Covina High is one of the oldest schools in the SGV, and yet last year was the first time the Colts had won both boys and girls league titles in the same season. And now it looks like they want to make it a habit, as they won both varsity races in today’s Valle Vista League Cluster meet – run over the 3 mile Lake Course at Bonelli Park in San Dimas. Note: Several silly editing errors have been corrected below
The girls race was extremely competitive with five schools represented in the Top 10.  Miriam Jimenez (Sr – Baldwin Park) was a strong winner (19:31) and led her team to a second place finish. She was followed by San Dimas soph Alyssa Martinez (20:10), whose team was fourth. Third placed Northview was much improved, with good front runners, including Elizabeth Esparza (3rd/20:20) and Brittney Arrevalo (8th/20:52).  But it was Covina’s ability to put four in the Top 10, led by Rachel Falomir (5th/20:42) and Ashli Baddorf (6th/20:48) that led them to a rather easy win, leaving the Colts in good position for a Valle Vista 3-peat.
The front of the boys race looked almost like a dual meet between Covina and Northview, with their athletes taking eight of the first ten spots. The race featured three front runners from Northview including overall winner Alan Callison (16:11), who was never challenged. Jorge Hernandez (3rd/16:42) of third placed Nogales (whose second runner is just returning from injury) and Richard Gutierrez (10th/17:05) of Baldwin Park managed to butt in, but in the end, Covina outshone everyone with a fine looking pack as they went 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, with Kevin Mejia (2nd/16:38) and Kevin Medina (5th/16:45) leading the way.
Download:Â Valle Vista #1 Team Results & Valle Vista #1 Indiv Results
(Thanks to Covina’s Erik Starkey and BP’s Cobe Guzman for their contributions to this article)
Top Ten’s and Top Teams after the jump.