By Bob Ramsey, on November 2nd, 2011  Arroyo - MVL Champs The Arroyo boys and Rosemead girls came into the season favored but had very different paths to today’s Mission Valley League Finals. The Panthers have competed well all year, building to a win at Santa Clarita and an excellent showing at the Mt.SAC Invite, resulting in a #10 spot in the latest SGV rankings. The Knights have fought injuries and inconsistency all year, and feel to third in the second dual meet.
 Diego Lopez - MVL Champ Today, both teams showed their quality on the 3-mile Invite course at Bonelli Park. Arroyo, led by a clear 1-2 finish from Diego Lopez (16:24) and Andres Aparicio (16:25) put four in the top ten and their fifth was twelfth to total just 27 points for the victory. Preseason team leader Sam Garcia, returning from injury, was 4th/16:44, and Connor Crowley was 9th/17:04 for the Knights. Rosemead, with 63 points, put two in the top ten, Freddy Cerezo 6th/16:56 and Abraham Esparza 8th/16:58 to finish a clear second.
The third CIF spot was a bit of a surprise as El Monte, 4th and 5th in the cluster meets, ran very well to finish third with 67, just four points adrift of second. The Lions strength was up front, putting three in the top ten. There was the expected strong performance from Bryan Telles 6th/16:47, but key were the big step ups from Julian Sandoval 7th/16:58 and Jose Lopez 10th/17:06. South El Monte and Gabrielino both came to the meet with expectations of contending for the third spot or maybe even second, but both had rough days to finish fourth and fifth, respectively. SEM’s Jaime Perez 3rd/16:38, will have the consolation of advancing to CIF individually. Pedro Lopez 14th/17:32 was best for Gabrielino. Tony Munoz 23rd/18:30 was best for Mountain View.
 Rosemead - MVL Champs The Rosemead girls were not quite as dominant as earlier in the year, but just by little. Putting all five scorers in the top ten, they were clear winners with only 22 points. Senior Kelly Luc is the league champion at 20:17, just ahead of teammate Cindy Phung (20:20). Stephanie Castillo 7th/21:15 and Samantha Perez 10th/21:32 led a solid performance by second place South El Monte. Arroyo was third, their best was Cindy Ngo 3rd/20:41. Sharon Khoo (Gabrielino) had a an excellent day to finish 5th/20:58, advancing as an individual, and their next four were tightly grouped, but just a little too far back and they missed the final CIF spot by 12 points
 Kelly Luc - MVL Champ Fifth placed El Monte had an excellent lead performance from Karolina Flores 8th/21:29. Mountain View didn’t score, finishing only three runners, Joselen Enriquez 19th/23:44 was the best of the trio.
Complete Results are here (Excel files): XC MVL Finals 2011 Varsity Results-Revised
Photos courtesy of Tom Crowley
By Bob Ramsey, on November 2nd, 2011  Flintridge Sacred Heart was already assured of an At-Large spot through their season-long ranking in Div. IV, but every race is a chance to get better at racing. They took that chance at today’s Mission League Finals on the hilly 3 mile course at Crescenta Valley Park, finishing a solid third, with three in the top ten. Stephanie Vargas was 4th in 19:47, followed by Riley Gilmartin 5th/20:07 and Maddie Peterson 7th/20:24. But the Tologs are still short handed, and their 4-7 runners will have to step forward if they’re finish well at CIF.
St. Francis turned in their best team performance of the year, finishing an agonizing 2 points out of the fourth and final CIF spot. Just as disappointing was the the 8th place/16:18 finish of senior Colin Peterson, just two places and five seconds away from advancing as an individual.
Dyestat Coverage and partial results are here.
By Bob Ramsey, on November 2nd, 2011 …will be here when we get them.
Today’s Cross Country League Finals:
- Horizon League – Eaton Canyon/Pasadena (Hilly, 3 miles)
- Olympic League – Woodley Park/Van Nuys (Flat, 3 miles)
As always, parents and coaches, help us cover your meets by sending photos and race notes to info@sgvtrackandfield.net
By Bob Ramsey, on November 2nd, 2011  In Wednesday’s League Championship Finals, two ranked teams will go to the line – Flintridge Sacred Heart (Div. IV #10) in the tough Mission League, the Rosemead (SGV #10) girls, who will look to close out the Mission Valley League. Today also features competition in the dynamic Montview League and the finals for two small girls schools on the rise, Alverno in the Horizon League and Pomona Catholic in the Arrowhead League.
