Juniors Noel Huato and Alex Garcia led Del Oro’s boys cross country team to its second CIF Central Section Cross Country Championship on Thursday at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
Huato captured first place overall in the Division 3 category with a time of 16 minutes, 1.56 seconds. Garcia followed in third place with a time of 16:25.94. Del Oro finished with a team score of 43 points; runner-up San Luis Obispo came in second with 62 points.
“I didn’t feel nervous because I knew I could win it,” Huato said. “I didn’t feel my legs the entire race, but I felt great when I won.”
Garcia said he felt “calm and controlled” during the race.
“The work we put in throughout the season carried us through the race,” he said. “I was confident in the team and myself. We didn’t perform to the best of our ability, but we still did the work necessary. I couldn’t ask for a team to feel more like family.”
Those feelings were echoed by senior Antonio Torres, who finished 11th with a time of 16:47.60.
“It feels amazing going back-to-back to win another Central Section championship,” he said. “We all worked hard to be where we’re at and it was just a matter of going out and doing our part to win.
“Now it’s time to focus on the state meet next Saturday.”
Just as they did during last week’s South Yosemite Horizon League championships, the rest of the Suns all finished within seconds of one another. Senior Edgar Gil followed Torres in 12th place with a time of 16:55.99. Sophomore Joel Gutierrez-Ventura came in 16th place with a time of 17:05.71, followed by junior Israel Gutierrez at 17:16.43. Rodrigo Guerra, a freshman, finished behind Gutierrez with a time of 17:16.72.
In the girls Division 3 race, junior Sonia Alba was the highest finisher for the Suns and placed 58th overall. Alba set a personal record with a time of 23:58.97. Senior Miley Hernandez Moreno finished 101st with a time of 26:48.84 while senior Alexa Cruz came in 113th place with a time of 29:29.28. Junior Leslie Moreno came in 129th with a time of 36:27.84.
The Suns boys team will return to Woodward Park on Nov. 30 for the CIF State Cross Country Championships.
