KING CITY — Chalone Peaks Middle School’s cross country team continued its impressive second season at the Amanda Garcia Memorial on Oct. 3 in Atwater, bringing home two team victories and 11 individual medals.
For readers unfamiliar with cross country, runners compete for individual places while their finishes also determine a team score — the lower the score, the better. CPMS clearly won both 1.4-mile middle school races, with the girls finishing first with 23 points and the boys taking first with 29 points.
The top 10 runners in each race earned medals, and the Colts claimed an impressive 11 of the 20 available medals.
The CPMS girls were led by Vanessa Ayala-Gaxiola, who won the entire girls race in 8:48.9. Six more Colts joined her among the medalists: Yaneli Fernando (5th, 9:15.8), Janelle Mendoza (6th, 9:34.7), Alexa Chavez Silva (7th, 9:40.9), Yessenya Ramirez (8th, 9:55.1), Bethanny Diaz (9th, 10:01.4), and Molly Dominguez (10th, 10:09.2).
Just outside the medal positions, several other CPMS girls contributed strong performances, including Rocio Guzman (11th, 10:14.0), Valerie Andrade (17th, 10:37.4), and Angelin Martinez (18th, 10:38.1). Their finishes helped show the growing depth of the Colts program beyond the medal winners.
The boys were led by four medalists: Hector Mandujano III (2nd, 8:28.3), Damian Rangel (3rd, 8:39.5), Ayden Lopez (4th, 8:49.4), and William Miguel (7th, 9:07.5).
Other Colts continued to show their progress as well. Kevin Chavez finished 13th in 9:28.3, Jareth Garcia placed 15th in 9:37.4, Jesus Perez finished 19th in 9:58.4, and Jose Lizardi crossed the line 21st in 10:04.1. Although they did not earn individual medals, their performances added to a strong overall showing for Chalone Peaks.
“It has been a great second season as we are able to see our young athletes improve week after week and race after race, reaching milestones many of them did not believe they could achieve,” Coach Mandujano said.
