Gallery • 12 Photos

Daphne Marquez

Sophomore Andres Vasquez speeds through one of the Eisenhower Sophomores Pablo Hernandez to the finish line

Colton, CA—On August 31, 2024, SWARM celebrated its 55th annual Cross-Country event on Colton High School’s track. For this special occasion, event organizers included: guest race starters, SWARM anniversary t-shirts, and snacks.

One of Colton’s school board members, Patt Haro stated, “This program is so important to the community. This is the fifty-fifth year that we have held this event, and it’s a lot about all our kids participating together, but it’s also about the pride in the school. Fifty-five years of doing this is amazing. It truly is.”

The race consisted of a three mile run which led the runners around the track and all over Colton High before running to the track for the finish line. Any high school cross-country teams across California were invited to attend by registering through the SWARM Website. This year, 23 schools and approximately 600 runners attended the event. 

Runners are separated into groups by grade and gender, with individual awards given to the top 25 runners of each group.

Colton had a strong showing with runners placing in the top 25 in both senior races, both junior races and both sophomore races. Brianna Jimenez and Diana Ruvalcaba placed seventh and eighth respectively in the senior girls race. Christopher Acero placed 17th and Joel Lemus placed 25th in the senior boys event. For the juniors, Allyson Mejia placed 25th. And in the sophomore races, Sebastian Carlos placed seventh for the boys and Regina Flores placed 11th for the girls.

For Sebastian Carlos, this was his first SWARM run. “It’s crazy, you know, the coaches are really like the biggest motivators, I couldn’t do it without them. I really wouldn’t be where I am so I’m really thankful to have them and my teammates. I put in all I could and all I gave.”

Hemet was the only high school to have two first place winners in the freshman boys and junior girls divisions: Christopher Phillips and Gabriella Loza. Oak Hills’ Sadie Sherrod won the sophomore girls division, and as a school, Oak Hills consistently placed a runner in the top 5 in all divisions except junior boys.

The event was organized by Colton High’s cross-country head coach Mateo Cisneros, who shared that “as the Meet Director for the Colton SWARM I oversee all aspects of the event leading up to the event which is usually about a year long process as well as on SWARM day.”

The event was supported by Dynasty V, a local family-owned business, who had a tent where they sold 55th anniversary SWARM t-shirts. A Kona Ice truck was provided by Colton High’s HEAL pathway, and Colton High’s Girls Soccer team hosted the snack bar. 

Special guests were also invited to be guest race starters. The guest racers consisted of CJUSD board members Israel Fuentes, Patt Haro and Frank Ibarra; Colton High principal John Abbott; Activities Director Alexandra Buskirk; Athletic Director Mike Reh; former coach Pat Contreras; and current coaches Mateo Cisneros, Isela Bocanegra and Roxana Lopez.

Another supporter of the event was SWARM volunteer manager Dejah Nodal, who had a personal connection to the event. “I ran Cross-Country in high school. I loved it. We didn’t have a ton of help to put these events on, because SWARM is an annual thing you know. In the past, we haven’t had so many volunteers, so you know it’s overwhelming, but it’s also really nice to see everybody come out.”

SWARM was one of the two Cross-Country events that will take place in Colton. The second will be League Finals on Nov. 2. Cross-Country’s next meet will be against Rialto on Sep. 18.

Race Results

Colton High Results

Freshman Boys

Freshmen Girls

Sophomore Boys

Sophomore Girls

Junior Boys

Junior Girls

Senior Boys

Senior Girls