State Finals: Glendora Second, Brittnie Top Girl

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.

Boys

Podium (Top Three) Teams

• 1987 – Arroyo (1st – Div. I);  Walnut (1st – Div. II)
• 1988 – Walnut (1st – Div. II);  Rowland (2nd – Div I)
• 1997 – South Hills (2nd – Div. III)
• 1999 – South Hills (3rd – Div. III)
• 2009 – Glendora (2nd – Div. II)

Best Performers

1. 15:13   Mohammed Trafeh – Duarte, 2002
2. 15:15   Scott Hempell – Walnut, 1988
3. 15:20  Diego Mercado – West Covina, 2004
4. 15:23  Jaime Ortega – Arroyo, 1987
5. 15:24  Luis Medina – Arroyo, 2003
6. 15:29  Jeff Gilkey – Arroyo, 1987
7. 15:30  Danny Mercado – West Covina, 2005
8. 15:31   Derrick Powers – Arroyo, 1987
9. 15:32   Matt Hempell – Walnut, 1988
10. 15:32   Anthony Castro – Glendora, 2009

Girls

Podium (Top Three) Teams

• 1997 – South Hills (2nd – Div. III);  St. Lucy’s (3rd – Div. II)
• 1999 – South Hills (3rd – Div. III)

Top Performers

1. 17:48   Karen Hecox – South Hills, 1987
2. 17:51    Annie Ebiner – St. Lucy’s, 1995
3. 17:58   Christy Adamyk – Glendora, 2005
4. 18:14   Sandra Acosta – Walnut, 1987
5. 18:25   Kristina Wilson – South Hills, 2004
6. 18:26   Jessica Nunez – South Hills, 2007
7. 18:30   Samantha Rodriguez – South El Monte, 2003
8. 18:44   Monique Smith – Diamond Bar, 1990
9. 18:44   Brittnie Munoz – Rosemead, 2009
10. 18:49   Laura Heuring – Bonita, 2005

Note:  These lists were compiled from the lists of top ten finishers in the State meet.  Please forward any other performers or performances that would make the list via the comments to this post.