Most Improved Runners from 2025


Times can change drastically from season to season, or even race to race.  Race conditions, weather, and course changes can even change week to week.  But regardless of conditions that we cannot control, we can still measure finish times.  While the courses may not be the same in difficulty or length, each runner still desires to lower their PR.  Here are the combined times for the 2025 season showing which runners improved the most from the mark they set last year.

Obviously the incoming freshmen did not have 5K time for cross country, so we measured it using the first completed 5K time of their season.  There were also some runners that did not improve their PR this year, so we wanted to recognize their Season Best (SB) times as well.  

Alexa Rodriguez (pictured above) was our most improved War Eagle runner as she improved her time by over 9 minutes!  Our most improved on the boy's team was Jose Romero (pictured below) who improved his time over the course of this season by over 7 minutes!  Some honorable mentions are Jefferson Sibrian, Easton Chaffin, Mia Meija, Paola Salazar, Juliana Merced, Abilene Sanchez, Crystal Vaca, Bella McClenathen, and Harper Irvin who all improved their times by at least 3 minutes or more.  Great job this year War Eagles!  Some of you will have some tough times to beat next year!

MOST IMPROVED BOYS 5K TIMES
Athlete/TeamPrevious
Best		Season
Best		DifferenceMeet/Date of 2025 Best Run
Jose Romero29:19.6022:03.90PR7:15.70North Oconee Invitational40th F
Oct 18, 2025
Jefferson Sibrian22:15.6018:33.64PR3:41.96North Oconee Invitational89th F
Oct 18, 2025
Easton Chaffin22:07.3018:40.80PR3:26.50GHSA 3A Sectional 2 (Regions 5,6,7,8)47th F
Nov 1, 2025
Kevin Martinez24:07.5821:19.20PR2:48.38Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational124th F
Oct 10, 2025
Pedro Pedro-Martin22:18.9020:03.70PR2:15.20GHSA 3A Sectional 2 (Regions 5,6,7,8)99th F
Nov 1, 2025
Miguel Valdez23:25.7021:16.80PR2:08.90Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational122nd F
Oct 10, 2025
Colton Blackburn22:45.2020:44.00PR2:01.20Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational109th F
Oct 10, 2025
Romeo Vazquez21:20.8021:01.70PR0:19.10Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational118th F
Oct 10, 2025
Jonathan Smith18:53.3219:28.92SB---North Oconee Invitational112th F
Oct 18, 2025
Zac Benna17:42.1219:31.33SB---Southern Traditions XC Jamboree7th F
Sep 11, 2025
Ramiro Lopez21:19.7521:24.80SB---Pickens Preview61st F
Aug 23, 2025
Israel Alcantar21:08.0021:54.41SB---North Oconee Invitational37th F
Oct 18, 2025
Zachary Smith23:25.7024:09.87SB---North Oconee Invitational59th F
Oct 18, 2025
Roger Vasquez22:29.3024:26.95SB---North Oconee Invitational63rd F
Oct 18, 2025
MOST IMPROVED GIRLS 5K TIMES
Athlete/TeamPrevious
Best		Season
Best		DifferenceMeet/Date of 2025 Best Run
Alexa Rodriguez36:06.4026:49.61PR9:16.79North Oconee Invitational82nd F
Oct 18, 2025
Mia Mejia41:21.8034:04.30PR7:17.50Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational62nd F
Oct 10, 2025
Paola Salazar37:30.6031:02.21PR6:28.39Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational56th F
Oct 10, 2025
Julianna Merced29:50.9425:05.90PR4:45.04Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational45th F
Oct 10, 2025
Abilene Sanchez29:56.9025:12.34PR4:44.56North Oconee Invitational59th F
Oct 18, 2025
Crystal Vaca25:20.0021:35.55PR3:44.45North Oconee Invitational51st F
Oct 18, 2025
Isabella McClenathen25:06.4021:33.46PR3:32.94North Oconee Invitational49th F
Oct 18, 2025
Harper Irvin27:02.7023:51.38PR3:11.32North Oconee Invitational41st F
Oct 18, 2025
Emma Dobson21:00.1018:31.52PR2:28.58North Oconee Invitational2nd F
Oct 18, 2025
Natalie Menjivar24:25.0322:03.11PR2:21.92North Oconee Invitational60th F
Oct 18, 2025
Kylor Stewart24:35.7022:24.70PR2:11.00GHSA 3A Sectional 2 (Regions 5,6,7,8)42nd F
Nov 1, 2025
Vanessa Valdez25:50.5423:47.97PR2:02.57North Oconee Invitational38th F
Oct 18, 2025
Melanie Ceballos-Benitez28:55.3627:08.84PR1:46.52North Oconee Invitational88th F
Oct 18, 2025
Kayleigh McBride22:36.3121:04.70PR1:31.61GHSA 3A Sectional 2 (Regions 5,6,7,8)19th F
Nov 1, 2025
Reyna Palacios27:49.3026:44.20PR1:05.10Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational67th F
Oct 10, 2025
Briana Aguilar28:05.6127:16.00PR0:49.61Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational78th F
Oct 10, 2025
Leilani Moreno24:07.3823:19.43PR0:47.95North Oconee Invitational22nd F
Oct 18, 2025
Alison Aguilar24:12.4023:28.60PR0:43.80Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational95th F
Oct 10, 2025
Bryana Reyna28:38.6228:30.70PR0:07.92North Oconee Invitational61st F
Oct 18, 2025
Izzy Wintermantel20:35.8921:31.85SB---North Oconee Invitational47th F
Oct 18, 2025
Beberly Domingo28:04.4528:42.58SB---North Oconee Invitational63rd F
Oct 18, 2025
Leslie Cruz31:44.7832:25.50SB---Pickens & Grinnin’ Invitational60th F
Oct 10, 2025
PR = Personal Record
SB = Season Best Time

