XC PREVIEW Central Section Boys

Below is an overview look at cross country athletes to watch in the Central Section. Because of the shutdown of the 2020 season and loss of the CIF-State Championships, a lot of our information below is based on returning athletes from the 2019 State Meet, 2019 Central Section finals, and marks achieved during both the 2021 winter XC season and the spring '21 track season.

Way back in a time before COVID-19, the boys at Clovis North were the class of the Central Section. North won the section title and went on to place sixth in Division I at the CIF-State Championships. 

As we begin to examine the prospects for the fall 2021 cross country season, we see a veteran North team well-stocked to not only defend its Central Section title but also potentially improve on its placing at the State Meet. 

Senior Andrew Cape ran No. 4 for Clovis North at the State Meet after running No. 5 for the Broncos in 2019. In last weekend's Summer Sizzle on a 2-mile layout at Woodward Park, Cape was fourth in leading Clovis North to a team win over what appears to be the Broncos' two biggest challengers in the CS: Buchanan and Madera South. 

Senior Spencer Mueller, who ran No. 7 for the Broncos as a sophomore at the 2019 State Meet, placed eighth last weekend followed by seniors Mathew Oaks, Paean Ocampo and Brayden Blodgett. The Broncos' first five placed among the top 14 in the race with Blodgett coming in at 9:59.5. 

For perspective, race winner Brenton Maddox, a senior at Buchanan, crossed in 9:28.5, with Clovis junior Chris Caudillo second (9:33.8) and Clovis senior Nathaniel Avila in third (9:43.2). 

Maddox ran No. 7 for Buchanan at the 2019 State Meet, where the Bears placed 14th, and No. 6 in the Valley final where they placed second, 29 points behind Clovis North. 

Judging by the 2-miler, Buchanan looks for junior Noah Ray, senior Robert Kirkman, and junior Zachary Weaver to challenge up front. 

Madera South had six of the top 18 and all in under 10:04.8. Five are juniors, led by Dylan Devine and Isaac Chavez. The lone senior in that group is Alejandro Gutierrez, who ran No. 3.

Individually, Caudillo is coming off a sophomore track season where he established himself as one of the top distance runners in the state, going 4:09.67 for 1600m and 8:51.98 for 3200m.

Sanger senior Emanuel Salas went 4:13.79 and 8:57.73, respectively. Five other CS boys had a sub-14 combined time or 1600m/3200m from the spring season: Avila, Maddox, Cape, Clovis East sophomore Carter Spradling and Central senior Guillermo Lopez. 

Salas is the top returner in Division II from both the State Meet, where he placed 60th and the CS meet, where he placed fourth. His classmate, David De Loera, was 66th and seventh, respectively. 

Central, which placed ninth at the State Meet, brings back from that meet, Lopez, who ran No. 4, and Aron Teffra, who ran No. 7.

Corcoran senior Paul Quintanilla, who ran No. 2 at the 2019 CS Final, is coming off an impressive spring on the track where he went 4:23.68 for 1600m and 939.36 for 3200m. His combo time of 14:03.04 ranks No. 9 in the section for athletes with posted marks at both distances. 

In the smaller divisions, a couple of teams on our early radar are Matilda Torres and Yosemite. 

Matilda Torres, a new school in Sanger competing in Division V, had three under 10:40 at the Summer Sizzle in sophomore Ozzy Hernandez, freshman Noah Felix and sophomore Esaud Vargas. 

Also impressing on the shortened Woodward Park layout was a very young Yosemite group, led by a trio of freshmen in Ben Olney, Jack Olney, and Ford Stegge, plus senior Sebastian Rosales-Valdez, and sophomore Noah Graffigna. Another top returner from 2019 is senior Justin Beaumont, who ran No. 3 for Yosemite as a sophomore at the 2019 Central Section Final. 

At the Summer Sizzle, Jack Olney was 19th overall (10:09.3) with Ben Olney next, Rosales-Valdez was 39th and Stegge was 46th in 10:32.8.