Crush women capture second straight NorCal championship, men bring home first regional title
MARTINEZ – The Clovis Community College cross country programs continued where they left off last week. After both the women's and men's squads captured Central Valley Conference titles, the teams continued the trend on Friday by bringing home Northern California Regional championships. The event was held Friday at Hidden Valley Park in Martinez.
Under head coach CJ Albertson, the Crush women won took first place at the Northern California Championships for the second consecutive season while the men won its first-ever regional championship.
Led by third and fourth-place individual finishes by freshman Rhiannon Walker and sophomore Julia Martinez, the Clovis women totaled 40 points to capture the team title and easily outdistance second-place Hartnell College with 62 points.
All five of the Crush's scoring runners finished among the competition's top-10. Walker led the way, clearing the course with a time of 18:47.3. Martinez was right behind her at 18:53.1.
Alyona Beams joined the duo in the top-10, clocking in at 19:46.5 for 10th place. She was followed by Milca Martinez in 16th place (20:10.2) and Lisbeth Mendez in 18th (20:19.4).
Also for the Crush, Genevieve Tamondong was 24th at 20:41.2 and Ashley Leeds took 33rd with her time of 21:12.8.
Hartnell's Andrea Villegas was the women's individual winner with an impressive time of 18:20.4.
In men's action, Aron Teffra's seventh-place individual finish paced the Crush to 89 team points and the regional championship. Clovis narrowly edged Hartnell in second with 93 points and American River at 95 points.
Teffra ran 22:18.9 to lead the Clovis men. Up next for the Crush were Joaquin McGee in 13th and Ethan Pricolo in 14th place. McGee cleared the course with a time of 22:34.0 while Pricolo clocked in at 22:43.3.
Also scoring for the Crush were Isaiah Watkins in 26th at 23:08.0 and Marcus Jauregui in 31st with a time of 23:19.3. Up next for Clovis was Alejandro Gutierrez in 33rd place (23:24.9) and Miguel Marin in 54th (24:16.0).
Johnny Sandoval from San Joaquin Delta College was the men's individual winner with his time of 20:59.8.
Up next, the Clovis cross country teams will look to make a clean sweep of its postseason races when they will compete at the 3C2A State Championships on Nov. 18 at their home course of Woodward Park in Fresno. Both squads are looking to win their first state titles.