Seven years before the state meet started at Woodward Park, Steve Ward of Clovis hosted the first ever Clovis Invitational. This year, the largest ever Clovis Invitational will have two days of championship races, and six divisions decided specifically by 2024 CBED numbers. Each year, some of the top teams in the state and nation travel to the famed course. Approximately at the midpoint of the California season, teams come for a variety of reasons. Whatever the reason, fast feet should be flying at Woodward Park on October 10 and 11.
On Friday, approximately 140 schools of 1900 and fewer students will compete. Sixteen teams and eight individuals qualify for the first ever Friday girls championship race, named after former Clovis Unified superintendent and Clovis Unified Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Carlo Prandini. The race has a host of talented teams including Archie Williams of the North Coast Section, Oak Park, Santa Margarita of the Southern Section, St. Francis of Sac Joaquin Section and Galena of Nevada and Point Loma of San Diego Section.
Division IV power Archie Williams has been undefeated against all competition this year, winning the Varsity 2 race at the Lowell Invitational and overall title at the De La Salle Invitational, besting many ranked larger schools in the process. Santa Margarita and Oak Park are currently ranked second and third in Southern Section Division 3, behind defending Division 2 state champions, El Toro. St. Francis of Sacramento has been on a tear this year, winning the Kim Duyak Invitational, scoring just 23 points. They are ranked #29 in the nation by Dyestat.
Freshman Alyssa Gutierrez gives the Troubadours a new low stick, winning Kim Duyak 5K in 17:08 and running 16:37 at Woodbridge. Other individuals that will be in contention for top spots at the front of the Carlo Prandini race include Kamilah Salim of West Torrance, Amaya Bharadwaj of Palo Alto, Carol Dye and Alana Thomas of Santa Margarita and the duo from Archie Williams, Brooke Lee and Ani Stieg. The defending California State Division V champion, Amelia Sarkisian, has been running well recently and has had tremendous success on the Woodward Park course. Sophomore Gioia Coudriet of Galena of Nevada is undefeated this year and was third in the 5A Nevada State championships last year. As always, other individuals will step up and make a breakthrough at the Clovis Invitational. Many times, this is the coming out party for the elite freshmen. Additional individuals in the race include Giselle Fernandez of Riverbank, freshman Autumn Burks of Tahoe-Truckee, Ashlin Mallon of Cardinal Newman, Brenna Mannion of Vista Del Lago, Jenna Murphy of Moorpark and Anna Villacencio of Woodlake.
The boys championship race--named after Clovis High coaching legend, Clovis Unified Sports Hall of Fame inductee and founder of the Clovis Invitational, Steve Ward--features some outstanding teams including West Torrance, Foothill Technology, St. Mary’s College, Viewpoint and Reedley. Galena of Nevada won the Nevada Union Invitational and the Truckee Invitational. It will be interesting to see how they perform on the lower elevation, Woodward Park course. They were second in the 5A championships last year, just four points out of first. On paper, the team battle appears to be a very close battle between West Torrance and Foothill Technology. Races are not won or lost on paper, so it will be an interesting race on Friday morning.
Individually, the field is loaded. Olly O’Connor of Viewpoint has run 15:08 on the course and won his race here at the Clovis Invitational last year. He won the Cool Breeze Invitational and was eighth in the Sweepstake race at Woodbridge in 14:07. Viggo Bortolin of Foothill Technology has been mentioned in a preseason publication as one of the favorites for the state Division IV title and has been running under control during the early season. Ryan Fitzpatrick of The Nueva School won his race at Woodbridge in 14:23, was second at Lowell to Conor Lott of Clovis North and won the Artichoke Invitational this past weekend. Henry Hauser is another one of the state Division V runners that could be in the mix. Hauser also won his race at Woodbridge and was part of that record setting Menlo team that shattered the Division V state course record last November, becoming the first California Division V team to qualify for NXN. Andres Lomeli of Kimball ran 15:14 at the state championships last year and was the Kim Duyst Invitational 5K champion this year in a very impressive 14:38. A loaded field, other individuals to keep an eye on include Dorian Bening of Agoura, Alijah Murillo of Branham, Tucker Presnell of St. Mary’s College, Dylan Mehnert of West Torrance and the trio from Oaks Christian, Vin Krueger, Ariza Nwosu and freshman Sterling White. Senior Kiefer Willcox of Tahoe Truckee ran 15:30 here last year and has won four invitationals so far this season. The lead pack will include many others and the pace through the mile mark should be somewhere in the mid 4:40 to 4:50 range if the group gets after it.
