FRESNO — Yosemite High sophomore running sensation Clover Cicoletti achieved her goal at Saturday’s CIF State Cross Country Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
Clover placed 32nd overall in the Division 4 field of more than 200 runners, clocking in at 18 minutes and 59 seconds.
She told SNO earlier this year that her goal at state this year was to break 19 minutes.
In her debut season of high school competition, Clover, 15, of North Fork, broke the YHS Badgers girls’ record — and dashed her way to the top of the Central California cross country world.
“She set a new school record of 18 minutes, 9 seconds, which breaks the old record by almost a minute (the previous record was 19:03),” according to Kim Lawhon, head coach of the Badger cross country team.
Clover (l) and teammate Jaiden Stansberry at a competition earlier this year
Lawhon has nothing but praise for her young star with the unusual name (which Clover explained was given to her by her older sister).
“Clover is just super humble. She’s never going to brag about herself, ever,” Lawhon told SNO earlier this year. “Clover leads by example.”
More than 2,000 prep runners competed in the statewide competition Saturday.
The YHS girls team finished in 17th place overall in Division 4. Newburry Park High, which is in Thousand Oaks, took home the D4 girls title and Clovis’s Buchanan High outran Temecula Great Oak to capture its first Division 1 team title.