Mission League – Crescenta Valley Park Flintridge Sacred Heart has earned an at-large berth to the Div. IV prelims, but they’ll have to compete well to move up from their previous third place in this tough league. Led by Stephanie Vargas, they’ll need Paulina Antaplyan to return to her early season performances to contend.  St. Francis is unlikely to move up to a CIF spot, but senior Colin Peterson could advance individually.
Olympic League – Woodley Park/Van Nuys Maranatha will battle Whittier Christian for the boys team title, with the Minutemen’s Kyle Bueckert the slight individual favorite, but he’ll be challenged by WC’s Chris Bates. The Maranatha girls will try to unseat Valley Christian (Cerritos) at the top of the league and are very likely to advance. Whittier Christian’s Kelli Hunt is the overwhelming individual favorite.
Horizon League – Eaton Canyon Alverno has already clinched the league title and a CIF spot with victories in the first three cluster meets. Juniors Eryn Blakely and Katherine Haysbert, both possible individual CIF finalists, are the team and league leaders.
Mission Valley League at Bonelli Park Rosemead has been the class of the league on the girls side, and they beat a short-handed Arroyo boys team in the second cluster meet. The Panthers are a near lock to win the girls race while the boys should go to the Knights if they’re at full strength. South El Monte is likely to take the third girls CIF spot, while Gabrielino should earn the other boys spot.
The boys individual title will be a battle between South El Monte’s Josue Linarte and Jaime Perez, Arroyo’s Diego Lopez and Andrew Aparicio, and Rosemead’s Freddy Cerezo. On the girls side, Kelly Luc (Rosemead) is the favorite, but Cindy Ngo (Arroyo) could challenge.
Montivew League at Schabarum Park The Azusa girls, spurred by the midseason debut of frosh Roxanne Valle, are on top after three cluster meets, pushing aside defending champs Sierra Vista, who stand second. Ganesha, winners of the first meet are the likely third and Bassett is the pick for the fourth CIF spot. Valle and teammate Shaina Pardo are the individual favorites, along with Jessica Lopez (Sierra Vista).
Ganesha and Sierra Vista will contend for the boys title, with the edge to the Giants. Azusa and Bassett are likely for the other two spots, with the Aztecs Ernie Castro the clear individual favorite.
Arrowhead League at La Sierra Academy  Pomona Catholic should clinch the league title in the program’s second year. The Pacer’s excellent Mt.SAC performance earned them a CIF Div. V ranking, with senior Shanon Markle leading the way.
By Bob Ramsey, on November 1st, 2011  Merin Arft (L) and Megan Renken - Sierra League Champs The Sierra League has long been one of the strongest cross country leagues in the area, and this year was no exception. Three teams came into the meet having achieved at-large CIF qualification based on their CIF rankings, and the two best girls teams – Claremont and Ayala would be ranked in any year but this one. The races Tuesday at Mt.SAC proved worthy of the buildup, as 7 boys went under 16:00 and 9 girls were sub-19:30 on this classic SoCal XC course.
The girls race was a battle between Claremont‘s front running strength and Ayala‘s solid 1-7 lineup. The Wolfpack certainly brought the quality up front, with sophs Megan Renkin and Merin Arft finishing a dominant 1-2, both timed in 18:23. They were just off the lead at the Crossover and then pulled away in the last half of the course, running side by side to win by 27 seconds. CHS received big contributions from their next three, most notably junior Bailey Sanin, returning from illness to finish 9th/19:24. But it just wasn’t enough as Ayala put all five scorers in the first ten to edge Claremont 32-40, with Claremont’s team time of 95:58 actually superior to Ayala’s.
South Hills already had an at-large bid to CIF, but they didn’t need it, finishing third on 77 points behind a strong 5-6 finish from frosh Danielle Murrietta (19:14) and senior Alex Borunda (19:17). Fifth placed St. Lucy’s was paced by a nice 12th/19:50 performance from frosh Katelyn Breitschwerdt, and Julia Galvez 25th/21:07 was best for Charter Oak.
