CUSD Sports Roundup

Jess Gonzalez

Buchanan Climbs in Softball Rankings as Clovis North Drops

April 4, 2024 – St. Joseph’s of Santa Maria continues at the top of the Girls’ Softball Rankings this week. Though they lost once since our last edition, the Knights did win 4 times to hold on to the number one ranking. Meanwhile, Central of Fresno dropped from second to third after losing the only game they played since then. They are now 10-3.

Buchanan, after winning 6 games, improved to 15-1-1 to take over second in the rankings behind St. Joseph’s. However, Clovis North—previously in third with a 9-1 record—won only two while losing three—and went down to 9^th place.

New in this week’s rankings are Bullard in fifth place with a 10-4 record and Frontier of Bakersfield in eighth place with an 11-3 record. Gone from our last edition’s rankings are Sanger and Liberty of Bakersfield.

Central Section Softball Rankings
(As of April 4, 2024)

1. St. Joseph’s (Santa Maria) 13-2-1
2. Buchanan 15-1-1
3. Central 10-3-0
4. Centennial (Bakersfield) 15-3-0
5. Bullard 10-4-0
6. Bakersfield Christian 12-1-0
7. Kingsburg 10-4-1
8. Frontier(Bakersfield) 11-3-0
9. Clovis North 11-4-0
10. Taft 14-1-1

Baseball Rankings see movement 

April 4, 2024 – As the spring season goes forward, the rankings of the Central Section’s top teams are undergoing changes as early success for some teams disappears. The most notable change in the rankings involve Clovis North. The Broncos climbed from sixth on the March 21^st rankings to the top of the heap this time around. They improved from 7-2 to 12-2-1.

After opening with a 9-1 record, Liberty of Bakersfield won 5 and lost 3 recently. That pushed them to the runner-up spot with a 14-4 record. Gone from the rankings this week Kingsburg and Pioneer Valley from Santa Maria. With April upon us, the end of season playoffs are not far off. Team records, as well as league standings, will figure into which teams will compete for end of season championships.

Central Section Baseball Rankings
(As of April 8, 2024)

1. Clovis North 12-2-1
2. Liberty(Bakersfield) 14-4-0
3. Cabrillo(Lompoc) 15-1-0
4. Frontier (Bakersfield) 14-4-0
5. Clovis 10-4-0
6. Bullard 11-6-0
7. Bakersfield Christian 12-5-0
8. Liberty(Madera) 18-1-0
9. Redwood(Visalia) 13-5-0
10. Kerman 14-1-1

Arcadia Invitational: 2 Milers achieve outstanding times 

April 4, 2024 – There was a time when breaking the 9:00 minute mark for the 3200 meters run—the old two-mile run was considered an outstanding achievement for a high school distance runner. Let’s set the record straight.  Running under 9 minutes for that distance is still difficult to achieve. However, how times have changed. An incredible 59 high school runners ran under 9 minutes in three of the six 3200 meters races at the two-day, April 5 & 6, Arcadia Invitational in Southern California. The meet is considered the best high school track and field meet and this weekend’s results can attest to that.

Daniel Simmons of American Fork High School in Utah managed a strong kick to clock a speedy  8:34.96 to win the Invitational 3200 meters event in which an astounding 37 runners clocked under 9 minutes! Second went to Nathan Neil of Bozeman, Montana, with a time of 8:35.32. Sommons’ teammate at American Fork, Ben Jaster finished 5^th in 8:38.34.

Included in the runners who clocked under 9 minutes was Carter Spradling of Clovis East finished in 30^th place and still clocked 8:55.06.

Arcadia meet divisions 

The Arcadia meet is divided into four divisions: Invitational – the athletes with the best marks, the Seeded Division – those with the next best marks, the Open Division – athletes that meet a certain qualifying standard, and the Rising Stars Division –  usually outstanding sophomores.

Clovis area athletes at Arcadia

Here is how Clovis area athletes placed at the Arcadia Invitational in the different divisions.

BOYS Invitational Division

Shot put – McKay Madsen, Clovis North, 2^nd – 63’4” / Brayden Bitter, Clovis North, 5^th –  57’4”

Discus – McKay Madsen,  C.N., 2^nd – 197’5” / Brayden Bitter, C.N., 13^th – 168’9”

Benjamin Shue of Bergan Catholic, from Oradell, New Jersey, doubled in the shot and discus with winning marks of 63’9.25” and 200’3” respectively.

4X1600 Relay – Clovis East, 12^th – 18:09.47

BOYS Seeded Division 

4X400 meters relay – Clovis, 2^{nd –} 3:20.65 / Buchanan, 6^th – 3:24.21

1600 meters run – Luke Sanders, Buchanan 5^th– 4:15.16

110 hurdles – Hudson Hergenrader, Buchanan, 3^rd – 14.21

4X100 meters relay – Buchanan, 6^th – 42.32

4X200 meters relay – Clovis 2^nd – 1:28.39

BOYS Division  

100 meters – Jacob Saldate, Clovis,  9^th – 10.77 / Tyree Sams, Clovis North, 12^th – 10.80

Donavan Dunmore, Buchanan, 16^th – 10.82

Long Jump – Harold Duvall, Clovis East, 6^th – 21’4”

300 hurdles – Hudson Hergenrader, Buchanan, 12^th  – 39.34

800 meters – Jalen Morales, Clovis, 24^th – 1:56.1

BOYS Rising Stars Division 

Mile – Marcus Salinas, Clovis East, 1^st – 4:17.30

GIRLS Invitational Division  

Distance Medley Relay (4000 meters) – Buchanan,  1^st – 11:52.07

4X1600 meters relay – Clovis North, 7^th  21:19.20 / Buchanan, 8^th – 21:27.75

Sprint Medley Relay (1600 meters) Clovis West, 7^th – 4:22.78

Shot put – Madilyn Harmonson, Clovis West, 17^th – 36’10.75”

High Jump – Indiana Davis, Clovis East, 15^th – 5’2”

Long Jump – Kylie Benson, Clovis West, 16^th – 16’9.75”

GIRLS Division  

100 meters – Victoria Chatter, Buchanan, 11^th – 12.07

800 meters – Emerson Parks, Clovis North, 11^th – 2:15.15

3200 meters – Avery Hutchison, Buchanan, 7^th – 10:52.44

4X400 Relay – Buchanan, 22^nd – 4:07.97  /  Clovis East,  23^rd – 4:09.22

Discus – Madilyn Harmonson, Clovis West,  1^st – 140’ / Kayla Smith, C.N., 8^th – 117.09