Clovis Invitational

The Downey varsity boys and girls competed yesterday in the Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The girls were up first competing in the D2, large schools division. This race was stacked with several of the top schools in the state. The course is famous for its gentle rolling hills (okay a few of them are pretty steep). If you don't get a good start it is difficult for most runners to make up ground as the race progresses. Sierra probably got out too slow and paid for that most of the race. She finished in 20:53, 72nd place. Rocio got out well and had one of her best races orf the season. She finished in a strong 21:46 for 100th place. The pack of Downey girls were close bewind. Natalie was the next across the line in 22:15, 122nd; Rory was next in 22:19, 124th; just ahead of a hard charging Katie in 22:21, 125th; and Madeleine follow up the group in 22:32, 132nd. Ana was the final Downey runner. It seemed clear that her legs were hurting, but she still managed to complete the course in 24:31, 167th place. Overall the girls finished with 515 points which placed them 20th out of the 26 teams. That result might not sound spectacular but they have no seniors and none of them had ever raced on this course before.

On the boys side they were simply overmatched. Andrew had a sprained ankle. Only 6 Knights toed the line and all six of them finished in the final 17 runners. It takes a lot of courage to run a race against competition that you know is so much faster than you are. I give the boys props for stepping forward and accepting the challenge when several other Downey runners refused to even come and attept the race. So much of cross-country is about personal commitment, personal sacrifice, and personal gratification. These boys toed the line and ran their hardest against some of the State's toughest competition. Guadalupe hit the line in 19:11. He was followed closely by Pierson in 19:18. Kenji may have had his best race of the year finishing in 19:47. Danny was right behind in 19:57. Alfonso did not have a great day. His 21:31 was over 2 minutes slower than he ran at the last cluster meet. The final Downey runner was Juan Carlos.

After the meet the majority of the team ate lunch together. then we drove through a maze of streets in Fresno trying to get around a stopped train--fun times indeed. Next up for the Knights is Cluster Meet #3 this coming Wednesday @ Dry Creek.