Section ends Coyotes, Hawks XC seasons

When teams enter the Central Section Cross Country Championships, their hope is to advance to the annual post-Thanksgiving CIF State Cross Country Championships.

However, for Madera, except for one runner, and Liberty, their seasons came to an end last Thursday at Woodward Park.

Madera’s Bianca Scott placed fourth in the Div. II girls race and earned an invitation to Saturday’s CIF State meet.

“Bianca did the work to get to state. It was amazing,” said head coach April Smith.

Scott, a senior, finished the race in 19:25.80, 11 seconds behind third place, just ahead of the fifth place runner.

Scott will run, individual, in the Div. 2 girls race at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Woodward Park.

Teammate Angela Garcia put herself in position for state consideration. In order for an individual to be considered for state, they have to finish in the top 12. The top five individuals not on a team that qualified earn an invitation to State.

Unfortunately for Garcia, Highland-Bakersfield and Paso Robles finished 1-2 in the team race and 1-2 in the individual race, but neither team had another individual in the top seven.

Garcia finished 12th with a time of 20:06.81, 11 seconds behind 11th and five seconds ahead of 13th.

Mayce Atherton earned a top 40 finish in 35th place. Natalia Zambrano and Miriam finished out the Coyotes’ team scoring that placed them eighth.

Madera’s top boys runner was Gabriel Hernandez in 49th place in the Div. III boys race.

Liberty Hawks

The Liberty Hawks girls team had a shot at a team state big after winning their first Northwest Sequoia Conference title.

The team ended with a fourth place finish in Div. V behind church schools Immanuel-Reedley, Fresno Christian and Central Valley Christian-Visalia.

Brooke DaSilva led the Hawks with a 13th place finish. NWSC runner-up Jaslyn Rodriguez was 17th while Sofia Manzo and Graicynn Achelpohl plced 26th and 27th.

Sienna Federico finished the team scoring in 30th place with Kaylyn Best in 32nd and Hailey Bugg in 37th.

However, the top six runners for the Hawks will all return next season with just Bugg the senior.

Eduardo Gonzalez came 15 seconds away from a berth in the Div. V state championships. He led the Hawks with an 11th place finish with a time of 18:40.27 to earn him state consideration.

After Yosemite took the top five spots, the next five went to runners not advancing and Gonzalez finished just one place out of a state bid.

He helped the Hawks to a sixth place team finish. Carson Loquaci, Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Oscar Santiago and Tim Caldon each placed in the top 50.