The championship races are loaded, but there are numerous outstanding individuals and teams in both the Friday and Saturday divisional races. Last year there were sub-18-minute races for the girls and sub-15-minute races for the boys in the divisional races. With over 280 teams stepping up to the starting line, there will be newcomers breaking into the big time and veterans making the big jump in performance. Teams will come of age and move on to make a push toward championship season. The championship races will not be the only races with great performances. It looks to be an exciting two days of action at the 46th annual Clovis Invitational. The small meet Steve Ward started back in the early 1980’s has grown into one of the premier meets of the California season.
Saturday:
The Saturday races feature another 140 schools, most of which have over 1900 students. There, the championship races are named after two former Clovis Invitational head coaches and meet directors, Bill Buettner and Rob Brenner. These races continue to bring out some of the best teams in the nation. Once again, this year, the competition should be fierce.
In the Bill Buettner girls’ championship race, three Dyestat nationally ranked teams headline the field. Woodbridge team winner JSerra presently appears to be the head of the class. Four-time defending California State championship in Division IV, the Lions are currently ranked #2 in the nation and were victorious at the Woodbridge Invitational. Joining them in the national polls is #6 ranked Buchanan High School of Clovis, the third-place finisher at this year’s Woodbridge Invitational. Buchanan and JSerra battled it out for the Clovis title last year, with the Bears scoring a 65 to 104 victory over JSerra. Division II state champions, El Toro is currently nationally ranked #19. The Chargers have moved down to Division III in the state competition, but here will go head-to-head with the titans of the sport at Clovis. Claremont was ranked #5 in the most recent Dyestat California poll. Always a player at Clovis, St. Francis of Mountain View finished fifth last year in this race. They look to be in contention again this year. Brinley Pickett is the Lancers’ top returner this year, winning the Jackie Henderson in 17:33. Transfer Lily Symon will be wearing the St. Francis, Mountain View jersey and should add to the solid front end load of the Lancers with her 2:10 speed in the 800. Also toeing the line in the championship race are Herriman of Utah, always tough Mira Costa, Los Altos of the Central Coast Section and vastly improved Wilson of Long Beach. Long time power, Great Oak also seems to be moving forward as the season progresses.
Individually, the field is also loaded. Chiara Dailey, #6 ranked runner in the Dyestat individual poll, was second at Woodbridge at 15:41. She is the two-time Division IV state champion with a best of 16:44 on the course. Dailey had PRs of 4:39.14 and 9:58.02 on the track last spring. Summer Wilson of Irvine is the top returner from last year’s Clovis Invitational with a PR of 17:08. She is ranked #13 in the nation, and this year has won the Saddleback Cup and finished fourth at Woodbridge in 15:54. Wilson's pr on the track for the 3200 is 10:16.90. Braelyn Combe of Santiago Corona, ranked #24 nationally, has won the PR City Invitational and ran 16:11 at Woodbridge. She ran 17:07 on the course last year at the state meet and second-best returner from last year’s Clovis Invitational. On the track, Combe was the California State champion in the 1600 with a lifetime best of 4:35.64. Charlotte Hopkins of Arcadia was eleventh at Woodbridge in 16:25 and was an individual race winner last year at the Clovis Invitational. She was fifth in the state in the 3200 last year and has a PR of 10:07.97. Aelo Curtis of Ventura is having a fabulous senior year, winning the UCSB Gaucho and the Scary Dairy. She is one of eight additional championship entries that were under 17:00 at this year's Woodbridge Invitational. Isabella Ramirez of Bullard has had a stellar season. She has won the Central Valley Classic and the Kingsburg Two-Mile for seniors and ran 16:39 at Woodbridge. Last spring, Ramirez ran a PR of 10:20.63 at the state meet to take eighth in the 3200. Ontario’s Isabella Ruiz is having a breakout season, winning her race at the Woodbridge Invitational and comfortably winning both Mt. Baldy League meets this season.
