Marauders, Panthers compete in EYL cross country tournament

The Monache girls cross country team took home second place out of six schools at Wednesday night’s Eastern Yosemite League’s meet held in Barlett Park.

Three Marauders finished in the top ten, including junior Kristen Chan (fifth), Alysa Alvarez (seventh) and Erika Cline (tenth).

Tulare Union had four in the top ten, including the first three overall finishes, to earn them the girls’ EYL title with just 29 points. Monache was the next closest with 67.

Porterville’s girls finished in sixth place with a score of 152.

Senior Kelsey Bean was the Panthers’ top finisher at 26th overall. Sophomore Chelsea Martinez finished just behind in 29th overall.

Tulare Western, Cesar Chavez and Delano rounded out the third, fourth and fifth places.

The varsity boys had a rougher go of it with Monache finishing in fifth (118 points) and Porterville (126 points) in sixth.

Porterville senior Pablo Flernate finished the highest in 19th place overall with a time of 18:39.

Monache senior Michael Hernandez finished 22nd at 18:58 and Porterville senior Cameron Zavala was right behind at 18:59.

Tulare Western dominated the field and finished first with a total of 33 points.

Cesar Chavez, Tulare Union and Delano round out the boys’ top four.