San Gabriel Valley Track and Cross Country

Cross Country requires more than talent, and even more than hard work – the athletes need to be lucky enough to stay healthy.  Last year Claremont was on track for a top finish until the were derailed by the H1N1 virus, and this year they’ve been healthy.  Last year, Glendora enjoyed almost perfect health on their way to their championship, and this year injuries and illness have bit their team.

At last Saturday’s CIF Prelims, both teams advanced.  CIF, State and Nationally ranked Claremont had an easy win with their team leaders Paul Ross and Henry Falotico going 1-2 with sub-max 15:28 and a team time of 78:49.  The Tartans didn’t have that luxury and raced an all-out 79:16 to finish second in their heat.  The were led by a heat winning (and GHS course record) 15:13 from senior Anthony Castro, and received a notable performance from frosh Mike Duke who was their 4th man in 16:01!  Rowland had a chance to advance with a great day, and unfortunately went the other way, with each of their guys off by 30-40 seconds.

The Div. III teams got to race in the much warmer afternoon and so the times were a bit off, but not their performances, especially from Damien. The Spartans were enjoying their first trip to prelims in five years, and they made the most of it, running a strong 81:49 to advance to the Finals. They were led by senior John Garcia’s 16:01 and were really helped by their small, 42 second 1-5 gap.

Two individuals also advanced.  Bonita’s Dillon Nobbs capped a fine freshman season with a 16:09 in the heat of the day.  Even more impressive was Northview’s Alan Callison.  The senior improved by over two minutes from ’09 to drop a PR 15:49 and move on to the finals.

In Div. V, senior Baily Stockdale (16:33) led Webb (90:08) into next weeks finals for the first time in a number of years

Complete Results are here

Top 14 Performers and Team Ranking with Team Leaders after the jump

Continue reading CIF Prelims Boys: Claremont, Glendora, Damien & Webb – plus Callison and Nobbs Move On

The CIF Southern Section is easily the toughest and strongest sporting section in the country – advancing to the finals of this meet is the equivalent of advancing to the state final in the big states, and superior to the final in smaller states.  Just one of the penalties we pay for living in Southern California.

The upshot is that only two of the 19 girls team that qualified from their league meets advanced to the Finals, along with one individual.

Bonita has been ranked in the top 10 of Div III all year, and they advanced as expected with a second place, 99:53 finish in the first heat.  There were led once again by 2009 State Finalist Marissa Scott, who finished 7th/19:22 and was joined in first 10 by frosh Mikayla Flores (9th/19:24).  The Bearcats time ranked them 13th among the qualifiers, so they will need to take a strong step to finish top 7 to advance as a team, while Marrisa can advance as an individual with a strong effort.

This was the Claremont girls first strong season in several years, and their young team struggled, with a top runner’s DNF and another performing below par.  But they were just fast enough and in just the right heat to advance to the Div. II finals, finishing 4th in 100:02.  They were led by frosh Merin Arft in a nice 19:17, equaling her effort from the Mt.SAC Invite under less ideal conditions.  Div. II is about as strong as any division has ever been for CIF, with the top three teams nationally ranked and the State’s top 9 all from the Southern Section, so the Wolfpack will need a huge step to advance.

South Hills had been ranked #13 in Div III and so advanced as an at-large team despite finishing 4th in the tough Sierra League.  The Huskies had a bit of an off day and failed to advance, finishing 6th in the second heat in 102:56. In a division where the top 5 in each heat and the fastest sixth go forward, they missed that spot by 1:34.  Junior Alex Borunda (9th/19:24) led their effort and she missed advancing by just 3 places and 17 seconds.  Glendora also had a chance to advance but they were slightly off their best and were unlucky to land in the fastest heat.  They ran 99:49 – the fastest SGV team time on the day, fastest of the non-qualifying teams, and they would have advanced in heats 2 or 3.  This is becoming something of an unwelcome tradition for the Tartans, as their boys team were the fastest non-qualifiers in ’07 and ’08.  Tartan senior Lauren Justus – a State finalist in ’09 - fought through illness during the race to finish 6th in 18:39 – top SGV time of the day – to advance individually, and she has strong chance to advance again this year.

Complete Results (PDF’s) are here

SGV Top 14 Performers, Team Rankings Top Performers from each team after the jump

Continue reading CIF Prelims Girls: Bonita, Claremont, and Lauren Advance

The Sierra League is a strong XC league, with two CIF ranked teams among the guys and three in the girls, plus St. Lucy’s & South Hills guys, who were both CIF Finalists last year.  This meant that four of the teams were already assured of at-large CIF spots, but this did nothing to diminish the . . . → Read More: Sierra: Claremont Guys, Champs, Girls Second

Running in Tuesday’s brutal heat, Glendora had another program first (or at least the first in memory) – advancing both boys and girls and teams to CIF in the same year.

Mike Duke

Competing in the Baseline League for the first time, senior Lauren Justus led the Tartan girls to their first post-season spot since 2005 finishing . . . → Read More: Glendora – Both Teams Advance from Baseline

Whoosh!  That was the sound you heard as the boys of the SGV ran over the famous hills as Mt.SAC.  Last year in this meet, only two locals went sub 16:00.  This year, admittedly aided by better weather and the inclusion of Claremont, eleven guys dipped under that mark!  Last year’s #14 was at 16:52 – which would have ranked 46th this year!

The top performances came from senior Paul Ross (15:03) and the Claremont Wolfpack.  Paul’s time was the fastest by an ESGV athlete since West Covina’s Diego Mercado set the course record (14:24) in 2005.  Claremont had a strong finish in the Team Sweeps on what turned out to be the fastest day in Mt.SAC history.

Los Altos and Rowland also had excellent days, while South Hills (with a key injury) and Glendora (with bad performances) took a step back.

In a merge of all 28 boys Varsity teams at Mt.SAC, Claremont was the easy winner (31) over Glendora (98) with Rowland (105) third.

Local Top 14 Performers and the Top Ten from the merge after the jump

Continue reading Mt.SAC Wrapup – Boys