Bruin athletes are seeing their spring sports beginning to wind down, as the season, and the school year, near their conclusions.
Here is a look at some recent sporting events.
German Fernandez Distance Carnival
On Friday, April 25, Riverbank hosted the yearly celebration of long-distance running held on the high school campus to honor Fernandez, an RHS alum who, in the early 2000s, set school, league, section and some state records in cross country and distance track races. He went on to compete in college and the Olympics.
Schools from all over the region came to town to participate. Being a distance event, there were no field activities, just 800 meters, 1600, 3200 and 4x400 meter relays, for both boys and girls, but they ran both varsity and frosh/soph races. There were so many runners that most events had several heats.
In the boys varsity 1600, sophomore Armando Garcia placed fourth, at 4:37.39, for a personal record, and junior Matt Santana came in fifth, at 4:37.83, in a field of 47 runners. Santana also ran in the 3200, finishing 16th, at 11:05.16, in a field of 32 runners.
In the girls frosh/soph 800, freshman Samantha Silva placed 10th out of a field of 48, with a time of 2:54.16. In the 3200, junior Gianna Cruz set a new personal record at 13:00.05 and took 10th place out of 23 runners.
This week, the Bruin track and field team was to host Big Valley Christian High School from Modesto for a scrimmage meet.
Bruin Co-Ed Tennis
Riverbank netters hosted the Mother Lode League Championship singles and doubles tournaments on Thursday and Friday last week.
Coach Bruce Edwards noted that most of his team, both boys and girls, earned some sort of honors in the matches.
Nathalie Garcia was voted MVP by the coaches, and also earned all-league honors. She won the singles division and will be going to sections for the victory, he said.
“Victor Jacobo earned all-league, Edwards said. “He was defeated in the singles semifinal, but the next day, he paired up with James Williams in doubles and qualified as a runner up for sections. James played doubles with Jeancarlo Torres and took second.”
Also, the coach reported, Maya Williams and doubles partner Emily Ramirez took first on the first day, but on day two Williams had an injury that forced her to retire during the finals.
Omar Gomez and Noemy Torres finished as runners up in mixed doubles on day one, and the second day, Torres paired up with Felix Pasillas to qualify for the sections. Ava Maez and Isabel Fernandez captured runner up honors in girls doubles the first day.
“So, out of the eight boys and eight girls that qualified for all-league, we had three girls and one boy,” Edwards concluded. “Ava Maez, Zaira Villega, and Isabel Fernandez received honorable mention.”
Bruin Baseball
The varsity boys played in Modesto on Tuesday, April 22 against Big Valley Christian, falling 8-4. Riverbank was able to account for seven hits in that game, including a home run by Xavier Lopez. On Friday, the Bruins hosted the Lions, falling 5-3.
This week, Senior Night was scheduled to be held before the April 29 game, against Calaveras, the last home game for graduating seniors. The squad will travel to play at Linden on Friday.
Lady Bruin Softball
For the varsity girls, they also had a pair of games against Big Valley Christian on the schedule this past week. They were shut out on the road, 11-0, on April 22. They hosted the Lady Lions on April 25 and battled in the contest but fell a few runs short, 8-5. Riverbank was ahead up to the fifth inning. Lady Bruin starting pitcher Maya Guzman had nine strikeouts and no walks but took the loss. Offensively, she had a pair of home runs and drove in three of her team’s five total runs. She also had a stolen base.
Bruin Golf
Boys linksters were to play in the Mother Lode League Championship Tournament in Valley Springs this week, closing out the regular season.
