Sports briefs: Campos, Buratto to go for Two Cities Marathon 3-peats

Fresno’s Jesus Campos and Lori Buratto of Spokane Valley, Wash., each will go for their third straight victory Sunday at the Two Cities Marathon & Half.

The central San Joaquin Valley’s only 26.2-mile footrace expects a field of 6,000 runners, although most will be doing the 13.1-mile distance.

From its starting line at Friant Road and Audubon Drive, the marathon course takes runners across north Fresno and into Old Town Clovis, using surface streets and bike paths, before reversing directions for a second leg up and back on Friant Road. The finish line is inside Woodward Park.

Sunday’s marathon and 50-kilometer ultramarathon begin at 7 a.m., with the half marathon starting at 7:30. A Health & Fitness Expo is today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Chukchansi Park.

For a course map and list of road closures, go to fblinks.com/marmap.

Rams men’s soccer team sets up showdown with Taft

Adrian Plascencia had a goal and assist as Fresno City blanked College of the Sequoias 2-0 in men’s soccer to set up a showdown Tuesday with Taft for first place in the Central Valley Conference.

The Rams (8-6-6, 3-0-1) also got a goal from Joseph Flores. Sequoias fell to 0-13 and 0-4. Taft (10-5-4, 2-0-2) played to a scoreless draw with West Hills-Lemoore (6-5-5, 1-2-1).

Fresno City women post shut out of Las Positas

Paige Mason, Monique Martinez and Lilly Ruiz each had a goal and assist in Fresno City’s 5-0 nonconference win against visiting Las Positas.

The first-place Rams (13-6, 4-0) return to Central Valley Conference play Tuesday at Sequoias, then host Taft next Friday to conclude the regular season.

• Taft (9-7, 3-1) posted a 3-1 victory at Sequoias (1-11-1, 0-4).

Fresno City, Porterville stay tied for first in volleyball

Fresno City’s volleyball team downed Taft 3-0 to remain tied for first with Porterville in the Central Valley Conference.

The Rams (17-5, 11-1) won 25-23, 25-20, 25-22 against the visiting Cougars (12-9, 8-4).

Alex Parades had 16 kills and 11 digs, Kamiya Dickson added 13 kills, Simone Simonoff 29 assists and Celina Huerta 15 digs.

• Porterville (15-8, 11-1) posted a 3-0 sweep of Merced (9-14, 4-8), as Amanda Monge delivered 19 kills, nine digs and three blocks and Allison Clem 10 kills and 11 digs.

WSHL Monsters escape with shootout victory

The Fresno Monsters pulled out a 4-3 victory over the host Valencia Flyers in a shootout to open a three-game Western States Hockey League series.

Fresno (12-1) took the shootout 2-1 on goals by Nick McKee and Don Coyle. Goalie Marcus Harbison stopped 4 of 5 shots after the teams played a scoreless overtime period.

The Monsters took a 3-0 lead in regulation on goals by Kyle Baker, Stanton Turner and Christopher Clark.

Rams qualify for NorCal water polo tournament

Taylor Risley scored five goals and Annika Herrin three to power Fresno City past Santa Rosa 10-7 to open the Big 8 Conference women’s water polo tournament.

The Rams (5-3) qualified for the NorCal playoffs with the victory.

FPU men’s water polo team ends season with a defeat

Fresno Pacific wrapped up the men’s water polo regular season with a 13-5 loss at Loyola Marymount.

Mateja Maksimovic and Nick Fadden each scored twice for the Sunbirds (10-23).

Sunbirds soccer player earns academic award

Fresno Pacific sophomore soccer defender Jordan Cardoza was named to the Capital One Academic All-District team by the NAIA’s association of sports information directors.

The kinesiology major has a 3.79 GPA.

Also …

Pepperdine leading scorer Anisa Guajardo (Buchanan) had two assists in the No. 8 Waves’ 4-0 soccer win against San Francisco that clinched the school’s second West Coast Conference championship and an NCAA Tournament bid.

The Fresno Bee