Buchanan Bears dominate Central Section girls’ cross country meet
The Buchanan Bear girls left no doubt with another dominant performance at the 2021 Central Section cross country meet, winning the girls’ team title at the Central Section championship meet at Woodward Park on Thursday, November 18.
Buchanan had seven of the top 10 finishers in the Division-I race including the individual Section champion, junior Sydney Sundgren, who finished the 5,000-meter race with a time of 17 minutes and 35 seconds.
Buchanan also had junior Grace Hutchison finish in second place with a time of 17:39, and freshman Bear Eliana Lomeli placed third at 18:02.
Clovis North, which had fourth-place runner Miliana Perez and ninth-place runner Gianna Bomarito, finished second place as a team. Clovis East wound up third, joining Buchanan and Clovis North as the three Central Section Division-I girls’ representatives for the state championship meet.
Notably, the Buchanan girls scored a remarkably low team score of 19 points.
On the boys’ side, the team competition was much closer.
Clovis High had two runners finish first and second — junior Christopher Caudillo was the Central Section Division-I boys’ individual champion with a time of 15 minutes and 18 seconds, followed by senior Nathaniel Avila, who ran a 15:25.
However, Clovis High landed just outside the top 3 boys’ team finishes with 83 points. Madera South won the team title with 56 points, followed by Clovis West in second place with 71 points and Clovis North in third with 76 points.
Buchanan rounded out the top 5 team finishes with 95 total points, in a Division-I boys’ race that featured five schools with the running talent worthy of one of the coveted three spots to the state meet.
The CIF state cross country championship will take place at Woodward Park on Saturday, Nov. 27.
Clovis West girls’ golf wins another Section championship
The Division-I CIF Central Section girls’ golf championship ended on Monday, Nov. 1 with a familiar sight — the Clovis West girls winning it all once again.
The Golden Eagles won their ninth Central Section girls’ golf championship in a row and their 14th in 16 years. The other two years — 2010 and 2012 — ended with Clovis West as the runner-up.
At the Central Section championship match, held at Kern River Golf Course in Bakersfield, Clovis West defeated all other teams with a 397 score. Buchanan was the runner-up with 411, Clovis North finished in fourth place with a team score of 447, and Clovis East ended up sixth with a 487.
Six girls played for each team and the top five scores counted toward the team score. Clovis West’s counting scores were: Lisa Shimmon (74), Ellie Lew (79), Alyson Burgess (81), Olivia Lew (81), and Tori Ruiz (82).
Maddie Reed of Clovis North was the individual tournament medalist with a one-under-par 71. The three low scores were recorded by Clovis North’s Maddie Reed (71), Stockdale’s Iris Han (72), and Clovis West’s Lisa Shimmon (74).