RANCHO CORDOVA, CA (MPG) - Cordova High School put together one of its best cross-country seasons including league titles, hosting events and community services.

The girls team won a league title during the 2020-2021 season while the boys team won its first league title since 1987 this fall.

“To win a league title and for them to do this for their school, it’s huge. I will cherish it for the rest of my life,” Cordova cross country head coach Josh Gruver (a 2010 Cordova graduate) said. “Stamped ourselves in the history books.”

The top three boys finishers in the Greater Sacramento League were Julian Juarez, Daniel Insco, and Johnathan Angel.

Other all-league performers were Christiana Laret, Stephany Santana, and Mazzy Creeger. Laret and Santana, both freshmen, placed first and second at the individual Sac-Joaquin Section meet.

Through support from the City of Rancho Cordova, the cross-country program has been able to purchase pop-up tents and new uniforms, said Gruver, who finished his sixth year as head coach.

“I never would have imagined how much we would accomplish,” said Gruver, who said there were eight student-athletes in the program when he took over. The number is now around 30. Prior to the pandemic, numbers had reached 50 participants, which marked the program’s highest numbers since the 1980s.

In another sign of the increased presence of the program, Cordova hosted three events during the fall with a pair of Greater Sacramento League meets and the HOKA Postal Nationals.

The cross-country team, which boasts one of the top GPAs among sports teams at Cordova High School, has volunteered at events such as the Urban Cow Half Marathon, Rancho Cordova Haunted House, Folsom Blues Half Marathon, HOKA Postal Nationals, Run the Parkway, Run to Feed the Hungry and California International Marathon.