2026 XC South SJS Distance Week 2 Preview

Week 2 in the South SJS has the first cluster (SAL) and a variety of invitationals that only a handful of local teams are choosing to compete.

 

 For me I am going to try and catch the SAL 1 cluster, Hughson's Black and Gold inter-squad, The Central Valley Classic at Woodward, and the TRRP/Legion clean up on Saturday.

 

WED 9/2 SAL 2 @ Riverbluff Park, Ceres

The competing South SJS teams are Denair, Delhi, Legrand, Waterford. The varsity athletes will run 5K.

 

2mi course

5K course

What I am interested in seeing how the league shakes out given that in theory the boys' competition could be pretty close.

 

WED 9/2 HUGHSON BLACK AND GOLD @ Hughson HS, Hughson

Hughson of course is the only South SJS competing team. All runners will run 2mi.

 

What I am interested in seeing the whole Husky squad in action. 

  

FRI 9/4 CENTRAL VALLEY CLASSIC @ Woodward Park, Fresno

The competing South SJS teams are Ceres, El Capitan, Los Banos, Merced, and Riverbank. Don't get too excited about this meet being at the historic Woodward park course as all races will be 3K instead of 5K. The course also skip the hillier portion of the park.

 Even over the shorter distance I am interested to see how RBK and Merced's top runners compete against team from the Central Section

 

SAT 9/5 DENNIS DEWITT INV @ Madera South HS, Madera

The competing South SJS teams are Buhach Colony and El Capitan

 

SAT 9/5 SOIREE AT SWRA @ Sunset Whitney Park, Rocklin

The competing South SJS teams are Big Valley Christian and Denair. the races will be 3K

 

 

SAT 9/5 LAGOON VALLEY INV @ Lagoon Valley Park, Vacaville

The competing South SJS team is Atwater. The varsity races were 3mi

 

 

I am interested to see ho Atwater stacks up to the top dogs in the SJS

 

SAT 9/5 ST MARYS INV @  St Mary's College, Moraga

The competing South SJS team s are Mountain House and East Union

 

 

 

 

2026 XC South SJS Distance Week 1 Runners of the Week

 

With only two major meets this past week the number of South SJS teams and runners competing was limited, but there were some very strong performances.

 

KATERIN ORTIZ NUNEZ (Golden Valley)--she ran 15:30.28 at the Oakmont Inv for 4K. She placed 56th which was an all important #5 runner for GV helping them place 3rd overall.  Her time was a 42 sec improvement for her on that course.

 

MELVIN LEON (Golden Valley)--he placed 3rd in the Soph Division at the Oakmont Inv. His time was 13:10.99 which was the 3rd fastest on the day for GV. It was also an improvement of an incredible 2:43 from last season over the same course. If GV wants to run through the CCC they will need Melvin to continue to improve.

 

OTHERS I CONSIDERED

DOMINIC URTEAGA (Golden Valley)--placed 3rd in the VB division at the Oakmont Inv in a time of 11:55.40 which was a 38 sec improvement from last year

GAVIN MARTIN (Turlock)--placed 29th in the VB division at the Oakmont Inv in a time of 12:37which was a 37 sec improvement from last year

ENOC REYES (Central Valley)--placed 76th in the VB division at the Oakmont Inv in a time of 13:15 which was a 71 sec improvement from last year

CARLOS CASTANEDA (Central Valley)--placed 102nd in the VB division at the Oakmont Inv in a time of 13:28 which was a 98 sec improvement from last year

CARMELO RODRIGUEZ (Ripon)--placed 1st in the Soph division at the Thunder 2mi in a time of 11:07 which was the fastest time of the day

SOPHIA JUNG (Ripon)--placed 1st in the Junior division at the Thunder 2mi in a time of 13:30 which was the fastest time of the day 

2026 XC South SJS Distance Week 1 (Thunder 2mi, Oakmont Inv)

During Week 0 there were 36 South SJS Distance teams in action. This week there are only two meets and 12 teams out on the course, but there were still some notable performances

 

 

SAT 8/29 THUNDER 2mi @ Buhach Colony HS, Atwater

The competing South SJS teams were Atwater, Buhach Colony, Denair, El Capitan, Orestimba, Ripon, and Ripon Christian. All of the races were 2mi.

