Hard work has definitely paid off for Merced High junior Isaac Barragan. Last year Barragan was happy with a top-10 finish at Central California Conference Center Meets. Barragan has raised the bar this year, turning in a personal best time of 16 minutes and 2 seconds to finish first at the first of three CCC Center Meets on Tuesday morning at Golden Valley High School.

 

“It feels really good, it’s really competitive out there,” Barragan said. “You can see how everyone has progressed and gotten better.” Barragan says he’s dropped about one minute off his top times from last season. He’s done it through consistent training, running six days per week. “There’s been a lot of workouts, I’m running almost every day,” he said. “Sundays have been my one rest day. It’s definitely motivating. Running takes discipline because you’re not always going to have that motivation. Seeing a big time drop definitely helps motivate me.”

After just missing out on a trip to the CIF State Meet last year, Golden Valley sophomore Dominic Urteaga turned in a strong performance with a second-place finish, crossing the finish line in 16:05. Atwater High boys won first place as a team with seven of the top 12 finishers. The Falcons were led by the trio of Ricky Barron (16:36), Yair Gonzalez (16:46) and Xavier Trujillo (16:50). The Falcons finished with 37 team points, followed by the Bears with 41 and Golden Valley with 61.

 

Merced High sophomore Ellie Hampton ran away with the girls race, crossing the finish line in 18:09. Hampton consistently finished ahead of the pack last year, qualifying for the state meet as a freshman. The Bears star hopes to return to the big stage this year. “It’s motivated me to keep pushing it and improving myself,” Hampton said. “I think I could have gone a little faster (today), but overall, I’m pretty happy.”

Hampton is coming off a personal best time of 17:58 this past weekend at the Kim Duyst Invitational in Ceres. She says she hopes to improve her time to somewhere in the 17:30s this season. 

 

Hampton says she rarely takes days off. “It’s a daily commitment,” Hampton said. “You have to get up for runs every day. It’s not only running, it’s what you eat and what you do when you’re not practicing. Usually I run after school or at 6 a.m. I average about 7 miles a day.”

 

Buhach Colony senior Lena Llamas finished in second with a time of 18:36. Golden Valley then claimed six of the top 10 spots to earn first place as a team. The Cougars return just about all their girls from last year’s squad, who became the first GV girls team to win a CCC championship and qualify for state as a team.

Fernanda Cortez finished third with a time of 19:24, followed by teammate Chelsea Chavez, who crossed the finish line at 20:01. The Cougars trio of Gabriella Hicks (20:59), Aubri Villa (21:01), and Itzel Alonzo-Andrade (21:04) navigated the 5K course as a pack and finished sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively. The Cougars finished with 23 team points. Atwater finished second with 52 and Merced third with 64.

 

“Ellie and Lena led the charge and the GV girls started where they finished off last year,” said Golden Valley coach John Wooding. “We’re looking to make another run at state.” Wooding says part of the Cougars strength is a large group of girls who are able to train together and work together to improve each workout. “To have success as a team you need some kids who want to work with each other and fight for each other,” Wooding said. “It’s nice to have six or eight girls who all finish their workouts at the same time. They push each other, there are no egos. We have girls who will fall back to let their teammates run with them.”

 

The next CCC Center Meet will be hosted by El Capitan on Oct. 8.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.