December 8th, 2009
The Fifth Annual San Gabriel Valley Track and Field Championships will be held on Saturday, April 24th, 2010, at West Covina High School.
Last year’s event was the strongest ever, with the athletes of the 32 participating schools setting meet records in 13 events. The meet features multiple heats for boys and girls at the varsity and frosh-soph levels in all of the CIF championship events, so we can offer competition at the highest level along with broad participation.
We hope to make this year’s meet even better, with stronger and deeper participation, along with improved competitive facilities. Coaches, please add this meet to your schedule.
We will welcome entries from schools within the service areas of the Pasadena Star News, SGV Tribune, and the Whittier Daily News. This includes members of the following leagues: Almont, Del Rio, Miramonte, Montview, Prep, Rio Hondo, San Antonio, and Valle Vista, along with the private/independent schools and members of the Baseline, Mt. Baldy, Sierra and Pacific leagues located within those boundaries.
November 30th, 2009
The East San Gabriel Valley had a bigger than usual representation at last Saturday’s California State Cross Country Championships. One team and four individuals went to the line of the 5000 meter course in Fresno’s Woodward Park.
The day began with Glendora’s Lauren Justus in the Div II. Lauren had the top SGV performance at CIF Finals with her 18:06 11th place, but she could never quite find her rhythm in this race and finished 67th in 19:16.
Then came the Div. III girls and Brittnie Munoz (Sr – Rosemead) and Marissa Scott (Fr – Bonita). Both were making their debuts at the State, and first-year Marissa was clearly unafraid, running with the leaders through the first mile. She wasn’t quite able to hold that pace, and finished 42nd in 19:00. Brittnie started more conservatively, but closed strongly to finish 26th in 18:44 – her best performance of the year.
The Glendora boys were next up. The Tartans were the first area boys team to compete in the State meet since the Waleed Totari led Damien Spartans advanced in 2004. Fresh off their Div II Southern Section Championship, the Tartans were picked to finish second and they lived up to the challenge. According to the chip timing system, a new feature of this year’s meet, Glendora was fourth at the mile split, and then moved up to second to nationally ranked Mountain View of the CCS in the second mile. The Tartans held their places over the final mile to finish a hard won second place in 80:09 – the highest finish by an area team since the wins by Arroyo and Walnut in 1987 and Walnut in 1988 along with Rowland’s second place, the first two years of the meet.
Glendora was led by junior Anthony Castro. He was 13th (and 33rd overall) in 15:32, earning second team All-State honors, and his time was equal 9th best ever by a SGV boy at the State Meet. Juniors Kelly Hernandez (16:02) and Shin Yamamura (16:14) and soph Austin Mendoza (16:03) all turned in performances right at their life-time bests, and they were joined on the podium by the 5-7 men, seniors Austin Goodheart and Neill Netzeband and junior Nick Orozco. That’s right – the Tartans top four will all be back next year.
The final SGV race of the day was Fabian Velasco (Sr – Duarte) in the Div. IV race. Fabian had dropped his PR by over two minutes this year, and finished his amazing season with a 16:24 24th place effort.
Complete results and videos here. SGV Tribune’s coverage is here.
SGV podium teams and all-time performer lists after the jump. Keep reading →
November 26th, 2009
Saturday’s CIF Finals gave a select group of area athletes one last chance to compete on the famous course. Between the two invites, two league finals, and the two CIF meets, almost every ESGV cross country athlete had at least one Mt.Sac experience, making performances on this course the fairest basis of comparison.
Glendora’s Lauren Justus (Jr.) solidified her place at the top of the list with a PR 18:06, while St. Lucy’s junior Marissa Horton moved from 10th to 7th with her 18:44 PR performance.
Among the guys, the only real movement came from Glendora junior Shin Yamamura, whose 15:56, a 21 second PR, jumped into 7th place on the list. This gave Glendora a remarkable five of the top seven area performers this, which explains why their combined team best is nearly five minutes better than the next team.
These lists are the basis for the SGV Cross Country Awards that will be presented on Thursday, December 3, at 7:30 in Mt.Sac’s Founder’s Hall. Awards will be given to the top 5 athletes at each grade level, as as to the top teams and top individuals.
Top Tens, top teams, and top fives for Sophs and Frosh after the jump.
Keep reading →
