Sac Joaquin Section Championship Meet

This past Saturday many of Stanislaus County's top runners competed against the rest of the section over the undulating Willow Hills course. This course is widely regarded as the toughest section championship course in the state. Although the recent rains kept down the dust, the rocky trails and the constantly changing elevation of the terrain make this course more than challenging for the flat-lander StanCo schools. With all of that said, there were some impressive and some disappointing results turned in by our local athletes and teams.

The 2nd place RBK Ladies--photo credit Dick Hodges

VARSITY GIRLS
The highlight for the local girls was the second place finish in the D4 race by the Lady Bruins of Riverbank. Their runner-up finishing position also qualified them for November 29th's State Championship Meet in Fresno.

Ruvalcaba

Riverbank's own Kim Ruvalcaba was the fastest StanCo finisher placing 4th in the D4 race with a time of 19:17. The next two fastest runners were also from Riverbank (Haley Richardson and Sabrina Garcia) demonstrating why they are the top girls' team in the county. The top MMC ladies suffered through a rough day. Arielle Names (Downey) was ill most of the week and was unable to compete. StanCo's top finisher in the Sub-Section meet, Savannah Mendoza (Modesto) had a rare off day in the super-fast D1 race.

Richardson and Garcia

 StanCo finishers under 23:00
21. 4th in D4 Kim Ruvalcaba (Riverbank) 19:17
80. 11th in D4 Haley Richardson (Riverbank) 20:44
89. 12th in D4 Sabrina Garcia (Riverbank) 20:56
97. 20th in D3 Lupe Ventura (Patterson) 21:02
122. 26th in D1 Haylee Osgood (Downey) 21:19
124. 17th in D4 Madison Mays (Hughson) 21:20
130. 29th in D2 Esmeralda Aguayo (Downey) 21:28
139. 56th in D1 Savannah Mendoza (Modesto) 21:36
153. 37th in D3 Anna Perrone (Oakdale) 21:48
174. 29th in D4 Joslyn Beliera (Riverbank) 22:01
189. 46th in D2 Makaelyn Bickel (Downey) 22:16
196. 49th in D2 Erika Martinez (Downey) 22:24
219. 58th in D2 Esther Limon (Downey) 22:44
224. 39th in D4 Lydia Hodges (Riverbank) 22:54

The Riverbank girls' team were the only StanCo female qualifiers for the State Meet. Team-wise RBK won the battle of the top two StanCo schools by taking down The Downey girls with a total time of 1:45:52 to Downey's 1:50:11. As I stated at the top, the Knights were missing top runner Arielle Names, but she alone couldn't have made up the four plus minute gap between the two teams.

VARSITY BOYS
For the boys the only State Meet qualifiers were Adan and Emmanuel Chavez (Riverbank), and Daniel Yanez (Hughson) who all earned individual spots out of the D4 race. The top StanCo finisher was Mario Medina (Gregori), who just missed a State Meet invitation by a mere one second.

Alania and Medina

Emmanuel and Adan Chavez--photo credit Dick Hodges

StanCo finishers under 18:00
23. 12th in D1 Mario Medina (Gregori) 16:34
36. 2nd in D4 Adan Chavez (Riverbank) 16:46
53. 26th in D1 Orlando Cardenas (Modesto) 16:59
54. 27th in D1 Marc Alania (Modesto) 17:00
55. 5th in D4 Emmanuel Chavez (Riverbank) 17:01
60. 7th in D4 Daniel Yanez (Hughson) 17:03
61. 30th in D1 Andrew Williams (Modesto) 17:03
107. 32nd in D2 Inteus Schiavo (Downey) 17:24
112. 36th D2 Justin Goering (Downey) 17:28
116. 15th in D4 Austin Zehr (Hughson) 17:30
129. 52nd in D1 James DeLaO (Modesto) 17:37
131. 53rd in D1 Anthony Arauza (Gregori) 17:37
139. 55th in D1 Nick Sanders (Gregori) 17:45
144. 57th in D1 Jeremy Hart (Gregori) 17:46
145. 44th in D2 Hunter Casey (Downey) 17:46
152. 20 in D4 Ruben Paradez (Riverbank) 17:48
173. 30th in D3 Tomas Virgen (Patterson) 17:58

Team-wise it was Modesto pulling in the fastest StanCo time. They have won all year by committee, as they have had at least three different runners finish in their top spot. The Gregori team of mostly seniors wrap up four very successful years running together. I have enjoyed watching them grow over the past four years.

7th in D1 Modesto 1:26:47
8th in D1 Gregori 1:27:58
4th in D4 Riverbank 1:28:42
6th in D4 Hughson 1:29:55
9th in D2 Downey 1:30:35


RESULTS

PHOTOS (by Screamin Scott)

PHOTOS (by Camera Kim)