Foothill cross country runners faced off against varsity teams from schools across Southern California at the Clovis Invitational in Fresno today.

Junior Moses Bojorquez took eighth place overall out of 230 runners in the boys’ Division III heat. He was the first Foothill boy to cross the finish line, completing the five-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 24.88 seconds.

For Bojorquez, finishing first “was a rush.”

“I finally felt like I was running for the right school and the best part about it is that it will only get better from here on out,” he said.

The boys’ varsity team took seventh place out of the 35 schools that participated in the race. The Foothill boys’ total time was one hour, 26 minutes, and 51 seconds. Their times averaged 17 minutes, 22 seconds.

While the girls’ varsity team did not rank as highly as the boys, coming in thirteenth place overall out of 28 teams, freshman runner Maize Anders was impressed by their spirit of cooperation.

“They worked really well together,” said Anders. “The girls did really, really well.”

The top four Foothill girls’ varsity runners all finished within 17 seconds of each other, with the first Foothill runner, sophomore Brienna Tafoya, across the line taking fiftieth place out of 217 runners.

The girls’ total time was one hour, 47 minutes, and six seconds; the runners averaged 21 minutes, 25 seconds.

Bojorquez is looking forward to seeing just how much the team will accomplish during the course of the rest of the season. 

“I am really excited to see how the Foothill Dragons will do against other local schools and how far the Foothill cross country team will go this season,” he said. 

The team’s next TCAA League meet will be on Thursday at Thacher High School.