Senior Diana Perez at the Division IV CIF Prelims.

On Saturday both Boys and Girls Varsity Cross Country teams competed in the 2018 Division 4 Southern Section Cross Country Prelims. The meet was held on the 3.0 mile relatively flat course on the Riverside Golf Course. This highly competitive meet, pitted the top teams in Division 4 Southern Section in a race that would determine who would compete in CIF Finals next Saturday and possibly advanced to the State Finals in Fresno.

The Varsity Boys were the first to toe the line along with 19 other top ranked teams. This race was the second of two heats in this division. Leading the pack this week was Fabian Del Villar who finished 9th in a personal best time of 15:49.6, he was followed by Nick Villela 23rd in 16:22.1, Rey Laureano 32nd in 16:31.5, Erick Gutierrez 34th in 16:33.5, Jesse Martinez 40th in 16:39.7, Alex Manzo 47th in 16:54, and Alex Recancoj 54th in 16:58.9. In the team competition, Fillmore finished in 5th place, there by stamping their ticket to the Division 4 Southern Section CIF Finals Meet next week.

The Varsity Girls had 22 teams in their race. They also ran in the second of two heats and were led by Senior Carissa Rodriguez who captured third place in 18:29.4 in this quality field of competitors. She was followed by Diana Perez 19th in 19:13.4, Nicole Gonzalez 38th in 19:57.6, Vanessa Avila 54th in 20:15.9, Andrea Marruffo 55th in 20:16.3, Isabela De La Cruz 105th in 22:11.2, and Cecilia Cisneros 124th in 23:07.6. In the team competition, the girls finished in fifth place and also advanced to the Division 4 Southern Section CIF Finals.

Next week, both varsity teams compete in the Division 4 Southern Section Finals also held on the same course in Riverside. The girls are scheduled to race at 9:25 a.m. followed by the boys at 10:35. The Fillmore athletes must finish among the top seven teams in their race in order to advance to Division 4 CIF Southern Section State Finals on November 24th. An athlete may also advance as an individual, if they finish among the top 20 in the race, but they also must be one of the top five individuals. This is the third year in a row that both varsity teams have qualified for the Finals.