McFarland boys, Ridgeview girls, Foothill's Schwartz win cross country division titles
| Friday, Nov 14 2008 01:15 AM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:56 PM
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Foothill senior Chris Schwartz makes a habit of leading the race pack, pushing himself to the limit only when necessary.
The McFarland boys (left to right) Marco Perez, Eddie Garcia, Francisco Nava, Alfonso Cisneros and Gerardo Alcala won the Division IV championship.
Tijerra Lynch from Ridgeview outpaces a rival from Clovis North. Tijerra placed first in the Division III girls race.
FRESNO — Ridgeview coach Adam Setser watched his girls cross country team race for a section championship, wasn't sure if they'd made it, told them to wait and try not to worry while he tried to crunch the all-important numbers.
Meanwhile, top Wolf Pack runner Tijerra Lynch, who had finished third as an individual, stayed quiet and tried to keep her smile on the inside.
"I was just counting all the girls, and I knew right away," Lynch said. "I didn't tell anyone, because I didn't want to seem cocky about it, but I knew."
Ridgeview won the first Central Section cross country title in school history Thursday at Woodward Park, placing five runners in the top 20 for 57 points to edge Clovis North's 74 and Madera South's 75 in Division III.
"You can't describe it," Ridgeview coach Adam Setser said. "It's awesome. It's been a long road, and it's nice to finish with the goal we started with."
That drama, in the day's final race, belied the routine quality of most of the rest of the event. McFarland won the Division IV boys race early in the day, placing 2-3-4-5-7-8-9 with its seven runners.
Cougars coach Amador Ayon said he actually had set a team goal of a 1-5 finish, but that was before he realized Fresno-Washington had dropped to Division IV. Washington's Antonio Rodriguez won the race in 16:08.
But after him were four straight McFarland runners in a pack — senior Alfonso Cisneros (16:20); senior Eddie Garcia (16:31); sophomore Marco Perez (16:37); and sophomore Francisco Nava (16:39).
"Our goal was to stay as close as possible so we could run better as a team," Cisneros said.
Also earning a less-than-dramatic victory was Foothill's Chris Schwartz, the defending Division I state champion, who won his second straight section title in the D-III race. Clovis-Buchanan also sucked any tension out of both Division I races, placing five girls in the top 12 and dominating with a 1-2-3-4-10 finish in the boys race. The top three boys all ran better than 15:30.
Schwartz, whose personal best is a 14:59, ran an untested 15:49. The only thing unusual in his race was the start, when the starter yelled "On your mark," then had his gun misfire, starting the race prematurely.
"Sometimes unexpected things can happen," Schwartz said. "It kind of sucked; I was about to get set, and I was shocked. But I just took off."
Now it's on to state for Schwartz, who will compete in a lower division there than he did last year because Foothill has dropped to Division III. Schwartz said he hoped for a bigger challenge at state.
"It makes me want to go faster, makes me want to hopefully pull out something I've never done before," Schwartz said.
Highland also qualified for state in the D-II boys race, finishing second to Visalia-Redwood, 62-82. East finished third with 89 points but will send Vincente Herrera (fourth, 16:50) as an individual to state, which also is at Woodward Park on Nov. 29. Garces' Connor O'Malley finished fifth in 16:53.
Lynch's 19:31 was 39 seconds better than her previous best on this course and was the best time for a Kern County girl, followed by Garces' Monica Guzman (second in D-II, 19:53) and Shafter's Elizabeth Wittenberg (sixth in D-III, 19:59). Foothill's Natalie Fernandez (20:04) finished third in D-II, and East's Lucy Garcia was fourth (20:08). Taft's Megan Thompson (21:12) was second in D-IV and Acacia Ingram (21:34) finished fifth for Independence — the new school's first state qualifier.
