East Union senior Cooper Freeman and Manteca sophomore Sienna Jones highlighted area runners who competed in the Valley Oak League Championships held Wednesday at Oakdale High.

Gearing up for a deep postseason run, Freeman dominated the varsity boys race and won in 15 minutes, 50 seconds. He is joined by teammates Evan Cooper (fourth, 16:45) and Johnny Sandoval (seventh, 17:08) on the all-league team, but the Lancers overall had their reign end by host Oakdale.

Oakdale outpointed the East Union 27-35 for the outright crown after the Lancers claimed the last three. The Mustangs had three all-league performers, headed by runner-up Dax Daley (16:23.9), and all five of their scoring runners placed in the top nine.

Rounding out scoring for East Union were Maury Ortiz (10th, 18:09.9) and Juan Cortes (14th, 18:29.1). Brendan Alson (16th, 18:48.5) and Nicholas Corona Velazquez (19th, 18:56.8) made the top 20 for Sierra. Dario Rodriguez (22nd, 19:30.3) was Manteca’s top runner.

Oakdale also captured the girls championship, scoring 23 points against 51 for second-place East Union. Haleigh Humble led the Mustangs with a first-place finish in 18:33.8 and was followed by Manteca’s Jones (19:58.7). East Union sophomore Linda Medrano took sixth in 21:54.3 and joined Jones on the top-seven all-league team.

Sierra’s Kiana Kutch (eighth, 22:04.7) narrowly missed an all-league spot by 3.4 seconds. East Union’s April Duarte took ninth (22:07.0). Other notable local competitors were East Union’s Gisel Velazquez (14th, 24:02.3), East Union’s Taylor Snaer (16th, 24:46.5), Manteca’s Addisyn Allen (18th, 25:26.0) and East Union’s Ruth Okeanya (19th, 25:45.7).

Sierra secured the frosh-soph boys championship with 21 points and was paced by a 1-2 finish from Tristan Crowe (13:06.1) and Ernesto Pacheco (13.25.9) on the 2-mile course. Sierra’s James Danley, Manteca’s Aiden Both and East Union’s Devin Graber crossed the finish in order at 4-5-6.

East Union’s Jarely Ortiz won the frosh-soph girls race in 15:29.7 ahead of Manteca’s Jordyn Hegarty (16:06.4).

 

TVL Finals

Ripon won Trans-Valley League championships in varsity girls and varsity boys Wednesday at River Bluff Regional Park in Ceres.

The Indians, in fact, had individual winners in three of the four races. Annie Wild led Ripon’s varsity girls run to the championship in 19:47.06. Ripon topped the field with 23 points, while Hughson was second with 44. Jenna Skavdahl (third, 20:55.90), Malia Locarnini (fourth, 20:58.73), Alyson Harvey (11th, 23:13.52) and Joselin Figueroa (12th, 23:18.13).

The varsity boys tallied 63 points and was second to Hughson’s 25, but Omar Alsaidi (16:29.69) edged out Daniel Lucatero (16:31.40) of Livingston for the individual crown. Valente Hernandez (18:48.97) took 11th for Ripon.

The championship JV boys team was led by James Wilkins (12:07.99), Ivan Serrano, Kyle Baird and Ivan Gladnikov, who placed third, fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Mallory Govia (14:08.08) won the JV girls race for the second-place Indians and was backed by teammates Celeste Nunez and Emile Benavides, who finished fourth and fifth.

 

GIRLS TENNIS

WAC Tournament

Lathrop sent four players to the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, which was held at two sites over two days.

On Tuesday, Godwina Ogbeide and Isabe

l Paniagua competed in the singles tournament at Mountain House High. Ogbeide, who was named to the All-WAC first team, was eliminated in the opening round by Gurmannet Bahia of Ceres, 0-6, 1-6.

Paniagua won her opener against Ceres’ Valerie Raya 6-4, 7-5 but lost to eventual runner-up Subha Patel, 1-6, 0-6. She’s was the overall No. 3 seed out of Mountain House.

Lathrop’s senior tandem was back at it for the doubles tournament Wednesday at Manteca Regional Tennis Center. They lost to Los Banos’ top-seeded tandem of Kloe Cotta and Petrina Gilardi, 6-4, 1-6, 1-6.

Ruby Chavez and Madilynn Romero also competed for Lathrop, and they were swept by Mountain House’s Malvika Seth and Lizzie Su, 0-6, 0-6. Seth and Su won the doubles title.