 

Soph B

1. Carmelo Rodriguez (Ripon) 11:07.4

2. Benjamin Cerna (Orestimba) 11:08.6

3. Giancarlo Gutierrez (Buhach Colony) 11:19.5

4. Hunter Saunders (Orestimba) 12:01.2

5. Luke Hartley (Ripon) 12:06.8

6. Josue Hernandez (Buhach Colony) 12:15.5 

 

Jr B

1. Mariano Ibarra (El Capitan) 11:15.2

2. Lucas De Vera (Ripon) 11:41.4

3. Matteo de Vera (Ripon) 12:16.0

 

Sr B

1. Joseph Garcia (Orestimba) 11:49.4

2. Landon Morse (Ripon) 12:12.9

3. Thomas Jacklich (Ripon) 12:17.1

 

Frosh G

1. Ilene Aguilar (Atwater) 14:43.6

2. Sophia Donovan (Atwater) 14:47.0

 

Soph G

1. Jade Carmona (Orestimba) 13:51.5

2. Chloe Delozier (El Capitan) 14:55.7

 

Jr G

1. Sophia Jung (Ripon) 13:30.5

2. Paige Thomas (Ripon) 14:37.2

3. Abigail Garcia (Atwater) 14:45.2 

 

Sr G

1. Paisley Coenenberg (Mnateca) 14:27.5

2. Mariah Yanez (Buhach Colony) 14:43.5

3. Samantha DeLaCruz (Orestimba) 14:52.1 

 

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING WAS: Orestimba and Ripon's top kids continue running well. They will need even more to compete against Sonora and Hughson in the TVL cluster meets. But the league certainly is looking to be competitive which makes for interesting racing

 

RESULTS 

   

SAT 8/29 OAKMONT INV @ Johnson-Springville Park, Rocklin

The competing South SJS teams were Central Valley, Downey, Golden Valley, Lathrop, and Turlock. All of the races were 4K.

 

VB

8-Golden Valley 292; 12-Turlock 359; 43-Lathrop 1233

 

Barajas and Urteaga

5. Dominic Urteaga (Golden Valley) 11:55.40

15. James Barajas (Golden Valley) 12:07.90

29. Gavin Martin (Turlock) 12:37.37

30. Porter Petty (Turlock) 12:37.61

66. Manuel Elizarraraz Pedraza (Golden Valley) 13:12.00

68. Zayn Hamilton (Turlock) 13:12.14

76. Enoc Reyes (Central Valley) 13:15.89

102. Carlos Castaneda (Central Valley) 13:28.36

 

Soph B

3. Melvin Leon (Golden Valley) 13:10.99

 

VG

3-Golden Valley 265; 16-Turlock 424; 24-Lathrop 674; 27-Central Valley 737

 

Cortes (center)

3. Fernanda Cortez (Golden Valley) 13:25.26

39. Gabriela Hicks (Golden Valley) 15:03.54

42. Chelsea Chavez (Golden Valley) 15:09.04

43. Aubri Villa (Golden Valley) 15:09.79

53. Morgan Emery (Lathrop) 15:26.26

55. Gisela Hernandez (Turlock) 15:27.75

56. Katerin Ortiz Nunez (Golden Valley) 15:30.28

66. Vanessa Morales (Central Valley) 15:44.99 

 

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING WAS: That GV boys and girls took down Turlock in a major way. One team may still be developing and the other may be peaking, only time will tell.  Several of the local runners had big improvements over their times on this course last year.

