The Fresno City College cross country team wrapped up the NorCal Community College Championships on Nov. 3 with the men’s team placing fourth in the overall team score and the women’s team taking eighth place respectively in their division.
Rams were anchored by Germay Tesfai who finished 2nd with a personal record time of 21:18.52 at the Nov. 3rd meet. Tesfai is following up a freshman season with another season filled will national attention and accolades.
Tesfai had a first place finish at the Norcal Preview at Crystal Springs with a time of 21:25 and a fifth place finish at the Lou Vasquez Invitational with a time of 20:26.
Sandra Navarro was the top FCC finisher for the women at the norcal championships with a 22nd place finish.
Navarro’s best finish of the season was second place in the Central Valley Conference Championships at Woodward Park on Oct. 25.
“Finishing second was satisfying because I had showed up to that race saying, where’s my trophy? to my coaches. My teammate’s Megan and Nora placed in the top with me, and the others I know worked together to win the meet. In that meet I believe we performed as a team,” said Navarro
For Navarro this year has been about getting healthy and strong. After spraining her ankle early in the season, she was determined not to get discouraged.
“I believe that envisioning myself doing well improves my performance. Also, there is a lot of support coming from my teammates and my coaches,” said Navarro.
It has taken the majority of the season for Navarro to get to this point. Although she doesn’t believe she is as strong as she was last year, she is happy with how the team has improved.
“I’ve seen my girl’s team improve from the beginning of the season. They have definitely come a long way,” said Navarro.
The Rams next meet will be the California Community College Cross Country Championships on Nov. 17 at Woodward Park.
“The key to my success as well as my teams has been hard work. Each day at practice we are putting out 100 percent effort,” said Tesfai. “For the upcoming championship races we will be cutting down our mileage and increasing our speed, this will help us improve our finish.”
