CLOVIS, Calif. — Fresno Pacific cross country opened the 2026 season with a pair of strong team performances at the Clovis Crush Invitational on Saturday at Woodward Park, as the men's team captured the team title with 30 points while the women's team finished second overall with 64 points.
"Very solid opener for both squads this morning," said second-year Head Coach
Landon Miller. "Every one of the women ran an improvement on their time from the same race last year! Our men's team had a 35 second gap from our 1st to 5th runner which is the type of pack running we want to see as a team."
The women got off to a strong start behind Alyana Chavez, who led the Sunbirds across the finish line in third place with a time of 18:38.5. Chavez was followed closely by
Chloe Ledieff and Gabriela Ramirez, who finished less than two seconds apart with times of 19:06.5 and 19:07.9, respectively.
Jaslin Arana and
Sienna Negrete crossed the finish line together at 19:49, while
Leah Anchondo rounded out the Sunbirds' scoring lineup with a time of 21:18. The Lady 'Birds' depth helped them secure a second-place team finish in their opening race of the season.
On the men's side, the Sunbirds wasted no time making their presence known, claiming the team win with 30 points.
Luke Sanders led the way with a second-place finish, crossing the finish line at the 20:14. Newcomers
Dylan Devine and
Julian Valdivia made immediate impacts in their Sunbird debuts, finishing sixth and seventh with times of 20:35 and 20:41, respectively. The Sunbird men continued to pile up strong finishes as
Evan Torres crossed in 20:49, followed closely by
Jansen Gillig at 20:50 and
Mauricio Herrera at 20:59. The trio gave Fresno Pacific a strong group of finishers within the opening 21 minutes of the race.
Vidal Luna rounded out the Sunbirds' scoring lineup, placing 23rd with a time of 21:19 to claim the team victory.
"The team is doing a great job of combining gratitude of the opportunities and talents the Lord has blessed them with, and a hunger to grow and improve as runners!"
With both squads opening the season inside the top two, FPU leaves Woodward Park with plenty of momentum heading into the remainder of the 2026 campaign.
NEXT UP: Fresno Pacific cross country competes at the UC Riverside Invite on Saturday, September 19.
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