BHS Cross Country: Aztecs complete four-peat

FRESNO • First they were scared.

Then they cried.

Then their legendary coach retired.

Except for winning another CIF Division III state championship, it was anything but a normal day for the Barstow boys cross country team on Saturday.

The Aztecs brought their most experienced team ever to Fresno for the CIF State Cross Country Championships, but they had their tightest fight to retain the crown. Barstow beat North Coast Section threats Campolindo and Petaluma for its fourth straight state title. Campolindo ran the fastest Div. III time ever — if not for Barstow besting them by more than a minute and 31 points.

“You always hope and pray that the kids rise to the occasion, that what you are doing with them works. It did,” Barstow coach Jim Duarte said. “When you have an actual opponent within the race that could win the state title, we didn’t have to fear the clock. We just had to fear trying to win a state championship.”

The Barstow runners ran scared and then began to nervously pace as they awaited results. Jeremy Trujillo held out his hand and displayed it visibly shaking at one point. As a CIF official gave Barstow the good news, the seven seniors began to jump up and down and hug.

The already teary-eyed Aztecs began to shed a few more when Duarte dropped the bombshell, announcing this was his last cross country season.

The Aztecs came away with their fourth straight CIF title, becoming the first team ever to do so. Woodcrest Christian also completed a four-peat later in the day. It was the 11th straight year the Aztecs made to the state meet, winning six times.

The Aztecs tied Nordhoff for the third most CIF titles all-time with six. Isaac Chavez, Andrew Romano and Ian Barba joined Anthony Solis, who is currently redshirting for Chico State, as three-time champions for the Aztecs.

It was a good day in Fresno for the High Desert with three runners placing in the top five of their races and the Sultana girls team taking third in the Div. II race. Chavez finished second in the Div. III boys race, followed by Apple Valley junior Daniel Rosales in third. Apple Valley sophomore Hannah Valenzuela finished fifth in the Div. III girls race.

The Aztecs normally have a better idea of what to expect at state because many of the top teams come out of the Southern Section, Duarte said. But this year Duarte could only look at the times Campolindo and Petaluma — both teams compete in the North Coast Section — put up from afar and guess how each team might fare at state.

“Generally the toughest teams we go against are in our own section,” Duarte said. “So when we beat those teams as we have won CIF, we’ve won resoundingly. This year, even though we won (the Southern Section title) resoundingly again, the two toughest teams in the state are Petaluma and Campolindo.”

Barstow likely will not reach its goal of qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals in Portland on Dec. 6. The Aztecs had to finish as one of the top two teams at CIF among all divisions. Five teams in Division I and II posted faster team times than the Aztecs’ 78 minutes, 52 seconds.

The race started out fast. Rosales said he was in 40th place after the first mile and had to quickly begin picking people off. Chavez said he was hoping the pace wouldn’t keep up.

“Everybody started off real fast,” Rosales said. “Every time I saw a little crease, I surged a little bit and got a couple. I kept on moving up at the mile marker. I kept on moving up over and over again.”

Chavez beat out Rosales by a second at 15:15 — seven seconds behind leader Mac Fleet from University City. Rim of the World junior Dustin Fay finished sixth in the Div. III race. Barstow had four runners at or below the 16-minute mark. Trujillo was the fifth Aztecs runner to cross the finish line in 34th place at 16:07.

Like her Apple Valley teammate, Valenzuela also got caught behind the pack early in the race but managed to work her way out.

“I had a bad start ... but I think that helped me save a lot of energy for the second half of the race,” Valenzuela said.

By the 1-mile mark, the Apple Valley sophomore was leading the race. She got picked off in the final mile-and-half and finished fifth in her first appearance at Woodward Park.

The Sultana girls team performed better than expected with a third-place finish. Sultana coach John Mahr said after the race that he was sure his team finished in the top 10 but wasn’t sure where. The underclassman-loaded Sultans jumped to third when the final standings were announced.

“I was way off and I was glad I was,” Mahr said. “We were pretty surprised. By no means did we believe we would be on the podium in the top three spots.”

Sophomore Shayna Robinson was the top finisher for Sultana in 12th place at 18:16

Granite Hills senior Jzsanette Lindstrom finished 29th to cap off her high school cross country career.

“It was tough, but I was just excited to be here. I think I did really good,” Lindstrom said.

DIVISION III BOYS
Barstow
2. Chavez 15:15; 11. Romano 15:33; 22. Barba 15:57; 25. Gomez 16:00; 34. Trujillo 16:07.
Apple Valley
3. Rosales 15:16.
Rim of the World
6. Fay 15:27.
DIVISION II GIRLS
Sultana
12. Robinson 18:16; 23. Higuchi 18:29; 33. Munyan 18:41; 80. A. Bird, 19:33; 96. C. Bird 19:42
Granite Hills
29. Lindstrom 18:39.
DIVISION III GIRLS
Apple Valley
5. Valenzuela 17:56.

Matthew Peters is the sports editor of the Desert Dispatch. He can be reached at 256-4124 or at mpeters@desertdispatch.com.