Sports briefs: Fresno State wins MWC soccer opener

Fresno State shut out Air Force 3-0 Sunday afternoon at Bulldog Stadium in the women’s soccer team’s Mountain West Conference debut.

Fresno State senior Callie Hancock scored in the 19th minute for a 1-0 halftime lead before Shonice Myers scored her first career goals, in the 67th and 71st minutes.

Goalie Katie Devault had four saves for the Bulldogs (3-7-3) and backup Riley Fielder had one in the final six minutes to preserve the shutout.

Fresno State next plays Saturday at Wyoming.

Fresno State tennis plays in Napa

Fresno State’s Sai Kartik Nakireddi and Jeremy Quiroz defeated Pacific’s Alex Hamilton and Trevor James 8-5 at the Napa Invitational men’s tennis tournament.

The Bulldogs later played San Francisco in singles, with Reid DeLaubenfels the lone Fresno State player to win, 7-6(7), 6-3 over Germain Bahri.

Clovis West girls win elite cross country meet

Clovis West High’s girls cross country team established itself as one to watch in the state by winning the Stanford Invitational Division I championship behind sophomore Katie Grootendorst and senior Taylor Samson.

Grootendorst and Samson placed sixth and seventh in the 27-team, 196-runner field with times of 19 minutes and 7 seconds and 19:08 over 5 kilometers (3.1 miles).

The Golden Eagles also scored with juniors Sami Ikuma (29th, 20:12), Kaitlyn Bethel (30th, 20:13) and Julianna Cameron (33rd, 20:18) while compiling 105 points. Monte Vista-Danville of the North Coast Section just missed at 108. And Stockdale, behind senior Tori Blackmon (11th, 19:25), placed fourth at 202.

In the D-I boys race, Clovis West junior Matt Crow led Central Section representatives by placing 33rd in a 244-runner field in 16:51. The Eagles finished 13th among 35 teams.

Tulare senior Kyle Miller placed fourth among 250 D-II runners in 16:01. Roosevelt junior Edgar Bolanos was fifth in D-III in 16:56.

In the College Division, former Buchanan runner Heath Reedy, competing unattached, placed fifth among 265 runners in 24:15 in an 8k (4.97 miles) race. Fresno State junior Olivier Bernard was 24th among 265 runners at 25:00.

Bulldogs junior Saylah Barserian was 40th in a 292-runner women’s field in 21:57 in a 6k race.

Schmitz wins 7th in row at Madera for title

Tony Schmitz got his seventh straight main win in the 30-lap LunkerDaddy Late Model — one of five drivers to clinch season championships Saturday night at Madera Speedway.

Schmitz had an early challenge from runner-up Jason Aguirre before breaking away on lap 14 on the way to his first title in 26 years. “It’s been a long time coming,” Schmitz said. “We put a good season together and it’s finally here.”

Like Schmitz, Frank Mazzei finished his Hobby Stocks’ title run with a win (his seventh overall this season) in the 20-lap main.

Toyota Sedans driver Jarred Tickel won his second straight track championship after taking third in the 30-lap main won by Jason Kerns. John McCollum Jr. took his first championship in the MST division and Tyler Johnson cemented his title in the 4-Bangers class.