MVL runners cross season finish line
The weather cooperated for the cross country runners of the Mid-Valley League on Wednesday, as they put on their running shoes for the league championship meet held at Enterprise Community Park in Redding.
Providence Christian's Tucker Hoffman - currently the seventh-ranked harrier in the Northern Section - showed everyone else just why he has earned that distinction, by not only winning the 2.9-mile varsity race, but doing so with enough time to spare that he probably could have downed a sports drink or two before the rest of the field came in.
The Providence senior turned in a blistering performance of 16-minutes, 9 seconds, a full 1:33 ahead of second-place finisher Matt Hatter of U-Prep.
Two other Lion runners finished in the top-10, with sophomore Guy Sinclair timing in at 18:14 for third, and junior Matthew Reese taking eighth with his 19:19.
Williams senior Eduardo Velazquez also finished among the 10 best, with his time of 19:35 good for a ninth-place finish.
Also running for Providence was senior Jacob Grant, who clocked a 22:56 to finish in 20th.
For the rest of the Williams contingent, Jonny Cervantes finished 13th in 20:04. He was joined by Eduardo Cano, 20:21 (15th); Eric Contreras, 20:28 (16th); Josseph Alva, 22:42 (19th); Isaac Ogaz, 24:45 (25th); Juan Floriano, 26:17 (26th); Eddie Pearson, 26:28 (27th) and Jesus Orozco, 35:21 (28th).
Two Lady Yellowjackets earned top-10 finishes, as senior Elizabeth Mendes crossed eighth in 25:03 and senior Kamalpreet Kaur came in 10th in 25:31.
The race winner was U-Prep's Helen Mino Faukner, with a showing of 19:24.
Rebecca White finished 11th in 26:00; Ashlin Covarrubias was 13th in 28:15; and Emilee Cranford and Amanda Lopez finished 14th and 15th, at 28:34 and 29:22, respectively.
The top 10 in the boys JV 1.9-mile race included winner Alejandro Gomez from Williams (11:41); Nathan Bristley, Providence, 11:58 (2nd); Cuitlahuac Cruz, Williams, 12:49 (4th); Chilo Carmona, Williams, 13:06 (6th); Ramiro Navarro, Williams, 13:32 (7th) and Ulysses Paiz, Williams, 14:18 (10th).
Emma Schaefer of Williams finished second among the girls with a 14:33, and teammate Maricruz Oviedo came in eighth (16:22).
