Merced High’s Ambriz, Colon set the pace on Sun-Star All-Area cross country teams

Daniel Ambriz is not one to ease into a race. The Merced High School senior starts as if he’s shot out of a cannon and never lets up.

“I’ve always run like that,” Ambriz said. “I like to go out fast and push the pace. I want to push myself to get the times I want. It’s my way of running, and it’s worked for me.”

His aggressive style paid off as he became the third male in Merced High history to win a Sac-Joaquin Section championship.

Merced sophomore Ciara Colon also enjoyed a successful season, sweeping the Central California Conference center meets and winning the conference championship.

Ambriz and Colon are the Merced Sun-Star All-Area Cross Country Athletes of the Year.

Ambriz dominated, sweeping the three CCC center meets and the Merced County Championships. He set the course record at Atwater High with a time of 15 minutes, 3 seconds at the Merced County Championships. Ambriz broke it again a few weeks later at the conference’s third center meet with a 15:01 mark.

“Daniel did a great job all year long,” Merced coach Tim Hagerman said. “It’s a long, grueling season. He stayed healthy, and that’s an advantage against other competition.”

Ambriz battled through injuries in his junior season. One reason he felt he didn’t have any injuries this season was because he didn’t run as much last summer. Ambriz spent most of his summer working near Los Banos, picking tomatoes.

“I didn’t have time to run during the summer,” Ambriz said. “I was doing field work. When I came into the season, I was in good shape. My teammates were faster than me, but it probably prevented injury. In the past years, I would get injured from running too much in the summer.”

Hard training during the season allowed Ambriz to run his aggressive style. He did a lot of interval training where he’d run 20 400-meter sprints at race speed with 90-second breaks in between.

“He got used to training that way because of the way he wants to run,” Hagerman said. “If you want to take off when you race, you have to take off when you train. He likes to make the kids chase him. He’s basically telling them if you want to beat me, you have to go out this fast.”

Ambriz became the first Merced High runner to win a section championship since Brian Wilkerson and Grace Durnell in 1992. He captured the Division II race with a time of 15:54.

“It was really special,” Ambriz said. “Going into that race, I was really nervous. I didn’t want to lose. I was determined to win. I took off fast, and there was no chance I was going to lose. I gave it everything I had. It was special because this was my last year running at Merced High.”

Colon battled through injuries, including one to her knee, late in the season that affected her times at subsections and sections. She tried to pull double duty in the fall as a cheerleader and cross country runner.

“They dropped me all the time doing stunts,” she said. “One time, I got dropped on my head, and I got dizzy out of nowhere.”

Colon was dominant during the conference season and added a victory in the Merced County Championships.

“The thing about Ciara is she really likes to run,” Hagerman said. “She does things that normal, average kids wouldn’t do, like watching other state races on YouTube. She’s interested in other tactics people use. She watches elite runners because she wants to be an elite runner.”

Colon’s main competition came from teammate Quinn Hagerman, a freshman and the coach’s daughter. Of the 12 races in which both ran, Colon edged Hagerman seven times. Colon and Hagerman finished 1-2 at the conference’s third center meet.

“It’s a fun competition,” Colon said. “We push each other. I feel she pushes me during races a little more than I push her, but when I try to talk while we’re running, I’m out of breath.”

Tim Hagerman looks forward to watching Colon and his daughter go against each other the next few years.

“I think it’s going to help them to have each other throughout their high school careers,” he said. “Just in their workout (Jan. 7), they were neck and neck with each other. Ciara was disappointed in her finish this year. She was banged up. She wants to go out faster, and she wants to work out more aggressively.

“Both Ciara and Quinn want to get faster. They’re great teammates and competitors, too.”

This story was originally published January 11, 2016 at 5:05 PM with the headline "Merced High’s Ambriz, Colon set the pace on Sun-Star All-Area cross country teams."