Woodward Park in Fresno once again played host to the 2021 Central Valley Conference Cross Country Championships on Wednesday. Both the women's and men's events were two-team races as Clovis Community College came out on top in the women's event while the College of the Sequoias men's team ran to first place.
Clovis earned four of the top-five women's finishes on its way to 19 team points, beating COS' score of 39 points. Fresno City College (2 individuals) and Porterville College (1) did not receive team scores.
Clovis' Jennifer Recinos and Ton Payton finished 1-2 in the women's final to lead the Crush. Recinos cleared the 3.1-mile Woodward Park Course with a time of 19:36.2 to win the individual championship. Payton was second at 19:49.4, followed by Sequoias' top finisher Ximena Ramos in third place with her time of 19:57.3.
Clovis' Morgan Prescott finished fourth at 20:19.0 and Evelyn Zambrano was fifth (20:35.0) to round out the top five. Liliana Salado of COS was sixth (20:53.2) and Megan Duran from Clovis was seventh (20:57.3) to earn All-Central Valley Conference honors (top-7 finishers).
Betzabe Bautista Castro was Fresno City's top finisher in ninth place with her time of 21:20.4 and Porterville's Guadalupe Venegas finished 18th at 27:15.3.
On the men's side, Sequoias earned 17 points to defeat Clovis' 39 points and win the CVC title as the Giants compiled five of the top-six finishes on the day. Porterville (2 individuals) and Fresno City (1) did not earn team scores.
The COS trio of Lionel Aguayo, Juan Santacruz, and Fernando Hernandez swept the top-three finishes. Aguayo was first on the four-mile course with his time of 21:50.0. He was followed by Santa Cruz in second at 22:16.0 and Hernandez in third at 22:17.1.
Clovis' Adrian Cuevas broke up the COS string by taking fourth place, clocking in at 22:21.2. Wrapping up the top-seven and men's All-Central Valley Conference honors were Sequoias' Alfredo Rios in fifth (22:23.7), Matthew Jarrett in sixth (22:34.4), and Clovis' Charlie Sawyer in seventh (22:41.7).
Naisaiah Reyes was Fresno City's top finisher in 12th with his time of 23:48.1 and Porterville was led by Jose Zavala in 16th place at 27:04.7.
Up next is the Northern California Regional Championship on Nov. 5 at Sierra College in Rocklin. Teams will be looking to qualify for the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Cross Country State Championship on Nov. 20 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