  Tom Ebiner - Sierra League Champion The boys race was a show down between Div. III #7 Damien and Div. II #7 Ayala. The Spartans won the first cluster, Ayala the second, and DHS had the better day at the Mt.SAC Invite. And if cross country were scored on the first three runners, Damien had the best day today. Their lead trio of Tom Ebiner (15:28), Douglas Negrete (15:31) and Connor Brandt (15:48) went 1-2-4. But we count to five, and Ayala put 4 in the top 10, and six below the Spartans #4, who finished 17th and their #5 was 23rd, giving Ayala a 36-47 win.
In ’10, Claremont overcame illness from the previous year to podium at CIF and State, but they couldn’t overcome graduation. Their young team, with only one senior and two frosh in the first five, fell just short of 3rd place Chino Hills. Junior Jimmy Baeskins was one spot from advancing individually with a 7th/16:00 finish. South Hills had been third in both cluster meets but had a rough day here and fell to fifth. Jason Diaz – 18th/16:30 – was best for the Huskies.
Full results are here. Dyestat coverage is here.
Video coverage from Tom Kiss of the SGVTrib group
By Bob Ramsey, on November 1st, 2011 The Valle Vista season culminated at Bonelli Park on Tuesday, on the flatter, 3-mile Lake Course. Absent Full Results, here is an admittedly Covina-centric report from Covina Coach Erik Starkey
 Anna Barcelo - Valle Vista Champ The girls race was a nail-biter with 4 points separating the top 3 schools. Northview pulled out the victory to go undefeated this season. They had 55 points. Baldwin Park (led by Susie Garcia‘s 2nd place finish) stepped up in a major way to finish second with 58, and we were third with 59. Anna Barcelo of Nogales won it and was League MVP. I don’t have anyone’s times except ours. Northview finished 7-9-10-11, and 18. BP was 2-12-13-14-17. And we (Covina) were 5-6-8-19 and 21. San Dimas was 4th in the race and they had Alyssa Martinez and Emily Smith finish 3rd and 4th. Alondra Elizalde and Ashli Baddorf of Covina were 5th and 6th (19:28 and 19:51).
On the boys side, Covina won easily, putting all five scorers in the first nine to score 29 points. Baldwin Park was second with 65 and Nogales had 69. Northview was 4th with 113 points.
Jorge Hernandez of Nogales was the easy overall winner in 15:57, and was joined up front by teammate Anand Panchal 7th/16:35. Second was Kevin Mejia (Covina) in 16:13. He was named League MVP. Paul Gonzalez (Covina), who hadn’t run in more than a month, was 4th in 16:22. Pomona’s Abraham Albaraca was 3rd/16:14, while his team was sixth. Oscar Vargas 5th/16:25 was best for the young BP team. Frosh Roman Esparza was 11th/16:46 to lead Northview to the final CIF spot. A. Chavez 17th/17:14 was best for fifth placed Wilson, while San Dimas was led by J. Jones 26th/17:46.
We’ll post full results if we get them. Coaches, help us fill in the blanks here!
And here are some results! (Excel files) 11_VVL_Girls_Finals 11_VVL_Boys_Finals
By Bob Ramsey, on November 1st, 2011  Emily Hoey - Baseline Champ The young Glendora girls team (six sophs and a frosh) came into the Baseline Finals favored, having won the first two cluster meets. But Div. I ranked Rancho Cucamonga had turned in a very strong performance at the Mt.SAC Invite, setting up a big showdown at the Finals at Mt.SAC.
It didn’t stay that way for long. There was a large pack at the one mile mark, but by the time the girls reached the Crossover, the Glendora girls had surged forward, and stayed there to the end, finishing 1-2-3-5-9 for a 20 point, 97:12 win. Leading the charge were Emily Hoey (19:07), Tori Whitworth (19:13) and frosh Micaela Lamb (19:21).
The Glendora boys were second again to State #1 Rancho, but improved their performance from the cluster meets and the Mt.SAC Invite with an 80:51 team time. Junior Ryan Sanchez – 8th/15:57 was best for the Tartans.
