The Porterville High boys cross country team, with an assist from Monache, won its first East Yosemite League title since 1990 on Thursday at the EYL Championships at the Porterville Sports Complex.
In addition Isaac Saravia became the first individual EYL champion for PHS since 2019, covering the 3.1 mile course in 16:08.24.. PHS had the top two runners and three of the top five runners in the event as Miguel Aldaco placed second in 16:14.47 and Jesus Jimenez was fifth in 16:19.73.
Monache's top three runners helped PHS secure the win as Conner Machado placed third in 16:16.25, Mason Mamauag was sixth in 16:28.95 and Devin Marino was seventh in 16:29.40. Another key to Porterville's win was Machado placing ahead of Redwood's top runner, Jack Arreola, who placed fourth in 16:19.34
PHS finished with 35 points, Redwood was second with 42 points and Monache was third with 58 points.
"I've said all year that we'd have to have an A performance at league and hope for Redwood to have a B- performance,” PHS coach Jesus Salas said. “And that's sort of what happened today.”
Another key for PHS was Rodolfo Gomez and Heriberto Martinez being able to finish in the top 14 as Gomez was 13th in 17:10.90 and Martinez was 14th in 17:12.09.
“We had this date circled all year, where we need to battle and perform,” Salas said. “In Championship races, everything goes out the window; it's all about placing, and these boys knew exactly where they were at place-wise the entire race. Couldn't be happier with the boys, they put in the time and work, they deserved this victory. And next week, another challenge awaits us at Woodward Park, where we have to perform again in another pressured race so we can qualify for the State meet."
The Monache boys were led by Machado. Machado stayed with a large lead pack with the top three Porterville runners and surged past Arreola to close within two seconds of Aldaco and 8 seconds of Saravia in first. Mamauag and Marino were in the thick of competition in the lead pack until the third mile when Porterville put on the pressure. Mamauag earned All-EYL honors in just his second year of cross country as did Marino.
Also for Monache Miguel Pedraza ran a time of 17:43 for 20th, Jaydian Carrillo-Castillo ran a time of 18:11 for 22nd and Ramos was 23rd with a time of 18:23.
Monache's Machado, Mamauag and Marino acted as the spoiler as Machado finished ahead of Arrreola and Mamauag and Marino finished ahead of Redwood's No. 2 runner.
Monache will face Porterville again at the Division II Central Section championship race to be held this Thursday at Woodward Park. The top three teams in the race will earn a trip to the CIF State Cross Country Championships to be held November 29 at Woodward Park.
"Hats off to coach Salas and Otto at PHS,” Monache coach Seth Ishida said. “They earned this championship and their team really wanted it. I am proud to have had the pleasure to coach them both at Monache.
Conner Machado was very tough today. His effort to get himself back into contention showed his grit. Machado has VMI, the Citadel and Cal Poly Humboldt coaches recruiting him at the moment. He is an outstanding student and will be solid at the next level. He put on a final kick, but just ran out real estate to hunt down the champ and runner up.”
The Monache girls chance at a three-peat in winning their third straight EYL title was stopped by a strong effort by El Diamante. Monache's Yazmine Lachino had hopes of defending her EYL title but had a shoelace come undone to take her out of contention.
She still managed to place second in 18:37. El Diamante's Isabella Vazquez won in an outstanding time of 17:56.97.
Also for Monache Citlalih Ferrer placed 6th for all-league honors io 20:10.Raquel Gomez placed 7th for all-league honors in 20:37, Brianna Avila placed 29th in 23:54 and Sophia Lachino placed 34th in 24:44.
Monache placed second with 78 points while El Diamante won with 21 points. For PHS Leslie Bedolla placed 13th in 21:22.99, Anahi Ceballos was 16th in 22:08.50, Akira Rodriguez was 21st in 22:53.61, Giselle Orosco was 25th in 23:19.33 and Daisy Maldonado was 33rd in 24:14.96.
“Both the girls and guys held together under difficult conditions and scored well against three teams that ranked in the top ten in the entire valley,” said Ishida, referring to PHS, Redwood and El Diamante. “We learned a lot from this and we want to be much tougher at the Valley Championships. We happened to be the spoiler for Redwood today and I am encouraged by how long we held on and fought for those All-League individual honors."