Buchanan freshman Kynzlee Buckley crosses the finish line to win the Division 1 title while senior teammate Grace Hutchison, right, struggles to get across the line. Hutchison, who had a huge lead, fell late in the race and placed second as the nationally ranked Bears cross country team defended its section title.
* * *
FRESNO -- It certainly couldn't have been how Coach Brian Weaver and his Buchanan High cross country staff drew up Thursday's defense of the girls Division 1 title at the CIF-Central Section Finals.
The early afternoon race on a comfortable 60-ish degree day at Woodward Park seemed to be rolling along nicely until the end, when the depth of Buchanan's girls team again provided evidence warranting its lofty national ranking.
BYU-bound senior Grace Hutchison appeared well on her way to what appeared a wire-to-wire victory for the Division 1 title. She led by roughly 20 seconds with a mile to go on the very familiar 5,000-meter course.
And she was cruising along well in front when she came onto the grass for the final push to the finish line. There, however, she appeared to be limping as she pushed forward, began to stumble, and crumpled to her knees. She got up and crumpled again. It became a struggle for her to make it the final meters to the finish as she fell to her knees a third time, grasping onto the fencing separating the crowd from the course.
In the meantime, freshman Kynzlee Buckley, roughly 15 seconds back before Hutchison began to have issues, passed her teammate to win the race. She then turned back toward Hutchison with the intention of trying to help her. But, as fans were yelling at her to stop, Buckley appeared to pull her arm away before touching her teammate -- which could have resulted in a disqualification. Buckley then turned to go back across the line, leaving Hutchison to eventually find her way to get to the timing mat to, amazingly, place second for the second year in a row.
Buckley's time over the 5K course that is home to the Buchanan team, was 17 minutes, 39.59 seconds. Hutchison, who has had a couple of previous issues finishing races -- 2021 State Meet and 2022 Clovis Invitational -- was timed in 17:46.77.
Buchanan sophomore Sierra Cornett was next across in 17:54.52.
Buchanan's day began with sophomore standout Elliana Lomeli, third here last year, telling coaches she was unable to run.
Trouble? Nah.
With this team it's just a matter of next-girl-up.
And, after Clovis North's Ashlyn Leath crossed in 18:15.85 for fourth, junior Avery Hutchison roared across for Buchanan (18:26.39). Defending section champion, senior Sydney Sundgren, who did not run at the league final the week before, placed seventh (18:34.42), and freshman Tayler Torosian was eighth (18:36.79) to close out Buchanan's scoring.
A year after dominating this race with 19 points, somehow, some way, on Thursday, Buchanan improved on that with a score of 18!!
It is the 24th section title for Weaver's girls, and seventh in a row.
Kaitelyn Emmons (18:27.11) and Miya Maltos (18:55.42) were next across for Clovis North, which placed second in the team competition with 42 points. San Luis Obispo earned the division's third and final team spot for the Nov. 26 CIF-State Championships back at Woodward Park.
Clovis East senior Erika Nyberg placed 10th (18:58.27) to earn the only individual at-large State Meet spot from this race.
MORE COVERAGE - PHOTOS | VIDEOS
Division 2
A year after winning the D-3 title, Highland junior Mia Torrecillas was unchallenged in winning here, rolling over the 5K layout in 18:15.31 in leading her team to a second consecutive title. Torrecillas ran 18:24.14 to win D-3 last year.
Lianna Guerra placed 10th for Highland, which scored 107 points. Sydney Moore was second overall l in 18:58.92, as Paso Robles earned the division's other team qualifying spot.
Aubrey Thompson and Nicole Bridges of Bakersfield Liberty, Bianca Scott of Madera, Abigail Spain of Bullard, and Abby Trujillo of Frontier earned at-large bids to the State Meet.
The Central Section was allotted two team qualifiers to State in this division, which meant up to five individuals not on qualifying teams who placed among the top 12 earned at-large bids. When a division is allotted three auto-qualifying teams, athletes among the top 14 could earn an at-large spot.
Division 3
Atascadero's Frannie Perry ran the course in 19:12.10 and was a 3.34-second winner over Natalie Flores Independence for the division title. Independence was a 12-point winner over Wasco for the team title. Those two teams advance to the State Meet. Perry, Brooklyn Bawanan of El Diamante, Leslie Aquino of East Bakersfield, Sophie Ramirez of Cabrillo, and Keira Sorenson of Central earned at-large spots.
Division 4
Ashley Villafana won the race in 19:22.52 leading Kerman to the team title. Alyana Chavez of Roosevelt placed second more than 46 seconds behind Villafana. Baylee Melgoza placed sixth and Milani Gutierrez was 10th for Kerman, which scored 47 points. Orcutt Academy Charter was second with 94 points, earning the division's other State Meet spot. Chavez, Gabrielle Gutierrez of Justin Garza, Rhiannon Walker of Fresno, Elizabeth Urquilla of Farmersville, and Maya Katz of Taft Union earned at-large spots.
Division 5
Immanuel's Clara Riddle was a 40-plus second winner while leading her team to a runaway victory. Immanuel put up just 29 points well ahead of runner-up Fresno Christian (70), which earned the division's only other State Meet spot. Lexi Schartmann, Sydney Friesen, and Sarah Larger all placed among the top eight for Immanuel. Julia Gray was second in 19:51.68 to lead Fresno Christian. Genevieve Miller of San Joaquin Memorial, Caitlin Chea of Central Valley Christian, Tenaya Keogler of Mammoth, Norah Kostelyk of Central Valley Christian, and Karly Champness of Bakersfield Christian earned State Meet at-large spots.
