Buchanan girls, McFarland boys both add to legacies with record 26th Central Section cross country titles

The two most decorated cross country programs in CIF-Central Section history both added to their impressive legacies just hours apart Thursday, with the Buchanan High girls lineup and McFarland boys team each winning their record 26th division championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Buchanan captured its eighth consecutive Division 1 crown with 20 points and McFarland celebrated its return to Division 4 with the program’s first boys title in 11 years, holding off Morro Bay by a 55-63 margin.

Post-race interviews

The last time Buchanan and McFarland both won championships in the same season came in 2013, with the Cougars securing the second of back-to-back Division 2 crowns.

McFarland won the Division 4 championship for the 19th time Thursday, tying the section record for most titles achieved by a boys team in a single division with Madera in Division 1, with the Coyotes securing their first victory in 1965 and their most recent crown in 2006.

Buchanan captured its 22nd Division 1 girls title, the most section championships by any cross country team in any division, regardless of gender.

Although the Bears had all seven athletes in the top 13, their run of seven consecutive individual crowns was halted by Bullard junior Isabella Ramirez, who became the first girls champion in program history by clocking 17:39.58.

Phil Erro (1960) and Greg Pope (1977) are the only Division 1 boys champions for Bullard.

Buchanan was led by a pair of freshmen, with Gaby Gutierrez finishing second in 17:56.87 and Brooklyn Buckley taking third in 18:01.86, followed by senior Sierra Cornett placing fourth in 18:05.09, junior Kynzlee Buckley securing fifth in 18:10.94 and sophomore Molly Sundgren achieving sixth in 18:22.54.

Avery Hutchison (18:42.63) and Elle Lomeli (19:19.63), both seniors, were eighth and 13th for the Bears, who are seeking a fifth state championship, including their fourth in Division 1, following a one-point loss last year to Corona Santiago when they compete Nov. 30 at Woodward Park.

Clovis North was second Thursday with 77 points and Clovis East took third at 93 points.

Buchanan pulled off its first sweep of the Division 1 championships since 2017, with the boys team prevailing by a 47-59 margin against reigning champion Clovis East and Clovis North taking third at 67 points.

Buchanan, which won its sixth section title overall, needed a sixth-runner tiebreaker Nov. 14 to edge Clovis East at the Tri-River Athletic Conference Championship after both lineups accumulated 40 points.

Conor Lott of Clovis North held off Buchanan’s Luke Sanders for the second week in a row, this time with a 15:22.8 to 15:23.39 victory, capturing the first Division 1 individual title for the Broncos since Isaiah Galindo in 2019.

Clovis East, which won its first Division 1 title last season, was led by Marcus Salinas taking third in 15:49.99.

Jansen Geyer placed fourth in 15:59.25 for Buchanan, which had all seven athletes in the top 25, including Max Jauregui (16:13.23) taking 10th, Michael Pritsky (16:16.28) finishing 14th, Deaglan Givan (16:28.39) capturing 17th, Jack Beauchamp (16:33.36) securing 19th and Amani Rodriguez (16:36.87) achieving 22nd.

Tyler Daillak of Paso Robles became the first male athlete in program history to win a Central Section individual title by clocking 14:55.67 in the Division 2 final.

Daillak produced the first sub-15 performance in the Division 2 championship since 1996, joining Charlotte Castelli in 2021 as the only Paso Robles athletes to win Central Section individual crowns.

Chester Testerman, Angus Uhlmeyer and Bud Mee all won Southern Section individual championships for Paso Robles from 1937-41.

Matilda Torres won the Division 2 boys team title with 24 points, placing five scorers in the top eight to prevail in a third different division in as many years. The Toros triumphed in Division 4 in 2022 and won a Division 3 title last season.

Madera South placed second Thursday with 94 points and Clovis West took third at 107 points.

Benjamin Fernandez led Matilda Torres by clocking 15:19.09 to secure second, Hunter Hannah took third in 15:51.93 and Paso Robles’ Brian Arndt was fourth in 15:53.69.

