McFarland boys, girls earn titles
| Thursday, Nov 12 2009 11:16 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Nov 12 2009 11:16 PM
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Casey Christie / The Californian McFarland High runners competing in the Division IV boys race, Thursday, in Fresno, got off to a great start at Woodward Park. Their team came in first place for the 19th time in a row for the section championships. Erik Garcia, center, #282, came in first overall.
Casey Christie / The Californian The East Bakersfield High boys cross country team get ready for their race, Thursday, in the Division II race, at Woodward Park.
Casey Christie / The Californian East Bakersfield High cross country runners, Jose Ramirez, left, and teammate, Moses Valdez, congratulate each other after a tough race, Thursday in Fresno during the cross country sectional championships.
Casey Christie / The Californian First place finisher in the boys Division IV race, Erik Garcia, of McFarland High wipes sweat off his face after the race. McFarland won this race for the 19th straight win.
Casey Christie / The Californian McFarland's Erik Garcia comes in first, in the Division IV cross country championships, Thursday, in Fresno, at Woodward Park.
Casey Christie / The Californian Ridgeview High (purple uniforms) including Tijerra Lynch, #827, get off to a good start, Thursday, in Fresno, during the girls Division III cross country sectional championships. Lynch finished in third place overall.
Casey Christie / The Californian Tijerra Lynch, of Ridgeview High finishes in third in the rain, Thursday, in Fresno, during the sectional cross country championships.
Casey Christie / The Californian Ridgeview runner, Tijerra Lynch takes a long break after coming in third, Thursday, in Fresno, in her division during the sectional cross country championships.
Casey Christie / The Californian East Bakersfield, left, and Highland High, right, vy for position, Thursday, at the start of the sectional cross country championship race in the Division II race.
Casey Christie / The Californian East Bakersfield's Moses Valdez, was thankful at the end of his race, Thursday, in Fresno during the cross country championships.
Casey Christie / The Californian Bakersfield High runners including Sarah Baker, center, #917, jumps out at the start of Division I girls race, Thursday, in Fresno.
Casey Christie / The Californian Highland's Jake Van Zant crosses the finish line in the rain, Thursday, in Fresno.
FRESNO -- McFarland's cross-country coaches saw the writing on the wall early in the season: It said that a freshman shall lead them this fall.
Erik Garcia fulfilled that prophecy Thursday at the Central Section Championships at Woodward Park, but that doesn't mean he can't still make a few freshman mistakes.
Like at the 2-mile mark, when runners are supposed to go right at a fork. Garcia, with no one in front of him to follow, guessed left. Coaches quickly corrected him, and even though he lost some 10 seconds with the miscue, he still cruised to a 16:17 time in the 5-kilometer race and a section championship in a steady drizzle.
"I thought I was going to lose my lead," Garcia said. "I didn't think I had that much of a lead."
Garcia ran a 16:17 and was followed by Francisco Nava (16:36) in fourth, Jose Monrreal (16:36) in fifth, Marco Perez (16:43) in sixth and Marco Camargo (16:44) in seventh. That strong presence gave McFarland 23 points to second-place Parlier's 80, its 19th straight section title, extending a state record, and 22nd overall title.
But as always, coach Amador Ayon said, the real goal will be winning the school's 10th state championship back at Woodward Park on Nov. 28.
"These boys are going to crank it out in two weeks," said Ayon, whose team is ranked second in the state's Division IV. "... I hate to downplay the section stuff, but in the community we're from, the expectations are state champions or nothing. And that's OK. You've got to reach for the top."
The section title?
"It's a relief," Garcia said.
What had Ayon more pumped Thursday was that his girls team also won a section title, edging Firebaugh 45-46 in the Division IV race. Ayon officially made himself the school's girls coach in the offseason; co-coach Joel Lopez took over the boys team, though they consider themselves co-coaches.
That arrangement got a bit hairy when Ayon discovered some of McFarland's girls students apparently were scared away from the team by reputation of his traditionally ruthless workouts. But he patched together a team and made the work pay off.
"I wanted them to see that hard work is not going to break them," Ayon said. "... We had some that were sick, and some that weren't used to the every-day rigors, and some that didn't think practice mattered. But getting them together and having them believe we can get it done, it's special."
It was McFarland's 13th girls section title but first since 2001.
Individually, Taft's Megan Thompson won the D-IV girls race in 20:07, pulling away from two other runners in the final 200 meters.
"I just stayed with them till the end, because I knew I had that fast kick," she said. "When they started kicking it, I just took off."
The only other section championship won by a local went to Highland senior Jeannette Rodriguez, who won the Division II girls individual title in 19:39, coming from fourth place at the 2-mile mark to win.
"I just ran as hard as I could," Rodriguez said. "I was in shock. I was really happy. Anything's possible."
Highland's boys placed second in Division II to Visalia-Redwood. The Scots scored 90 points to edge Tulare Union (93), Fresno-Sunnyside (97) and East (105) for the all-important runner-up spot. Each division sends two teams and up to five other runners, provided they finish in the overall top 12.
Ridgeview, then, had a bittersweet day in Division III. The Wolf Pack girls finished second to Clovis North a year after winning the section title, and Ridgeview's boys edged out Fresno-Roosevelt 92-99 to be second to Madera South to advance to state as a team for the first time in school history.
"It doesn't matter how close it was; we've got to be happy," Ridgeview coach Adam Setser said. "Both teams were a little down because we wanted to win it, but both teams (that finished first) were better. It would have taken a special moment to beat them."
Alex Garcia finished third in 15:48 and Robbie Baker fourth in 16:05 to lead the Wolf Pack boys, while Tijerra Lynch's 19:06 was good for her second straight third-place finish in the section.
Stockdale finished fourth in both Division I races, which were won by Clovis-Buchanan. Bakersfield's Sarah Baker finished 10th in the girls race with the best time by a local runner, 19:01.
Baker's time will give her an individual state berth, along with Rodriguez and Foothill's Natalie Fernandez in D-II; Shafter's Moriah Millwee, Carli Preston and Cambria Tudor in D-III; and Thompson and Taft teammate Daisy Guitron in D-IV.
For the boys, Stockdale's Cameron Miller qualified in Divison I; East's Moses Valdez in D-II; and Shafter's Jesus Villlalpondo, Foothill's Jose Lopez and Golden Valley's Daymon Sandles in D-III.