The girls open Championship Saturday with a bang and the quality continues for the Rob Brenner boys championship race. Teamwise, Herriman of Utah is ranked #2 in the nation in the latest Dyestat poll and Jesuit of Carmichael is right on their heels at #3. Herriman is the defending Utah 6A state champions, third place finisher at NXN and has won the Woodbridge Invitational for the past two years. This is their first trip to Woodward Park, but their coach, Doug Soles, is no stranger to the course, having guided Great Oak to a combined fourteen state championship between the boys and girls. Jesuit, coached by legend Walt Lange, is the defending California State Division II champ, the #1 ranked team in California and finished just eight points behind Herriman in this year’s Woodbridge Invitational. Joining these two powerhouses on the course include Woodbridge team finishers #6 Redondo Union, #7 Mira Costa, #9 Woodbridge, #10 Mountain View of the Central Coast Section, #11 San Clemente, #12 Martin Luther King, #13 La Serna, #14 Crescenta Valley and #15 JSerra. Mira Costa is ranked #25 nationally and won the Championship race at the Portland XC meet on September 26. Meanwhile, defending Clovis Invitational and California Division I state champions, Beckman, finally ran a full team at the Central Park Invitational this past weekend and ran a fine team time of 75:01 to score a 12-point victory over fellow championship participant, Hart High School. Leering just under the radar is Clovis North, victors at the Lowell Invitational and third at Portland XC. Matilda Torres has been on everyone’s radar this season and is the top-ranked team in the Central Section, just in front of Clovis North.
Individually, this could be a barn burner and, as is the case almost every Clovis Invitational, the front-end pack could have visions of German Fernandez of Riverbank epic 2007 course record of 14:24. Jackson Spencer, the senior from Herriman, is the #1 ranked individual in the nation, has won three races this season including his 13:42 victory at Woodbridge, was seventh last year at NXN and is the defending Utah Division VI champion. He has run 4:02.56 for the full mile and 8:51.26 for the 3200. Spencer is the defending Utah state champion in both the 1600 and the 3200. Teammate Eli Jarvis was third at Woodbridge at 14:01. Like the team list from Woodbridge, the individual list is crowded with sub-14:20 finishers. Junior Aidan Antonio of Woodbridge was fifth at 14:06, just a couple of tenths ahead of Fresno Christian's Blake Bay, also finishing in 14:06. Maximo Zavaleta was seventh at 14:07. He broke 15:00 last year at the Clovis Invitational with a 14:59 and is the top returner from the 2024 invitational.
Meanwhile, Clovis North’s Conor Lott is also undefeated for the season, winning the Lowell Invitational and Portland XC, earning him a #15 ranking on the national charts. He is the defending Division I California State champion in cross-country with a best of 15:04 at the state meet. On the track, Lott is the defending state champion in the 1600, running a PR of 4:03.32 to win the state meet. Showing tremendous versatility, he has also run 1:52.97 for the 800 and 8:57.98 in the 3200. Other returning sub-9:00 3200 runners include Isaac Abbott of Jesuit, Maximo Zavaleta and Del Oro’s Noel Huato. Along with Abbott, Jesuit returns both Drake Hoferer at 15:04 and Kyle Jakary at 15:05 on the Woodward Park course. Add to that transfer Connor Bilodeau and the Marauders should have a solid group in the front pack. Mason Nguyen of Beckman appears to be rounding into top form. He was eleventh here last year in 15:05. This year, Nguyen has already run 14:12 at Woodbridge and won the sweepstakes race this past season at the Central Park Invitational in 14:38. These are but a few of the talented runners in the race that will be competing for the coveted Clovis Invitational Rob Brenner championship race medals.
The championship races are loaded, but there are numerous outstanding individuals and teams in both the Friday and Saturday divisional races. Last year there were sub-18-minute races for the girls and sub-15-minute races for the boys in the divisional races. With over 280 teams stepping up to the starting line, there will be newcomers breaking into the big time and veterans making the big jump in performance. Teams will come of age and move on to make a push toward championship season. The championship races will not be the only races with great performances. It looks to be an exciting two days of action at the 46th annual Clovis Invitational. The small meet Steve Ward started back in the early 1980’s has grown into one of the premier meets of the California season.
– Ken Reeves
