Isaac Barragan made a promise he wanted to keep. The Merced High senior told his mother Yessica he would win Wednesday’s Central California Conference cross country race for her since she couldn’t make it there to watch him. So when Barragan found himself in a final sprint to the finish line against Atwater sophomore Yair Gonzalez, Barragan had to find another gear. 

 

“I put myself into three different gears,” Barragan said. “When Jair caught up to me and got in front of me,  I remembered I promised my mom I would win this race for her so I found another gear.” Barragan wasn’t sure how he’d perform on Wednesday after missing five days of workouts last week with an injured ankle.

 

However, Barragan kept his promise to his  mom, crossing the finish line .58 of a second before Gonzalez to win his second CCC Center Meet of the season. Barragan finished with a time of 15 minutes, 54 seconds with Gonzalez crossing the finish line at 15:54.58. Barragan said he found himself in a battle when Gonzalez edged in front of him with about 30 meters left to go.  “He kicked again and I kicked,” Barragan. “Then he found another gear so I had to dig really deep to find another one.”

 

After pushing each other through the 5,000-meter course at El Capitan High School the two competitors embraced after the race. It was a tightly bunched boys race on a course that was almost all pavement as runners made two laps around the campus after the start on the back grass field of campus. The top four finishers all crossed the finish line within four seconds of each other with Atwater’s Ricky Barron (15:55.10) and Merced’s Camden Gudgel (15:57.65) placing third and fourth, respectively. 

 

While the individual race was tight for the boys, Atwater ran away with the team race as the Falcons moved one step closer to winning back-to-back CCC championships. Atwater finished with 25 team points. Merced finished second with 52 points. The Falcons had five of the top nine finishers and seven of the top 14. Atwater’s Xavier Trujillo (16:11.39), Michael Garcia (16:33.53), Angel Ramos (16:35.24) and Isaian Vargas (16:46.31) all finished in the top 10.

 

Atwater coach Ken Rhodes credited the work coaches John Guerrero and Chaim Beardsley have done with the team, including early morning runs, tailored workouts for each individual athlete and a focus on recovery. Rhodes said they have a committed group of runners who show up every day and they have big goals they want to achieve late in the season at the Sac-Joaquin sub-section and section championships. 

 

“They have built-in accountability, built-in encouragement,” Rhodes said. “They can look at November, not as, will we get there, but what can we do when we get there. I think that gets them out of bed every day and it gets them to practice on those hot afternoons because we’re working towards something big. We’re also seeing growth and improvement along the way.”

The Golden Valley girls team also picked up their second CCC center meet victory of the season in their quest to win a second consecutive conference championship. The Cougars had six of the top nine finishers to finish with 21 team points. Atwater finished second with 51 points. Golden Valley’s Fernanda Cortez placed third overall with a time of 17:55.97. She was followed by teammates Chelsea Chavez (19:16.34) in fourth, Aubri Villa (19:30.22) in fifth and Gabriela Hicks (19:30.66) in sixth. “Last year we did awesome and as a team we were really together,” Cortez said. “It has raised a lot of expectations this year. We know we have to keep pushing and if we do, we got this.” 

 

Merced High sophomore Ellie Hampton picked up her second CCC center meet victory of the season, crossing the finish line with a time of 17:27.54. Buhach Colony senior Lena Llamas finished second with a time of 17:31.25.

 

The third CCC center meet will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at Buhach Colony High.

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