FRESNO — While no hardware returned to area high school campuses, it remained a Saturday to remember for several distance runners.

With members of the Turlock, Hughson and Hilmar cross country programs competing at the 2025 CIF State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno — a challenging dirt, grass and asphalt course over rolling hills — a total of 14 runners ran their fastest 5,000-meter races in their high school careers.

There was no higher finisher — or greater record — from a local student-athlete than that set by Turlock’s Ellison Williams. Competing in the Division I competition alongside her six teammates, the sophomore crossed the finish line at 17:52.9, breaking her own school record of 18:05.4 set just two weeks prior at the Sac-Joaquin Section Championships on Nov. 29 at the Willow Hills Reserve in Folsom. The time earned Williams a 15th-place finish out of 197 runners, and was more than a full minute faster than what she ran at the same event last year as a freshman (18:54.3).

Williams’ effort led the way for the Bulldogs, who posted a collective low-score of 504 to finish 19th as a team in the D-1 field of 24.

Freshman Gisela Hernandez had a 128th-place finish with a personal-best time of 19:32.2. Junior Mylie Olson, had her best run of the year, a time of 19:35.7, to finish 133rd. Senior Elizabeth Christopher came in 152nd at 19:59.5. Junior Gretchen Nass nabbed 185th position at 20:58.9 (a season best), and sophomore Claire Johnson followed closely in 187th with a time of 21:05.4. Sophomore Adaline Walsh was the last Bulldog to cross the line in 197th position with a time of 22:34.4.

Olson and Nass each were on last year’s state qualifying team for Turlock, and shaved off 45.6 and 10.5 seconds, respectively, off their times from last season’s meet.

The Bulldogs were also represented in the Division I boys race by lone qualifier Gabriel Avalos. The senior finished 117th out of 202 participants Saturday, with a new personal-best time of 16:16.1. His previous best mark was 16:18.5 at the Rough Rider Invitational in October of 2024. Avalos had an improvement from nearly 13 seconds from last year’s state meet, when the Turlock boys qualified as a team.

Also being the lone qualifier on her team was Hilmar’s Sidney Logsdon. In her fourth and final appearance at the state championship in her high school career, the senior put in her best time at the meet, 19:17.4, taking 65th place out of 205 in the Division IV race. Logsdon put in a time of 19:31.4 a year ago.

Up in 26th place in the D-4 contest was Hughson’s Sophie Benham with a time of 18:31.9. The senior led the pack of Lady Huskies, who qualified as a team with a runner-up finish in the SJS D-4 section race. Benham and her six teammates each set personal-best marks in Saturday's state race as they finished with 331 points to land at 14th out of the 25 participating programs. 

Following Benham for Hughson was sophomore Maggie Becchetti in 75th with a time of 19:28.2. Noeli Gomez-Orozco was right behind in 76th, just 0.2 seconds off her teammate. In 104th was junior Grace Benitez at 20:01.0. Coming in 170th was senior 21:42.9, followed by sophomore Melanie Sanchez in 182nd (22:19.0) and freshman Jaelyn Anguiano in 192nd (22:55.7).

In the boys’ D-4 race, Hughson — this year’s SJS Division IV champions — finished in 22nd place out of 25 with 534 points. In the race of 209 competitors, the top Husky was junior Manuel Ruiz, who ran a personal-best time of 16:54.3 to earn 106th place. Twenty spots down was Mason Hoyle (17:08.8). Senior Richard Stites was 140th with a personal-best time of 17:18.6. Junior Carlos Maximilano-Nava (17:30.7) was 157th, junior Samuel Alvarado (17:35.0) was 163rd, sophomore Juan Palos (17:54.3) and junior Shane Lockwood (18:23.6) was 194th to wrap up the day for local runners.