2026 XC South SJS Distance Week 2 (SAL 1; Hughson Black and Gold; Central Valley Classic; Dennis Dewitt; Soiree at SWRA; Lagoon Valley; St Mary's Inv)

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

I went to 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 were Denair, Delhi, Legrand, Waterford. The varsity athletes will run 5K.

 

VB

1-DEL 40   2-WAT 42   3-DEN 46   4-LG 92

 

The lead Delhi group with Ponce and Felix lurking

1. Jorge Ponce (Denair) 19:52

2. Diego Loza (Delhi) 19:53

3. Abraham Felix (Waterford) 19:58

4. Cristian Aguilar (Delhi) 20:07

5. Marco Santillan (Delhi) 20:10 

   

VG 

1-DEL 17; 2-DEN 44 

Machado

1. Adriana Machado (Delhi) 23:17

2. Cynthia Pena (Delhi) 23:58

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING was just how close the boy's competition was. For so many of the leagues the out come of the races holds little drama. But here the top three teams were within 6 pts of each other

 

PHOTOS 

 

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.

 

BOYS

Ruiz leading Coach Vizcaino, Hoyle, and Sam Alvarado

1. Manny Ruiz (Hughson) 10:11

2. Mason Hoyle (Hughson) 10:20

3. Samual Alvarado (Hughson) 10:28

4. Juan Palos (Hughson) 10:31

5. Shane Lockwood (Hughson) 10:44

6. Tyler Phun (Hughson) 10:45

7. Jeremiah Alvarado (Hughson) 10:45

8. Diego Salinas (Hughson)10:50 

 

GIRLS

 

Benitez

1. Grace Benitez (Hughson) 11:30

2. Maggie Becchetti (Hughson) 12:16

3. Sophia Aguiar (Hughson) 12:36

4. Melanie Sanchez (Hughson) 13:21

5. Allison Landeverde (Hughson) 13:23

6. Jaelyne Anguiano (Hughson) 13:26

7. Maritza Gonzalez (Hughson) 13:56 

 

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING was that Hughson had 8 boys breaking 11. According to their Coach this is the best outcome in this meet ever.  

 

RESULTS

PHOTOS 

  

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

The competing South SJS teams were 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 skipped the hillier portion of the park.

VB

10-LB-335; 11-RBK-344; 14-MER-379

Garcia

8. Armando Garcia (Riverbank) 9:40

30. Isaiah Salvatier (Los Banos) 10:12

46. Yael Montesinos (Riverbank) 10:28

48. Mariano Ibarra (El Capitan) 10:28

53. Javier Ambriz (Merced) 10:33

56. Ayden Sandoval (Los Banos) 10:36

 

FSB

5-RBK-127; 12-LB-322; 14-MER-350

 

3. Giancarlo Reyes (Riverbank) 10:27

13. Aaron Gabrie (Riverbank) 10:42

 

VG

7-RBK-195; 18-LB-433

Hampton

2. Eleanor Hampton (Merced) 10:52

14. Zuri Golding (Riverbank) 12:17

34. Chloe Delozier (El Capitan) 13:12

40. Emily Ramirez (Riverbank) 13:20

46. Leslie Valdez (Riverbank) 13:24 

 

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING was that all of the local teams had some bright spots but also have some huge holes. The RBK boys would have finished higher if they hadn't split their top boys between varsity and F/S

  

RESULTS

PHOTOS (Varsity)

PHOTOS (FS and JV) 

 

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

The competing South SJS team was Buhach Colony. The races were 3K.

 

Girls 3K

44. Mariah Yanez (Buhach Colony) 12:34

52. Camila Aguayo (Buhach Colony) 12:53 

 

Boys 3K

25. Giancarlo Gutierrez (Buhach Colony) 9:30

84. Gustavo Antonio Martinez (Buhach Colony) 10:37

88. Josue Hernandez (Buhach Colony) 10:38

98. Angel Rivera (Buhach Colony) 10:43 

 

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING was that Giancarlo Gutierrez is running well, but how will he stack up against the top dogs on the Atwater and GV  teams when they all run at CCC1 on Sept 16.  

 

RESULTS

 

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

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

 

B 3K

55. Malachi Arnold (Big Valley Christian) 10:16

80. Landon Ponce (Big Valley Christian) 10:33 

 

RESULTS

 

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

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

 

LSVG

6-ATW 137

 

29. Abigail Garcia (Atwater) 22:27.5

33. Susana Hernandez (Atwater) 22:55.7

34. Ilene Aguilar (Atwater) 22:55.9

 

LSVB

2-ATW 59

 

3. Yair Gonzalez (Atwater) 15:48.1

8. Isaian Vargas (Atwater) 16:36.1

11. Lucah Sherman (Atwater) 16:51.5

18. Xavier Glenn (Atwater) 17:19.7

19. Michael Garcia (Atwater) 17:22.9

21. Francisco Medrano (Atwater) 17:26.3 

 

WHAT I FOUND INTERESTING that Atwater finished faster than all of the LS and SS teams except for Vacaville. How will the Falcons stack up against Golden valley on Sept 16th at CCC 1? 

