Watsonville High senior Nain Garcia-Ferreyra stood at the finish line at last week’s Pacific Coast Athletic League Cross Country Championship, huffing and puffing in near disbelief.
The Wildcat standout runner was the first to cross the finish line out of the Mission Division.
Garcia-Ferreyra won the race in 15 minutes, 57.6 seconds on the three-mile course at Toro Park on Oct. 31. But prior to Saturday afternoon’s event, he was having a knee problem just minutes before he was scheduled to run.
“I was unsure if I was gonna do great or not,” he said. “I had a knee problem 10 minutes before the race started, so I was feeling kind of bad.”
However, he managed to battle through and set a new school record in the process. Garcia-Ferreyra also qualified for the Central Coast Section Cross Country Championship at Crystal Springs course in Belmont on Nov. 14.
Garcia-Ferreyra finished ahead of King City High senior Ivan Diaz (16:11) and Pacific Grove High senior Betinho Zunguze (16:11.4), who finished second and third, respectively.
“[Garcia-Ferreyra’s] been putting in a lot of work to get to this point,” Watsonville head coach David Knight said. “Not just this season, but over the last couple years. So, we were waiting for this moment all season.”
Garcia-Ferreyra won’t be alone on next week’s trek as the rest of the Wildcat boys’ team also qualified for the section finals. They placed second as a team in the Mission Division standings.
Top finishers for Watsonville included senior Damian Villarruel (17:41.1) in 16th, senior Jesse Fernandez-Rocha (18:09.2) in 24th and junior Axel Ramirez-Renteria (18:11.2) in 25th to round off the top 25.
“Nain, he’s a good leader,” Knight said. “He helped get us to this point, and so now I believe the job’s not finished. He has a real chance to perform at CCS and perhaps even go to State. We’re rooting for him.”
Monte Vista Christian sophomore Owen Beckmen placed fourth overall in 15:50.4. Carmel High senior Jasper Bolante won the race in 15:35.9, followed by Hollister High seniors Luis Perez Prieto (15:39.3) and Andrew Parra (15:42.1) in second and third, respectively.
The front of the pack pulled away from Beckmen as they went up the final hill before the final stretch to the finish line.
“Coming up that last hill over there, that slight gradual incline, I started kind of dying down a little bit,” Beckmen said. “They pushed through those hills pretty strong.”
Monte Vista Christian placed fifth as a team in the top-tier Gabilan Division, and sixth overall in the PCAL. They advanced to the CCS Championship as a group.
“Looking for a strong finish,” Beckmen said. “I know it’s going to be tough getting that top-three team finish, so we’re looking for that. Trying to battle it out with Nueva and those teams.”
Other top finishers for MVC included sophomores Jesse Campos (17:03.1) in 20th, Joseph Palacios (17:10.1) in 23rd and Jacob Tabor (17:38.9) in 28th. Senior Luciano Guerra (17:50) placed 30th, followed by junior Niel Radar (17:52.7) in 31st and senior Vinni Fluegge (20:04.3) in 41st.
In his first year of running cross country, Pajaro Valley High sophomore Noah Ortiz (18:54.3) took second in the Santa Lucia Division race. Rancho San Juan High sophomore Federico Zarate won in 18:47.4, while Chartwell High junior Emerson Owen (19:00.9) took third.
Pajaro Valley junior Will Cruz-Santos (19:12.1) placed fourth, which shocked head coach Yafeet Garcia and his assistant coach.
Cruz-Santos was coming back from being sick for about two weeks and had missed plenty of practice. But it didn’t stop him from advancing to the CCS finals.
Pajaro Valley placed second place as a team behind champion Soledad, and ahead of Rancho San Juan in third.
Garcia-Ferreyra is making his third trip to Belmont for the CCS Championship. He’s hoping to make the best of it in his final hurrah.
“It means a lot going to CCS three times in a row for cross country,” he said. “My next step is seeing if I can make it to State.”