Popular posts from this blog

VETERAN SPOTLIGHT: Staff Sergeant Wilfried "Wes" Wessely, US Army

Image
November 11, 2025 By: Josh Dobson On Veterans Day, we want to recognize our favorite Veteran, Staff Sergeant Wilfried Wessely, US Army, whom we affectionally know as “Coach Wes”.   Pictured above in Vietnam during Christmas in 1969,  Coach Wes served in the First Infantry Division of US Army (known as The Big Red One  from their involvement of pushing the Germans back during the Battle of the Bulge in WW2) from 1968-1970 where he was initially stationed at Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA before undergoing training before being sent overseas to Vietnam after being drafted at age 19.    At the time of his deployment, Wes was initially given the rank of Staff Sergeant (E-6). Coach Wes, known as "Bandit 25", had to assume the role of a Platoon Sergeant   due to a shortage of men as a result of the losses suffered during the Tet Offensive campaign in 1968.   Wes was flown out to the Fishhook Region near An Loc, Vietnam to enter combat near the terminus of t...
Read more

Chestatee Girls Dominate In The Mud At War Eagle Invitational

Image
GAINESVILLE, GA - Strong thunderstorms and a late-night downpour just hours before an early morning start made for wet and muddy conditions at Chestatee High School for the 20th Annual War Eagle XC Invitational on Saturday, but that did not seem to affect the Chestatee girls. Coming off her 2024 Middle School State XC Championship, Freshman Emma Dobson made her High School debut finishing with a victory in the Varsity Girls 5K race with a time of 21:00.10.  Seniors Kayleigh McBride and Izzy Wintermantel finished 3rd and 5th respectively and a strong showing by both Freshman Isabella McClenathen (15th) and Junior Crystal Vaca (18th) sealed the deal as the Varsity Girls dominated to win over Grayson High. Junior Alison Aguilar won in the JV Girls 2-Mile Race with a time of 17.08.40.  Right behind Aguilar was Sophomore Kylor Stewart, Freshman Harper Irvin, Junior Natalie Menjivar, and Junior Briana Aguilar to complete the sweep of the top 5 spots and come out on top of with a per...
Read more

GHSA 3A Sectional B Preview

Image
Just in case you did not read about it in the previous article...POSTSEASON IS HERE!  That's right, our War Eagles will be traveling north to Ringgold to compete in the GHSA 3A "B" Sectional XC Race.   So here is a rundown of how things work in order to qualify for the State Meet in Carrolton: Chestatee is in Region 6 of GHSA 3A schools and will compete with Regions 5, 7, and 8 at Heritage High School in Ringgold, Georgia.  Regions 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be competing at Long County High School in Ludowici, Georgia. 1. Top 12 teams running in each Sectional will advance (12 teams x 2 sectionals = 24 total teams that will compete at the State Meet) 2. Top 20 individual finishers in the Sectional will get an automatic bid to the State Meet, regardless if their team qualifies...so EVERYONE, has a chance to make it, even if their team is struggling. 3. In order to qualify for the State Meet, you MUST RUN in the Sectional race...which includes alternates.  There are no "...
Read more