  

RESULTS 

 

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

The competing South SJS teams were Mountain House and East Union. All of the races were 2mi.

 

VB

16-MH 410; 19-EU 522

 

47. Thiago Carneiro (Mountain House) 10:59.18

50. Elijah Galvan (East Union) 11:00.28

 

VG

23-EU 606 

 

64. Alysia Sinclair (East Union) 13:44.04

  

RESULTS 

 

PROPOSED SJS REALIGNMENT

The SJS bylaws allow for league/school realignment every four years. They just released the first proposal for league realignment. I watched the whole video(linked below) and the proposal may offer the most extreme realignment we have ever witnessed. What I got out of it was that most leagues were going to have two levels  (Capital and Valley). The leagues would also be structured one way for only football and another way for all other sports. Since XC and track fall into the "All Other Sports" category (and not the football one), this is the one I'll discuss. 

https://www.cifsjs.org/realignment 

  

Let's start with the smallest schools in the South SJS Distance area the CCAA:

 

 This "league" is essentially a combination of the current CCAA and the MVL. River Islands has moved out and Modesto Christian has moved in. As far as South SJS Distance is concerned only Vanguard has a XC team this season of the teams I would possibly cover (Vanguard, Don Pedro, Tioga, Modesto Christian, and Turlock Christian).

 

Next let's go to what is being called the Mother Lode League 

 

 

This grouping is primarily composed of the current MLL and SAL leagues. We have added Orestimba back from the TVL (prior to that Orestimba was in the SAL), Hilmar from the TVL, and River Islands moves up from the CCAA. Stone Ridge currently has no XC or track team. Gustine and Mariposa have no XC team. All of these teams I was already covering with the South SJS Distance except River Islands.

 

They are calling this one the CCC

 

 This one is primarily a convergence of the current CCC and the WAC. two those 14 teams we are adding Modesto from the CCAL and Ripon Christian from the current TVL. For Ripon Christian this would be an extreme shift. They have very talented athletes in many sports but in track and XC they don't even hold their own in the TVL. And enrollment wise Atwater is at 2058 and RC is at 293...so clearly enrollment had zero to do with their placement in this conference. All of these teams field XC and track teams and I am already covering all of them.

 

This would be the proposed TCAL 

 

 Most of these teams I don't cover but I believe that they are currently in the SJAA and TCAL. However there are two notable exceptions and there inclusion definitely demonstrates that football is the tail waging the dog. I am referring to Central Catholic and Manteca both currently in the VOL. Regarding track and XC neither of these teams is particularly strong. At least in XC, Central Catholic would slide back into D5 for State qualification.

 

Okay and now things get really weird with what they are calling the VOL 

 

 

 

This appears to be all of the CCAL plus the remaining VOL (minus CC and Manteca), and the rest of the TVL (minus Orestimba, RC, and Hilmar). So why isn't it called CCAL since that league is fully absorbed into the mass. I would suggest FML (Frankenstein's Monster League).  Regardless of the semantics of the league's name....why, why, why.....Central Catholic could have stayed here and Mountain House could have gone to the TCAL...No one wants Mountain House (that is mainly based on geography and this realignment has done nothing to help that issue). MH should be put with the Tracy and Stockton schools. The "VOL Valley Tier" might be the craziest arrangement of the whole proposal. The TVL has historically been the toughest/strongest D4 league in the section and perhaps the whole State...and this realignment seems to have gone far out of its way to destroy that collection of schools...yes Hughson, Ripon, Escalon, and Sonora (arguably the strongest of the TVL) are still together but they had to add D1-Downey and D1-Enochs and D2-Patterson...what a bizarre decision. In track what division would this mess be categorized as??? I predict as the process moves forward and the public has a chance to chime in, this league will be the focus of a lot of the complaining/discussion. 

 

 

Overall I would still cover Central Catholic (they are in StanCo after all) and Manteca but not the rest of the TCAL...Lodi is just too far away and I have no historic connection to any of the Stockton schools. I would add River Islands. This grouping gives me basically 6 leagues to cover (the 2 VOLs, the 2 CCCs, and the 2 MLLs along with Manteca and CC). Curently I have seven leagues, CCAL, CCC, WAC, VOL, TVL, SAL, and MLL. Yes I didn't mention the CCAA schools and in recent years they (the ones I cover) haven't fielded XC or track teams, except Vanguard (which I would still cover).

 

If you read this I am certain that you will have questions. I hope to interview Will DeBoard in the near future. So message me your questions and I will attempt to get them answered.   screaminscott64@yahoo.com

   

 

 

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