How Stanislaus County’s first high school sporting event in nearly a year unfolded
Big Valley Christian senior cross country runner Robert Pacheco said he gets “jitters” before races.
For the first time in over a year, those jitters returned on Tuesday as Big Valley competed in a cross country meet with members of the Central California Athletic Alliance, Mountain Valley League, and Ripon Christian.
The race, held on private property west of Modesto owned by a member of the Turlock Christian community, was the first high school sporting event in Stanislaus County since last March.
“Just getting out here and being able to see the kids compete and interact with their peers and fellow competitors, is the reason why we’re athletic directors,” Turlock Christian Athletic Director Nicole Rodrigues said.
Rodrigues said the league reached out to businesses and parks to host the meets but were denied so a community member volunteered. Another meet is scheduled for next week.
With Stanislaus County in the purple tier, cross country, golf, tennis, and track and field are allowed.
Big Valley coach Robert Avila said his team hasn’t had enough speed workouts and the “on and off” of practicing (due to county restrictions) created a mental challenge for some of his runners.
Speaking before the race, Avila said he was “fired up” and “it’s been a long time coming.”
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, each school stayed in their own “bubble” before the meet started, wore masks at all times except racing, and runners were separated by five minutes for staggered starts.
Each school raced against itself.
Turlock Christian senior David Lund won the boys’ race with a time of 17 minutes, 54 seconds while Venture Academy senior Gabriella Villapando won the girls’ race in 24:49.
Big Valley went first and had two runners: Robert Pacheco... and his twin brother, Peter.
The brothers said there were no bets on who would win and the loser wouldn’t have to do the others’ chores.
Instead, after having many events canceled, they just wanted to enjoy the day.
“I was a little scared and out of shape,” Peter admitted. “But I was going to go out and enjoy it. It was a little sense of normalcy.”
Rodrigues said seeing her athletes finally race brought “tears to her eyes”.
Athletes, coaches, and fans from all schools cheered for each other and here were smiles all around and “air” high-fives.
“I had fun and raced against my brother.... even though he left me behind,” Peter Pacheco said.
This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 10:31 AM.