* * *
BOYS
Clovis senior Chris Caudillo defended his individual title and San Luis Obispo earned that Central Section title it missed a year go.
Caudillo nearly broke 15-minutes on the Woodward Park 5K course, hitting 15:01.98 on the clock to win the Division 1 title.
After a controlled first mile with the lead pack, it was still tight with Caudillo leading a group of four at the 2.1-mile mark. It wasn't until the final mile when he was able to pull away for a second consecutive D-1 title.
Milo Skapinsky of SLO was second in 15:13.31, and Carter Spradling of Clovis East was third in 15:16.30.
Officially, Caudillo now has times of 15:04, 15:05, and 15:02 in four races on the Woodward Park 5K this fall.
SLO, competing in D-2 last year, narrowly missed the section title last November, losing by a point to Sanger. Some 10 days later, SLO dropped a furious final-mile surge to win the State D-II crown. Now competing in the largest of the five CIF divisions, they proved Thursday that they warrant inclusion in the conversation in the lead-up to the State Meet.
Quinn White (15:26.35), Weston Greeneish (15:57.94), Luke Reiss (16:04.02), and Nolan Roemmich (16:25.84) also scored for SLO, which had 65 points. The section is allowed only three team qualifiers into the State Meet, and with SLO and Sanger among the teams shifted into the large-school division for this season, it quickly became clear that one of the better teams in the State was not going to run on Thanksgiving Saturday.
Madera South (68), and Clovis (75) earned the other two spots for State. Buchanan (95) is the odd team out.
Dylan Devine, Adrian Hipolito placed seventh and eighth, respectively, for Madera South, and Vidal Luna was 14th. Cole McNeal was 11th and the next Clovis runner across after Caudillo.
Spradling, Nathaniel Nodal of Clovis West, Sawyer Pugliese of Sanger, Sam Dresick of Clovis West and Zach Weaver of Buchanan earned State Meet at-large spots.
Division 2
Central's Alazar Teffra said he used his kick over the final 800 meters to separate from El Diamante's Devin Ibarra and win the Division 2 title. Teffra ran the course in 15:58.22, nearly six seconds in front of Ibarra. Carter Mendes was third in 16:09.54 for division team champion Tulare Western. Santiago Basurto, Joseph Flores, and Erik Delgado all placed among the top 12 for Tulare Western, which posted 46 points to outdistance runner-up Monache by 40 points. Those two teams advance to the State Meet. Teffra, Ibarra, Jacob Perez of Frontier, Atzin Anguiano of Shafter, and Jacob Diaz of Reedley earned at-large spots.
Division 3
Templeton junior Joshua Bell won by nearly a minute and Pioneer Valley put three in the top nine but needed 102 points to win the division title. Bell ran 15:31.64 to defend his title and heads into the State Meet among the division's elite. He ran 15:52.34 to win last year.
Aidan Ransom of Edison ran 16:31.21 for second and Tyler Speir (16:36.43) and teammate Noel Carrasco (16:39.54) of Fresno placed third and fourth, respectively. Juan Santiago was eighth (17:00.57), Aidan Burke was ninth (17:01.55) and Luis Campos Delgado placed 10th (17:09.98) for Pioneer Valley. Lompoc was second with 128 points and Bakersfield Foothill was third one point back. All three earned State Meet spots. Individually, Bell, Ransom, Speir, Carrasco, and Porterville's Alesandro Escarzaga earned at-large spots.
Division 4
The most dominant teams among the boys races on Thursday came from the small-school divisions. Here, Benjamin Fernandez ran 16:08.65 to win the title and lead Matilda Torres to 19 points, 74 points ahead of runnerup Justin Garza. Noah Felix Andrade (16:40.50), Hunter Hannah (16:49.17), Ozzy Hernandez (16;54.27) placed third-through-fifth, and Alvino Diaz (17:25.74) was 12th for Matilda Torres, which placed all seven runners amont the top 14. Drake Murrill and Zelalem Teffra placed eighth and ninth, respectively, for Garza. Evan Torres of Parlier was second overall in 16:13.76 and earned an at-large spot for State. Emilio Nunez of Avenal, Ricardo Guerrero of Delano, Alexis Aguilar of West Bakersfield, and Kade Fetterman of Taft Union also earned at-large spots.
Division 5
The only perfect team score of the day was turned in by the state's top-ranked D-5 team, Yosemite. Ben Olney won the division title in 16:02.15 to lead the Badgers. His twin, Jack Olney was second (16:17.13), Ford Stegge was third (16:38.60), Noah Graffigna (16:53.70) was fourth, and A.J. Ruiz held off a final-mile threat from Mammoth's Dane Karch to place fifth (17:03.80) securing the perfect team performance for Yosemite.
Central Valley Christian scored 84 points to earn the division's other team bid to State. Karch, Reid Bishel of Immanuel, Raul Acevedo of Summit Collegiate, Curran Vaccaro of Mission College Prep, and Koen Ensz of Immanuel earned individual at-large spots.
Photos by DeAnna Turner
Jeffrey Parenti is the California State Editor for