The Madera South cross country team traveled to Pasadena last week to run in the Cool Breeze Invitational, which was run through the famous Rose Bowl Stadium.
The boys team came away with the Div. 1/2 championship while the girls team placed in the top 10 in ninth place at the biggest cross country event since the state meet in 2019.
In the girls race, all six participants set personal bests with Diana Cortes and Milca Martinez placing in the top 25 and earned a medal.
In the boys race, Dylan Devine finished second and Alejandro Gutierrez placed fourth to lead the Stallions to the team championship, outpointing Redondo Union by 29 place points.
“The boys came in with something to prove,” coach Sky Fierro said. “This was many of their first big meets of their young careers, as well as being one of two schools representing the Central Valley.”
Devine, a junior, was 15 seconds behind the race winner in first place, but was seven seconds ahead of the third place runner. Senior Gutierrez finished 12 seconds behind Devine in fourth place.
Isaac Chavez was one second out of a top 10 finish and ended up in 11th. Vidal Luna was 18th overall for the Stallions. Adrian Hipolito completed the scoring in 24th place. Estevan Medina was three seconds behind Hipolito in 25th place.
In addition, Ulysses Vega placed 61st and Juan Ramirez was in 113th place out of 190 runners.
Cortes led the Stallions with a 17th place finish and was right behind the 16th place runner. Martinez finished 25th and was 12 seconds behind Cortes.
Freshman Valorie Jimenez was the next Stallion across the line in 46th place. Guisel Santos placed 76th and freshman Jasmine Chavez completed the scoring in 77th place, right behind Santos. A third Stallions’ freshman, Olivia Delacruz, was 83rd, 11 seconds behind Chavez.