Paso Robles senior runner Damian Gavilan is the Atascadero News and Paso Robles Press Boys Cross Country Athlete of the Year for leading the reigning CIF champion Bearcats this season and proving without a doubt he is the fastest runner in the county for a second-straight year. Gavilan finished first in each of the last four races of the season and punched his ticket to state in consecutive seasons.

The senior’s best race of the season in the three-mile came in the SLO County Championships where he blew away the competition finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of the next-closest racer and posted his personal best in the 5,000 last week at the CIF Central Section championships with a time of 15 minutes and 19.62 seconds.