 

RESULTS

 

PHOTOS (varsity)

PHOTOS (non-varsity) 

2026 XC Division Assignments

 Schools are placed into certain leagues based on many factors (geography, enrollment, overall competitiveness to name a few). A team's divisional assignment in track is solely based on the league they belong to, such as the WAC is assigned D4 and the CCAL is assigned D2. But in XC the divisional assignment is only based on a school's enrollment. Some schools are firmly locked into their divisions ie the community has very little growth or the school is so large. But a few schools are close to the bottom or top of the division and a small jump or a small decrease in enrollment may cause a divisional shift and thus make them either more or less competitive (look at Tokay 2127 is the last team in D1 and Cordova 2126 is the first team in D2--one student was the difference)

 The highlighted teams are the ones that I cover for South SJS Distance in cross-country. The different colors indicate the different leagues.

A few things to notices such as the huge enrollment disparity in the VOL (purple) between D1 Mountain House and D5 Central Catholic. Also Central Valley, which by every measure that I listed in the top paragraph, should be in the CCAL; and its WAC competitor Livingston, which has about half the enrollment.

There are a few big changes in divisional alignment from last year:

1. SIERRA HS--gained about 70 kids and moves from D3 to D2

2. BUHACH COLONY HS--lost about 35 students and goes from D2 to D3.

3. SUMMERVILLE HS--gained about 180 individuals and jumps from D5 to D4. 

 

What does any of this mean...well the different divisions qualify a different number of teams to State based on how past SJS teams in that division have performed at State. In other words, the better this year's teams from D2 place at state the more qualifying spots SJS will get from D2 in the future. Of course the opposite is true also...for SJS D5 has been our weakest division at State, so there are only two qualifying teams from that division each year.

 

With that info in mind let's look at what happened to Summerville. They qualified both their boys and girls for State last year in D5 (the weakest division in the SJS). With the enrollment bump to D4, they are now in a much more competitive division, and qualifying for State will be a lot tougher. A few years ago both Waterford and Bret Harte experienced a switch from D5 to D4. Historically D2 is the toughest bracket in the SJS (yes that is my opinion) and D3 much less so...so Sierra moving up from D3 to D2 likely makes section and State qualification more difficult. Buhach, however moved the opposite direction which might make things easier. 

 

To some up...for most local teams they are in the same divisional as last year. There were a few changes which might be a qualifying factor either for their individual runners or for their teams once we get to the end of the season.  

2026 XC South SJS Distance Week 1 Preview

During Week 0 there were 36 South SJS Distance teams in action. This week there are only two meets and 12 teams out on the course

 

 

SAT 8/29 THUNDER 2mi @ Buhach Colony HS, Atwater

The competing South SJS teams are Atwater, Buhach Colony, Denair, El Capitan, Orestimba, Ripon, and Ripon Christian.

 

 

I am interested in seeing how the top couple of Ripon boys and girls fit in with the top runners from Atwater, Buhach and Orestimba.

 

  

SAT 8/29 OAKMONT INV @ Johnson-Springville Park, Roseville

The competing South SJS teams are Central Valley, Downey, Golden Valley, Lathrop, and Turlock. 

 

 

I am interested in seeing the top Turlock and Lathrop runners against the top Golden Valley girls. Also how the GV and Turlock boys compete against the best teams in the Sac area

 

2026 XC South SJS Distance Week 0 Runners of the Week

There are about 47 South SJS teams that have a XC team; and even though there were only three meets, 36 were in action this week. I went to two of those meets seeing 34 of the teams taking to the course. 

 

Given so many local teams in action there were bound to be some great performances.

 

LANDON WILSON (Sonora)--Landon was on his way to breaking the Atwater 3mi course record at Saturday's Screamin Scott Showdown , then with less than 400m left he was forced to stop and throw up. He still won the race in a more than respectable 15:14.1

 

FERNANDA CORTES (Golden Valley)--Fernanda picked up right where she left off in track...she won the 3mi division of the SSS in a meet record time of 17:02.2

 

MADDOX YOUNG (Beyer)--WOW, Maddox was totally not on my Bingo card for this season. But I do love a surprise. Maddox won the 2.2 mi division of the SSS in 11:43.9

 

 

ANAHI RUIZ VELASCO (Beyer)--placed 1st in the 2.2mi races at the SSS. Her time of 12:15.2 was a new course record and would translate to 11:08 for 2mi. 

