Ayala recently competed in the 2025 ASICS Cross Country Clovis Invitational, one of the largest cross country (XC) meets in the country, with over 300 teams. On October 11, the Varsity team made an immediate statement by showing a huge improvement from last season.
Under cool morning skies at Fresno’s Woodward Park, the first of Ayala’s distinguished XC men’s varsity to cross the Woodward Park finish line was Bryson Caganap (10), who ended off the terrain-varying race with a time of 15:27.70, a 4:58 mile time. Caganap’s finishing time of 15:27:70 secured him a spot in second place, finishing the endurance race faster than 248 of his opponents. Ayala’s second place overall was made possible through five of their runners finishing in the top 100, beating out.
“Clovis is a very competitive race on a dynamic course, and it’s about the closest thing in California to a real cross country race. If you ever wondered what cross country is all about, I’d tell you first about Clovis,” Caganap said.
Caganap’s description of Clovis is not far-fetched, as Clovis is known for its difficulty due to its varying terrains from grass and dirt to concrete that features hills of different lengths for runners to surmount, including one significant challenging hill that’s referred to as “Chico.” Clovis’s Woodward Park is also the home to the annual 2025 XC California Interscholastic Federation’s (CIF) State championship.
“My favorite moment from the race was probably the downhills after a big climb up because they not only felt a lot easier in comparison, but also well earned after overcoming a brutal uphill,” runner Carlos Halog (10) said.
Looking at the varsity girls’ performance for Clovis has newcomer Kate Baik (9),finishing first for Ayala, following the early morning Division 1 Women’s varsity race. Baik helped her team with a 1st place finish with a time of 19:09 that earned her a 24th spot. This race featured 5 of Ayala’s girls finishing within a 40-second spread, the second-best time out of all the teams that raced on Saturday.
“I’m super proud of how our varsity girls ran. We moved up a lot of places during the second mile, and it ended with a close gap between each of us,” runner Eslyn Lu (10) said.
Ayala’s performances at their first 5K of the arduous season, triumphing on one of the toughest courses of the latter season, highlighted the excellence of this year’s team. The boy’s performance is not much different from the prior season. They finished first place at the same meet, which shows consistency in their training, but the big improvement came for the girls as they shattered expectations for this year with first place compared to their 18th place finish last season. The girl’s noticeable improvement should underscore the new and growing talent that Ayala now possesses.
