Held at Cerritos Regional Park, the cross-country San Gabriel Valley League cluster meet was on Oct. 14 at 3 p.m and varsity boys strode for the finish against rival schools Warren, Gahr, and Paramount. Warren came first, winning the meet, as the Vikes came in fourth place. Moises Martinez performed the best time for the varsity Vikings. Martinez placed second overall, coming in after Warren’s first place runner, and at a previous cluster meet, Martinez placed sixth overall.

“He’s [Martinez] the first person in four or five years to possibly make it to CIF for Downey,” cross-country coach Mr. Gleason said.

Though he’s on varsity, Elmer Shelevy ran for frosh/soph, hoping to beat rival Warren, though no medals were handed out at this meet. Two Warren boys came ahead of him, and he placed fourth. His time was approximately 17 minutes. In addition to his personal record being 16:44, Shelevy is on the top seven list and the second fastest on the team, with Martinez being number one.

“I think we have a pretty good chance of making it to CIF this year,” Shelevy said.

At Wilderness Park on Sept. 23, Shelevy made the top 20 with a time of 17:07 and at a recent meet, Faustino Diaz, a freshman, placed tenth overall. At the Bell Gardens Invite on Oct 16, held at Legg Lake, almost everyone placed and received a medal. At the final meet on Nov 3, medals will be handed out to the winners that place.