MODESTO — The Turlock High cross country program capped off a dominant regular season with team and individual victories at the third and final Central California Athletic League meet at Tuolumne River Regional Park in Modesto last Wednesday.
Victories from two Bulldogs in the varsity competitions were complemented with CCAL Most Valuable Player awards, while student-athletes from both Turlock and Pitman flooded the All-League lists.
On the boys side, the Bulldogs won the team competition with a collective low-score of 19, clearing runner-up Modesto by 49 points. The women posted a winning score of 28, which was 31 points lower than second-place Pitman.
With the wins, both Turlock varsity teams swept the three CCAL meets of the regular season.
The individual results of the varsity 5,000-meter races were similar to those of the second CCAL meet on Oct. 8, with Turlock’s Larson Wejmar winning the men’s race and Ellison Williams taking the top spot of the women’s competition.
Wejmar, a senior, dashed to a win with a time of 16:14.63, capping off a year in which he won all three CCAL races. Wejmar was awarded league MVP.
Directly behind Wejmar were a handful of teammates. Just two seconds behind him was junior Zayn Hamilton, while fellow senior Gabriel Avalos wrapped up the top three with a time of 16:30.44. Also with top times for the Bulldogs were freshman Porter Petty in sixth place (16:44.01) and junior Gavin Martin in seventh (16:44.49).
Hamilton, Avalos, Petty and Martin were all named to the All-CCAL First Team.
Williams, a sophomore, was first to cross the finish line with a time of 18:23.35, making her the winner of the last two CCAL races. She was named league MVP on the women’s side.
Avery Carlson, the Pitman senior who won the first CCAL race on Sept. 17, was second on Wednesday, clocking in at 19:20.24. In fourth place was fellow Pride senior Nayeli Mattison with a time of 19:43.29. The Turlock trio of freshman Grisela Hernandez (19:49.86), junior Mylie Olson (19:50.16) and senior Elizabeth Christopher (20:31.45) were the following three finishers.
Coming in at No. 8 was Pitman senior Emerson Newton at 20:44.39, while Turlock junior Gretchen Nass was ninth at 21:08.72, representing the last of the local runners in the top 10.
Carlson, Mattison, Hernandez, Olson, Christopher and Newton were All-CCAL First Team honorees.
Landing on the Second Team on the men’s side was Turlock’s Luke Oliveira and Lukas Gemperle and Pitman’s Colvin Hamel and Eli Pimentel.
Second Team honorees for the women were Nass and Turlock teammates Claire Johnson and Adaline Walsh.
Next up on the cross country calendar is the postseason, with teams set for subsections Saturday on the Frogtown course at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp.
