On Saturday the Varsity boys and girls Cross Country teams traveled to Riverside to compete in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 Finals. Both teams competed against 24 other teams that advanced from last week’s Prelims as the best teams in the Southern Section Division. Only the top 7 teams in each race would earn the right to advance to the California State Finals in Fresno, California on November 24th. Individuals would also try to earn a chance to compete at State Finals.

The girls were led by Carissa Rodriguez, the top runner for the Flashes over the last 4 years. Carissa finished in 16th place in a time of 18:28.4, as an individual on a non-qualifying team, she finished 1 place out of qualifying as an individual. She was followed by Diana Perez 26th in 18:45.42, Nicole Gonzalez 72nd in 19:37.36, Vanessa Avila 98th in 20:15.59, Andrea Marruffo 104th in 20:17.61, Isabela De La Cruz 137th in 21:17.91 and Angelica Herrera 161st in 22:23.81. In the team competition, Fillmore Varsity Girls finished in 11th place.

The boys were led by Fabian Del Villar. Fabi ran his best time on this course and his best time to date. He finished in 21st in a time of 15:41.51 improving on his time from last year by 1 minute and 26 seconds. He was followed by Nick Villela 49th in 16:17.04, Rey Laureano 59th in 16:26.75, Alex Manzo 70th in 16:34.76, Erick Gutierrez 74th in 16:36.37, Jesse Martinez 97th in 16:53.09, and Camilo Torres 106th in 17:00.61. As a team, the Boys Varsity finished in tenth place narrowly missing the State Meet by 3 positions.

This terminates a great season where Fillmore teams captured League titles in the Varsity Boys, Varsity Girls, and the Junior Varsity Boys. The Varsity teams were both able to advance to the CIF Southern Section Division 4 Finals and narrowly missed qualifying for the State Meet. Way to run Flashes, you make us proud.