Senior Devin Ibarra participated in a historic cross-country season this year. He now holds four records for El Diamante in Cross Country.
Before the season, he spent several hours training in hot weather and high altitudes in the summer. To prepare for the cross-country season he stated, “In the summer I went to Tahoe for a month and I trained pretty hard up there and after that, I continued to train hard in Visalia.”
When his season began he did well in setting records and continuing to set personal bests. Ibarra was nominated several times as athlete of the week on Visalia Times-Delta. He placed first at the Mt. Sac Invitational in the Division II Blue Varsity race with a time of 15:16 on the 2.93 course layout. Ibarra secured his second EYL individual title and a course record on the Golden West course with a time of 15:14 on the 5K course.
He went on continuing his streak to the Valley championship. He placed first at the Central Section Championship and moved on to state. As the state cross-country championships came around he maintained focus.
He placed 3rd in the Divison II State Cross Country Championships with a 15:06 and a new school record. Ibarra was 18th overall in the state of California. After the race, he said, “I felt like I could have maybe gone a little faster after the race, but I definitely was hurting after the race. I was very happy with my time and finish. I’m glad I got a podium finish and happy all my hard work paid off”
This Saturday Devin will compete in the Foot Locker West Regional Championship to earn a spot at Nationals.
The Miner Nation will be cheering him on all the way! Good luck, Devin.
Rylee, I liked the angle on this sports deep dive! Highlighting Ibarra’s successes by incorporating his interview and the data you did to enhance his cross country accomplishment truly made the story unique. -Donya Hassanshahi, Redwood Gigantea Editor-in-Chief
Ariana Lopez, a Sports writer from Redwood Gigantea. As a cross-country runner myself, who ran at Mt. Sac, I loved this story, it was fascinating and very enjoyable to read about the xc miner legacy!
I liked this story and how you provided some background on him. – Sophia Rodriguez, a sports writer from Redwood Gigantea.