FRESNO — Seniors Maximo Zavaleta and Jace Deledonne have been battling it out all year long to see not only who was the top boys cross country runner in the city of Riverside, but the entire Inland area.
Last week, King’s Zavaleta and Riverside Poly’s Deledonne finished 1-2 in the CIF Southern Section’s Division 1 finals.
Saturday, they finished in the same order but came up just short of winning an individual state championship, as Zavaleta and Deledonne finished second and third, respectively, at the CIF State Championships at Woodward Park.
The race between Zavaleta and Deledonne, along with the Claremont and Santiago girls teams and other individuals such as Braelyn Combe and Isla Bulmer were among the highlights among Inland athletes Saturday.
Zavaleta had come close to winning on the Woodward Park course, finishing fourth at last year’s state meet and second at the Clovis Invitational in October. This year, Clovis North’s Conor Lott repeated as the Division 1 boys champion with a time of 14 minutes, 43.2 seconds, edging out Zavaleta (14:49.7) and Deledonne (14:55.4).
“It went out pretty quick. We really took it out in the first mile, which I expected,” Zavaleta said. “Me and the guys were talking (before the race), Let’s go after it. We were all going to go out hard because we wanted to make it to NXN (Nike Cross Nationals).”
Both Lott and Zavaleta qualified for NXN, as Lott had the top time of the day and Zavaleta had the fourth best. Deledonne’s time was 10th and did not qualify for NXN.
“I was looking to go out at a really honest pace, looking to get a really good time to hopefully get that NXN qualification,” Deledonne said. “I got caught up (in the pack) in the first mile especially the first 800 meters. … I had to almost go off-course on the outside to get around that pack to get up. I wasted a ton of energy doing that. It was kind of unfortunate, but I’m proud of my performance. I did my best.”
Just like Zavaleta, Santiago’s Combe is a senior who had come close to winning state before (third last year).
She ultimately couldn’t keep up and finished second in the Division 1 girls race with a time of 16:57.2, trailing Eastlake senior Jaelyn Williams (16:28.1).
“Being the last race of the day, and knowing what it takes to be in the top five to go to NXN, is a tough position to be in,” Combe said. “Especially when she (Williams) was sitting on me for the first two miles. I hate leading. I’m not good at that.”
Combe finished with the seventh-best time of the day, so she would need two finishers ahead of her to decline NXN bids in order for her to be invited.
Santiago, two years after winning a state title, finished fourth as a team with 124 points, trailing Buchanan (79), Mira Costa (84) and Trabuco Hills (120).
Santiago coach Rick Etheridge was not disappointed.
“Disappointing is not the right word,” he said. “We wanted more, we expected more. We didn’t get it today. But six of the seven girls ran PRs today. So disappointing isn’t the word.”
Claremont finished second in Division 2 with 162 points, trailing the 136 points by Sac-Joaquin Section champion Whitney.
“They ran good. Everything worked out pretty well,” Claremont coach Mark Batres said. “If we would’ve run absolutely lights out, we could’ve won. Whitney’s really good. They ran the strategy we wanted them to run, they just ran out of gas.”
Claremont’s top finisher was senior Isla Bulmer, who took fifth (17:33.0).
“I was trying to stay within view (of the leader),” Bulmer said. “If I did that, then hopefully, I would be close to the 17 (minute) marker.”
The winner of the race was Irvine’s Summer Wilson, who ran a course-record time of 16:20.0.
Claremont senior Lyle Mideiros qualified for state as an individual and ran a great race, taking fourth in the Division 2 boys race with a time of 14:54.0.
“The strategy was to stick with the top guys in the state: really push, surge, fall back, surge, fall back and see how they respond, especially in the second mile,” Mideiros said. “Keep pressure on the top guys. … Of course winning is a big deal, but top 10 is more than a consolation.”
One of the top underclassman boys in the area is Ayala sophomore Bryson Caganap, who finished ninth in Division 1 (15:06.2).
“My strategy was go out conservative, stay with the pack and pick people off in the second half,” Caganap said. “To be top 10 as a sophomore is really awesome.”
Other Inland girls who ran under 18 minutes Saturday were Santiago freshman Addyson Johns (10th in Division 1, 17:43.5), King senior Elizabeth Jacklin (14th in Division 1, 17:51.6), Claremont sophomore Camila Trevino-Davila (17th in Division 2, 17:55.5), and Murrieta Valley senior Arielle Avina (18th in Division 2, 17:56.4).
Other top inland boys included Roosevelt senior Luke Lopez (11th in Division 1, 15:09.3), Great Oak senior Marco Franco (14th in Division 1, 15:12.2), Ontario senior Michael Ortega (15th in Division 2, 15:13.0) and Chaffey junior Albert Jacinto (20th in Division 1, 15:18.4).
