King senior Maximo Zavaleta had numerous goals for his final cross country season.

The only reason he didn’t achieve all of them was because he set his expectations so high.

Zavaleta’s standout season earned him IE Varsity Boys Cross Country Runner of the Year honors.

“I met some expectations, and I was disappointed in some,” Zavaleta admitted. “The expectation I met was going to NXN and I’m really proud of that. The other one I didn’t quite do was that I expected to win state in Division 1.”

Qualifying for state was quite an accomplishment for Zavaleta. Only the top five individuals overall at the CIF State Championships on non-qualifying teams advance to Nike Cross Nationals (NXN). Zavaleta thought he was going to advance his junior year after finishing fourth at state. But the race ended up being a slow one and Zavaleta fell short of advancing.

This time, Zavaleta was neck-and-neck with Clovis North’s Conor Lott at state, but he came up just short, with a time of 14:49.7 to Lott’s 14:43.2.

“I really wanted to go and win. That moment was in the last 800 of the race,” Zavaleta said. “I put on a surge. I got next to him (Lott). But I didn’t win.”

Although the losses are few, Zavaleta’s maturity allows him to get something out of them.

“I know I’m taking these losses for a reason,” he said. “This is going to make me a better runner. I try not to focus on the wins, but what I can do better in the losses and why I didn’t meet my expectations.”

King coach Alfonso Ibarra was impressed with what he saw from Zavaleta this season.

“What impressed me most about Maximo this season was not just the results, but how he achieved them,” Ibarra wrote in an email. “His ability to balance consistency throughout the season with peak performances in critical moments truly separated him as one of the best runners not only in CA but in the nation.”

While Zavaleta’s season ended by qualifying for NXN and ultimately finishing 31st there, the highlights for him spanned the entire season.

He won the elite showdown race in the PR City Invitational in early September, then followed that up by taking seventh (14:07.1) in the sweepstakes race of the Woodbridge Classic, but was third among California runners in the elite race.

He then had an impressive early-season performance by taking second at the Clovis Invitational (14:44.8) on the same Woodward Park course that he would later finish second at the state meet. And his Clovis time was faster than his state time by nearly five seconds.

He also won the sweepstakes race at the Inland Empire Challenge (14:52.4) and took third in the Division 1&2 team sweepstakes at the Mt. SAC Invitational.

He won the Big VIII League title and the CIF-SS Division 1 title.

But one of Zavaleta’s biggest goals this season was something over which he had little control: getting his team to qualify for state after the Wolfpack failed to advance in 2024.

“I was really happy about that (team advancing),” Zavaleta said. “ I remember doing an interview after that race and it was hard to tell if my team made it or not. The team going to state was one of the biggest things (before state). Other than that, it was probably my 5K time at Clovis.”

Ibarra knew what the team accomplishment meant to Zavaleta.

“Advancing to state as a team meant everything to Maximo,” Ibarra wrote. “While his individual success is undeniable, defending his CIF title from last year, he has always prioritized his team first.”

There’s still a lot left on Zavaleta’s plate. He hasn’t made a college choice yet, and is looking forward to a successful track and field season.

And through it all, he tries to stay humble.

“I’m also big on not boasting. I like to be humble,” he said.

Zavaleta doesn’t need to say much about his accomplishments. They speak for themselves.

Lun Phirun Son, Cajon

Just one year after having only one runner make the CIF-SS prelims, the Cowboys made program history in the third year for Son as head coach. Cajon made the CIF finals for the first time and won its first league title since 2008 (and first in the Citrus Belt League) with a team that had only one of its top seven runners new to the program, freshman Urijah Quiroz. Four of the team’s varsity runners were only in their second year of running and Cajon also nearly qualified for state. The Cowboys took eighth at CIF-SS Division 1 finals with 230 points, one spot away from the last state qualifier, Trabuco Hills (208).