 

OTHER RUNNERS WHO HAD A GREAT WEEK:

PORTER PETTY (Turlock)--led the sophomore Bulldogs to the team title at the Sierra Inv. He motored over  the 2mi course in 10:37.09 which was good for third place.

 

EVELYN AVALOS (Gregori)--won the Soph 2mi race at the Lodi Flame Inv in 12:37.67

 

 

 

2026 XC South SJS Distance Week 0 (Lodi Flame, Sierra Inv, and Screamin Scott Showdown)

Most schools started their seasons with a bang this week, but many of the top runners are contending with slight injuries.  I was able to catch two of the meets.

FRI 8/21 LODI FLAME INV@ Lodi Lakes, Lodi

The participating South SJS teams are Calaveras, Escalon, Gregori, Linden, Manteca, Ripon, Ripon Christian. The JV, Frosh, and Soph races covered the same flat two mile course. The Varsity races added one more piece and was listed as 5K.

 

JVG 2mi

2. Paisley Coenenberg (Manteca) 13:10.83

3. Abigail Meza (Linden) 13:17.89

 

Soph G 2mi

Avalos

1. Evelyn Avalos (Gregori) 12:37.67 

 

VG 5K

Lee

14. Lisa Lee (Calaveras) 21:59.68

15. Sophia Jung (Ripon) 22:04.53

20. Kaylee Hartfield (Gregori) 22:54.40

21. Malaina Gallegos (Gregori) 22:54.40

22. Ava Marrone (Ripon) 22:56.01

 

JVB 2mi

10. Emanuel Saldana (Manteca) 11:12.26

13. Luke Hartley (Ripon) 11:18.04

16. Braden Hegarty (Manteca) 11:23.45 

 

Frosh B 2mi

4. Ryder Smith (Gregori) 11:40.59 

 

Soph B 2mi

12. Austin Hollenbach (Calaveras) 11:42.20

 

VB 5K

Rodriguez

5. Carmelo Rodriguez (Ripon) 17:08.34

10. Amanpal Dhaliwal (Calaveras) 17:31.85 

  

WHAT WAS INTERESTING TO ME?

Calaveras has only three top girls. I had been hoping that they would find two more to be able to compete with RBK in the MLL. Ripon's Carmelo Rodriguez continues to develop and may be able to run with the top Hughson boys. Gregori's Evelyn Avalos look good but ran the shorter race and was unchallenged...so will she be able to stay with Mylie Olson and Gisela Hernandez (Turlock) in CCAL competition? Ava Marrone dor Ripon is a frosh in her first race. Watching her develop could be very interesting in regards to the TVL individual placings.

 

RESULTS

  

PHOTOS (races 1-4)

PHOTOS (races 5-8) 

   

SAT 8/22 SCREAMIN' SCOTT SHOWDOWN @ Atwater HS, Atwater.

There were 27 South SJS teams (Atwater, Beyer, Big Valley, Bret Harte, Buhach Colony, Ceres, Chesterton, Denair, El Capitan, Enochs, Golden Valley, Grace Davis, Hughson, Johansen, Livingston, Los Banos, Merced, Modesto, Orestimba, Pacheco, Patterson, Pitman, Riverbank, Sierra, Sonora, Summerville, and  Waterford). Most of the top teams were missing someone. Also the best teams in the region weren't necessarily in the same races as some opted for the full three mile course and others for the shorter 2.2 mi races.

All of the coaches before the meet

 

B 3mi 

1-GV 53; 2-ATW 61; 3-ON 90; 4-SIE 112; 5-PAT 190

 

Gonzalez (behind) and Wilson

1. Landon Wilson (Sonora) 15:14.1

2. Yair Gonzalez (Atwater) 15:42.4

3. Armando Garcia (Riverbank) 16:00.9

4. Asher Berg (Sonora) 16:01.3

5. Max Perez (Sierra) 16:10.3

6. Eli Pimentel (Pitman) 16:13.3

7. Manuel Elizarraraz Pedroza (Golden Valley) 16:13.8

8. James Barajas (Golden Valley) 16:14.7

9. Sebastien Peterson (Sierra) 16:15.6

10. Xavier Glenn (Atwater) 16:16.0

 

