play.

Jessica Saini and Ashley Corro lost 6-2, 6-2 to Freshka Aziz and Naudya Figueroa in No. 2 doubles play.

Alicia Sanchez and Malina Keomuanchangh lost 6-0, 6-0 to Ariana Camacho and Katerina Toledo in No. 3 doubles play.

Merced topped visiting Central Valley 7-2 on Sept. 17.

“We had our chances,” Rodriguez said. “We lost three of the matches in three sets.”

Dhillon and Rubio bested Emily Featherston and Sere Burelson 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in No. 1 doubles play.

Saini and Corro lost 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to Bianca Trindade and Natalia Robinson in No. 2 doubles play.

Sanchez and Manmeet Kaur lost 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 to Jessie Mendoza and Jenny Vega Santos in No. 3 doubles play.

Porras bested Rhea Mishra 6-2, 7-6 in No. 4 singles play.

Bhatti lost 6-0, 6-1 to Kate Colvin in No. 1 singles play.

Moore lost 6-1, 6-4 to Denise Papilota in No. 2 singles play.

Hermenegildo lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to Laura Ness in No. 3 singles play.

Leon lost 6-2, 6-1 to Zoe Hayes in No. 5 singles play.

Amaya lost 6-2, 6-3 to Megan Workman in No. 6 singles play.

The Hawks will begin the second half of the CCC campaign this week.

“The girls are getting better,” he said. “They’re still working hard at practice. A good amount of them want to stay later.”

“It’s a learning year,” Rodriguez added. “We lost nine girls from last year. We just need more match experience. We just need to see more consistent play.”