By: Krissy Hetherington
This previous Thursday, November 15th 2018, Redwood’s varsity girls and boys cross country teams attended the annual Central Valley Championships meet after both winning WYL (West Yosemite League) in Hanford last week. This was 5k course at Woodward park in Fresno and also served as a qualifier for the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) State Championships. The top 2 teams in each division and the top 10 runners minus those who were on a winning team qualified for the State meet next Saturday, November 24th.
Boys Varsity
For the boys, they were placed in DI after winning Valley 2 years ago in 2016. They overall placed 9th and although they did not advance as a team, Bailey Darnell, ’19, placed 6th overall and moved onto State next week. He ran a time of 15:58 which ties his PR (personal record).
His fellow teammates and him led the team to a WYL championship after a long season neck and neck with El Diamante and Mt. Whitney. At the Valley meet, the other Redwood runners ran great and pushed themselves to finish out the season with a strong end.
Colin Watamara, ’19, ran a 16:41, Alex Fontes, ’19, ran 17:40, and Gordy Dicochea, ’19, ran 18:24 to finish off their high school careers. Other times include Nick Reid’s 17:44, Tristen Schieferle, ’20, 17:59, Ryan Hemphill, ’20, 19:05, who each show perseverance as they close the season and hope to bring the training they’ve used all season into the upcoming track pre-season workouts.
Girls Varsity
Although the race didn’t go exactly how they planned or wanted, the girls overall had a great season and winning WYL once again. Redwood’s own Chloe Schultz, ’20, finished in the top 10 that qualify to State with a time of 19:51 which is a little off from her usual time but she’s been recovering from a recent sickness which led to a minor setback.
Along with the team, the girls finished 6th overall in DII one point behind Tulare Western. Kylee Dismuke, ’19, finished her high school cross country career with a final time of 20:36 and so did Alyssa Nunez, ’19, with a time of 20:53. Both girls are 4 year varsity runners. Although the team will miss the two upperclassmen, the team still shows great strength in numbers where the rest of the team will return for another great season. These include, Victoria Nino, ’21, 20:52, Sophia Dominguez, ’20, 21:34, Katie Becerra, ’21, 20:40, and Mia Maciel, 22:24 (who crushed her own personal record).
This meet concluded the post-season for the rest of the girls except Chloe. The team practiced and worked hard all season in practices and meets and are looking forward to coming back during track season to dominate in the long distance group.
Krissy Hetherington
Krissy ('21) is a senior and this is her third year as Editor in Chief. She has been in Journalism since beginning of freshman year and has a strong passion for sports journalism. Outside of the Gigantea, Krissy is a part of the Cross Country, Basketball and Track teams. She is also in her third year as an intern writer for the Sun-Gazette. You can reach her by email at krist.he0076@vusd.us
Tags: athletics, boys, central valley, cross country, finish, girls, personal record, rangers, Redwood, redwood athletics, redwood gigantea, season closer, state, student athlete, varsity, WYL
