Ayana Jaimez-Solorio runs to victory at a home cross country meeting. File photo by Peter Day
Originally published on Friday, November 21, 2025
Being in the spotlight has come with the territory for the Jaimez-Solorio twins, the Lucerne Valley siblings who several years ago gained recognition as age-group middle-distance phenoms. While Victor first dazzled as a record-setting 8-year old, it’s his sister Ayana who is turning heads as one of the fastest cross country runners in the region.
On Saturday, the 14-year-old will run in the C.I.F. Southern Section finals on the famous Mt. Sac course in Walnut, California. Ayana’s accomplishment — placing high at the Cross Valley League championships followed by a fourth-place finish in her heat at last weekend’s C.I.F. prelims, qualifying for the finals — means she has accomplished something that has never been done by a Lucerne Valley High School runner, at least not in recent memory. If she finishes in the top 20 on Saturday — she is ranked 17th — she will qualify for the state finals to be held next week.
And that would truly be historic.
“There would be nothing more than to break my family’s Thanksgiving plans and go to Northern California for the state championship,” Coach Joe Gallardo said of the possibility. “She has a very good chance of doing that on Saturday.”
Coach Guillermo Betancourt coached the twins in Middle School and Coach Joe Gallardo coaches them in High School.
The twins’ distance running began when Victor wanted to increase his speed for soccer, a sport he is currently participating in on the Mustang varsity boys soccer team. So his mother Danielle Jaimez and father Victor Solorio got their kids into a local running club and soon entered track races at the age of 6. At first, Victor showed no immediate signs of how fast he would become. “Ayana was faster than him,” his mother said Wednesday at the Lucerne Valley Middle High School cross country awards banquet. Quickly, however, Victor showed a rare toughness and determination, which paid off in fast times.
Over the next several years, Victor Jr. became a five-time AAU Junior Olympic champion and set three AAU national records in the 8-and-under, 9- and 10-year-old agree groups in the 1,500 meters. A YouTube video on the FloTrack channel has garnered 4.4 million views showing Victor demolishing the competition while running a national record in the boy’s 1500-meters as an 8-year-old.
Along the way, Victor and his family have been able to see America. “We’ve been to Florida. We’ve been to Texas. We’ve been to Tennessee,” his mother said. “We’ve been to so many places where they’ve run.”
Watch Victor Jaimez-Solorio set a record for 8-and-under category at an AAU meet.
As a Lucerne Valley middle schooler, Victor won the CVL league title, and as an 8th-grader last year he won his Mt. Sac 2-mile race in a blazing time of 10 minutes, 46.3 seconds. But the young athlete, still waiting for his teenage growth spurt, has run into some tough competition by runners standing a full head or more above him. Still, he is the fastest runner on the boys team and has run a sub-17-minute three-mile time. Mustang coach Joe Gallardo is confident Victor will lead his team to new heights over the next three years.
Both Victor and Ayana have one primary goal — to run themselves into college. But while their running accolades speak volumes, they know it will take more than fast times to get them into college.
“They’re on their grades like every day,” their mother said.
Ayana Jaimez-Solorio will compete at the C.I.F. Finals Cross Country meet Division 4 at 10:10 a.m. on Saturday, November 22nd.
From left, Albert Barbosa, Danielle Jaimez, Ayana Jaimez-Solorio, Victor Jaimez-Solorio, Victor Solorio Sr. Photo by Peter Day