B 2.2 mi

1-HUGH 25; 2-BEY-74; 3-ATW 90; 4-SIE 118; 5-LIV 154

 

Hoyle (behind) and Young

1. Maddox Young (Beyer) 11:43.9

2. Ethan Samulski (Beyer) 11:45.0

3. Mason Hoyle (Hughson) 11:55.8

4. Manny Ruiz (Hughson) 11:56.9

5. Sam Alvarado (Hughson) 11:57.7 

 

G 3mi

1-GV 20; 2-ATW 67; 3-SIE 67; 4-RBK 72; 5-MER 127

 

Cortes

1. Fernanda Cortes (Golden Valley) 17:02.2 (new course record)

2. Anna Dittman (Sierra) 18:13.5

3. Chelsea Chavez (Golden Valley) 18:57.7

4. Gabriela Hicks (Golden Valley) 19:05.9

5. Sadie Thompson (Sonora) 19:08.2

6. Aubri Villa (Golden Valley) 19:10.3

7. Jade Carmona (Orestimba) 19:58.3

8. Abigail Fraser (Sierra) 20:12.0

8. Katerin Ortiz Nunez (Golden Valley) 20:12.2

10. Terra Campos (Pacheco) 20:32.9 

 

G 2.2 mi 

1-BEY 29; 2-HUGH 41; 3-LIV 76; 4-PIT 98; 5-MER 137

 

Ruiz Velasco

 

1. Anahi Ruiz Velasco (Beyer) 12:15.2 (New course record that converts to 11:08 for 2mi)

2. Grace Benitez (Hughson) 13:12.6

3. Annie Servin (Beyer) 13:33.4

4. Maggie Becchetti (Hughson) 13:39.1

5. Daisy Rojas (Livingston) 14:02.4 

  

WHAT WAS INTERESTING TO ME?

Almost every team was missing somebody. Listing off the top runners who were missing would indeed be an impressive list, but XC is about who did run. Golden Valley looked great on both sides. The girls missed running against Hughson and Beyer...that is what we all wanted, to see but all three of those teams ran very solid team races. The GV boys had an interesting team strategy and it paid off beating a bit shorthanded Atwater squad. Landon Wilson, Anahi Ruiz Velasco and Fernanda Cortes are in top form! Sierra had some solid performances that will help them in VOL competition

 

RESULTS

 

PHOTOS (B 3mi)

PHOTOS (G 3 mi)

PHOTOS (B 2.2 mi)

PHOTOS (G 2.2 mi)

PHOTOS (B and G 1.4 mi) 

 

SAT 8/22 SIERRA INV @ Sierra College, Rocklin

The competing South SJS teams are Turlock and Central Valley. All of the races were 2mi.

 

FROSH GIRLS

13. Vanessa Morales (Central Valley) 13:51.04 

 

SOPH GIRLS

7. Gisela Hernandez (Turlock) 13:13.26 

 

SENIOR GIRLS

9. Mylie Olson (Turlock) 13:39.63 

 

SOPH BOYS

3. Porter Petty (Turlock) 10:37.09

10. Cylus Costa (Turlock) 11:20.84

16. Fin Ebersole (Turlock) 11:49.83 

 

JUNIOR BOYS

31. Logan Oliveira (Turlock) 11:38.96

33. Joey Barragan (Turlock) 11:44.21

41. Jackson Blood (Turlock) 11:54.46 

 

SENIOR BOYS

7. Gavin Martin (Turlock) 11:00.65

10. Zayn Hamilton (Turlock) 11:05.16

17. Enoc Reyes (Central Valley) 11:21.16 

  

WHAT WAS INTERESTING TO ME?

The Turlock top runners shook out just about where I thought they would. With that group they should glide through CCAL competition. That was a good effort for Reyes of CV. He may be able to compete for the top 7-10 in the WAC this season. I am encouraged that CV has a very solid frosh girl. I'll be keeping an eye on her.

 

RESULTS