Full Results and Dyestat Coverage are here
By Bob Ramsey, on October 31st, 2011  Here we go. As you can see from the coverage below, eight SGV teams and one individual have already advanced to the November 11 CIF Prelims at Mt.SAC and the rest get going on Tuesday with two on the Mt.SAC course itself. The Glendora girls will be looking to win their first league title ever at the Baseline Finals at Mt.SAC, which will share the course with the tough Sierra League. The Damien boys are hoping to continue their climb to the top with a league title and the Claremont girls will try to unseat Ayala from the top spot.
The Covina boys and Northview girls will look to confirm their leads in the Valle Vista Finals, held on the flatter Lake course at Bonelli Park. Flintridge Sacred Heart will look to move up to the top in the tough Mission League at the hilly Crescenta Valley Park.
Previews of Each of the Meets After the Jump
Continue reading Preview: Tuesday’s League Finals
By Bob Ramsey, on October 31st, 2011  Daniel De La Torre La Salle’s Daniel De La Torre and Bishop Amat’s Emily Hubert came into the season with very different expectations. Daniel had a great sophomore XC season in ’10, medaling at CIF finals and advancing to the State meet. An injury robbed him of his soph track season (read about it here) and so he came into this year hungry. Emily, an all sport athlete in middle school, had never run before coming out for Amat’s team this summer, so she entered her first high school meet not knowing what to expect. Both have had strong ’11 seasons, and went to the line at Saturday’s Del Rey Finals at Santa Fe Dam with high expectations. And those expectations were met, with both scoring big and very fast wins.
De La Torre was a 14:54 winner on the flat 3-mile course over a very strong field that featured Div. III #2 Cathedral and Div. IV #1 Bosco Tech, besting CHS’ Adam Avila by a comfortable 8 seconds. Don Bosco had split the cluster meets with the L.A. school, but came up short to an Cathedral that put five in the first seven and five below Tech’s #2 for a 22-48 margin. Bosco was led by senior J.J. Dominguez 5th/15:37 and soph Ruben Dominguez 8th/15:45. Bishop Amat, featuring a big come through performance from frosh Christian Hernandez 9th/15:46, was third to take the final CIF spot. De La Torre’s La Salle team was 4th, but he’ll advance as an individual.
Hubert’s winning time of 17:39 was an improvement of almost a minute from her XC debut on the same course at the Bosco Tech meet in September. She was an easy winner by 22 seconds, and helped Bishop Amat to a very nice second place finish to Bishop Montgomery. Senior Elizabeth Navarrete 6th/19:29 was the other key contributer for Amat in this closely matches league. La Salle was 4th, led by senior Mariana Henry 11th/19:53.
Full Results are here.
By Bob Ramsey, on October 30th, 2011  St. Paul - Girls Champs At the two Camino Real League cluster meets, the Cantwell boys and St. Paul girls had come out on top, with the other school coming second each time. At Saturday’s 2011 Championship Finals, held on the flat, 3-mile course at Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale, they held form and took their respective championships.
St. Paul‘s girls had been close winners the cluster meets but made the gap a little bigger over second placed Cantwell-SHM 24-40, while putting six runners in the top 10. They were led by individual champ Ariel Melendrez, an easy winner in 19:19, and Jasmine Barone 3rd/20:35. Best for CSHM was Lauren Puebla 2nd/19:49. As with the boys, both teams will advance to CIF.
 On the boys side, Cantwell had won the second meet by a bigger margin than the first, and they increased their gap at the finals, putting five in the first six to score just 18 points with a 84:08 team time, outrunning second place St. Paul by over five minutes! The Cardinals were led by individual champ Jesse Bonilla in 16:21, along with runner up Art Hernandez in 16:28. St. Paul’s Kyle Fetter was 3rd/16:47. Both teams will advance to CIF in Div. IV.
Full results are here
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SGV Track & XC This site is maintained by Bob Ramsey – a SGV T&F athlete (Arroyo ’80), and former coach at Glendora HS and Meet Director of the SGV Champs. Bob is currently Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Whittier College
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