Alfonso Del Toro (16:05.81) and Noah Felix Andrade (16:08.83) achieved fifth and sixth, respectively, with Antonio Santiago (16:23.26) earning eighth for Matilda Torres.

Valorie Jimenez won the Division 2 girls individual title in 18:30.71, leading five Madera South competitors in the top 20 to also contribute to the program’s first team title since 2013 with a 50-57 victory against Clovis West.

Jimenez became the first girls champion for Madera South since Alisha Brown in 2008-09.

Yazmine Lachino of Monache was runner-up in 18:44.52, Cameron Macias took third in 19:27.32 to help Clovis West produce its best team finish since 2018 and Susan Jimenez contributed a fourth-place performance in 19:48.83 for Madera South.

Arianna Diaz, a sophomore at Mt. Whitney, won the Division 3 girls individual crown in a program-record 18:44.27, capturing the first championship for the Pioneers since Gaby Zamora in 2008.

Diaz, who eclipsed the Woodward Park 5-kilometer record for Mt. Whitney of 19:12.0 set in 1993 by Kami Schofield, prevailed against 2022 individual champion Ashley Villafana from Kerman (19:20.38).

Carly Meeks earned eighth in 20:43.21 to lead six San Luis Obispo athletes finishing in the top 25 to capture the team title with 57 points, with Atascadero edging Kerman by a 101-106 margin for second.

San Luis Obispo also won Division 2 team championships in 2018-19.

Bakersfield Del Oro followed a Division 4 boys team title last season by winning a Division 3 crown Thursday, with all seven athletes in the top 20 to produce a 43-point effort.

San Luis Obispo was runner-up with 62 points and Reedley took third at 84 points.

Del Oro’s Noel Huato surged in the final 100 meters to pull away from Reedley’s Mauricio Herrera to secure a 16:01.56 to 16:03.62 victory.

Frannie Perry of Templeton won her third consecutive individual championship, securing titles for multiple schools and different divisions during her career following an 18:21.71 effort in the Division 4 final.

Perry prevailed in Division 3 for Atascadero in 2022 and repeated as champion last year representing Templeton.

Anna Villavicencio of Woodlake was second in 18:38.19 and reigning champion Shelby Taylor took third in 19:04.05, leading five Morro Bay competitors placing in the top 45 to capture its first Division 4 title at 66 points, with Lompoc Cabrillo edging Liberty Madera Ranchos for second by a 91-96 margin.

Templeton swept the individual titles again, this time in Division 4, following three consecutive victories from Joshua Bell in Division 3.

William Wallace (16:36.87) and Beckett Aston (16:37.18) took the top two spots for Templeton, followed by Diego Ochoa (16:47.08) and Jose Delgadillo (16:48.48) for McFarland, which placed five scorers in the top 25 to hold off Morro Bay and its 30-second spread among a lineup that all finished from 10th to 17th overall.

Martin Hernandez was the last Templeton athlete to win the Division 4 boys individual crown in 2003.

Clara Riddle became the first Division 5 female athlete to capture three consecutive individual titles since Jordan Hasay of Mission Prep won four in a row from 2005-08, clocking 18:44.39 to lead five Immanuel competitors in the top six for a 19-point performance.

Immanuel had all seven athletes in the top 10 to become the first girls program to three-peat in Division 5 since Mission Prep won 11 consecutive titles from 1998-2008.

Yosemite won its fourth straight boys team crown, including the third in a row in Division 5 after prevailing in Division 4 in 2021, with a 44-48 victory against Immanuel, followed by Central Valley Christian taking third at 67 points.

Fresno Christian sophomore Blake Bay repeated as Division 5 champion in 15:54.12, followed by Ford Stegge (16:11.04) and Anthony Ruiz (16:26.09) for Yosemite, which became the first Division 5 boys program to win at least four straight championships since Mission Prep from 2003-06.