By Bob Ramsey, on October 12th, 2011 These two linked leagues raced over the hilly 2.8 mile course at L.A.’s Griffith Park
Camino Real
Ariel Melendrez (Jr, St. Paul) wins by a full minute and leaders her teammates to a 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 finish and a 4-0 record in the multi-dual format. Art Hernandez (Sr, Cantewell-SHM) outpaces Kyle Fetter (Jr, St. Paul) 15:55 to 16:01 and leads the Cardinals to a 5-0 record, with the Swordsmen second at 4-1.
Del Rey
Frosh Emily Hubert was 4th/18:40 to lead Bishop Amat to a 2-2 (3rd place) results. La Salle was 0-4. J.J. Dominguez was 2nd/14:40 for Div. IV #1 Don Bosco and the Tigers were 4-0, beating Div. III #3 Cathedral. Bishop Amat was 2-2 and La Salle 0-4.
Full Results are at the League Website from Ryan Lim here
More to follow
By Bob Ramsey, on October 11th, 2011 Maybe being rested isn’t worth all that much. Damien, winners of the first Sierra League Meet, had not raced since, and South Hills had been off for eleven days. On the other hand, Claremont raced Saturday at the Clovis invite, as had Sierra power Ayala. Curiously, it was Ayala and the Wolfpack that stepped forward today at Bonelli, while the Spartans and Huskies slipped up a bit.
As in the first meet, Ayala were clear winners of the girls race, improving their team time by 44 seconds. But this week on the 3-mile Invite course at Bonelli Park, the young Claremont girls (60 pts) pushed past South Hills (61 pts) to take the second spot by just one point, with the Wolfpack improving by 77 seconds. CHS was led by a 6, 7 finish from sophs Megan Renken (19:47) and Merin Arft (19:48) and a nice step up by junior Allison Spivack 10th/19:59 – 68 seconds faster than the first meet. But the real difference was South Hills slipping up. The Huskies were strong up front, with senior Alex Borunda 2nd/19:30, frosh Danielle Murrietta 3rd/19:31 and junior Carly Sargent 5th/19:43, but their usual #3 runner, 7th in the first meet, had a rough day and finished 24th, and their #5 DNF’d. Claremont put six below South Hills’ #4 for the decisive margin.
St. Lucy’s slipped a spot, finishing 5th despite improving by 2:31. Frosh Katelyn Breitschwerdt 12th/20:20 was again best for the Regents. Charter Oak was sixth, led by senior Julia Galvez 21st/21:07.
CIF-SS Div. III #4 Damien has to be disappointed with today’s result, but they did improve by 35 seconds from Meet #1. The real difference was Div. II #8 Ayala’s 81:18 effort – a 2:00 improvement. Senior Tom Ebiner led the Spartans again, with another solid win in 15:52. In meet #1, the Spartans followed with a 2, 5 placing, but this time the next two slipped a bit with Doug Negrete 3rd/16:10 and Conor Brandt 8th/16:19, but again, the difference was Ayala, who put four in the top six today as opposed to only two in the first ten last time.
South Hills was third again, with more points but a clear gap to fourth placed Chino Hills, whom they beat on the better sixth man the first time. The Huskies improved by 40 seconds and were led by junior Jason Diaz 9th/16:19, a nice step up from Meet #1. Junior Jimmy Basekins 8th/16:17 in this tightly bunched race was again the leader for fifth placed Claremont. Charter Oak were again sixth in this tough league.
Full Results from Finished Results are here.
And once again, here’s video coverage from Tom Kiss of the SGV Trib Group
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2011  Del Rio Boys A very big, very busy week is ahead as almost every team in the SGV will have its second cluster meet.
The second meet is often the most fun, and the most competitive, with teams looking to extend their dominance or to avenge an earlier loss. The athletes are several more weeks fit, so the performances are almost always better. And with the San Gabriel Valley 1 on 1 Challenge postponed until next Saturday, many of these teams will be very well rested!
On Tuesday, 10/11 the Camino del Rey Association will meet at Griffith Park in Los Angles, while the Sierra League will run at Bonelli Park in San Dimas, this time on the 3-mile Invite Course.
Wednesday, 10/12 has four SGV leagues in action: the Baseline at Red Hill Park in Alta Loma, the Hacienda at Bonelli on the Lake Course, the Mission Valley at Legg Lake in South El Monte, and the Valle Vista at Schabarum Park in Rowland Heights.
On Thursday the 13th, the Montview (as always) will be at Schbarum, while the Pacific and Rio Hondo will both be at the hilly Crescenta Valley Park.
The highly competitive Del Rio League will face off on Friday, 10/14 at La Mirada Regional Park.
Previews for Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s Meets after the jump
Continue reading Preview: Second Round of Cluster Meets for All!
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2011  The big news is that for the first time in over a year, the Arcadia boys are no longer ranked #1. There is really nothing that they did to lose their place, turning in an easy win and team CR at the Central Park Invite. It’s just that Div. I rival Rancho Cucamonga finally put it all together at the Inland Empire Championships to take the top spot.
The rest of changes in the rankings came from teams who ran at the Clovis Invitational. The Glendora boys, despite being a bit off, won the Large Schools race, but followed their pattern of moving down in the rankings on the weeks that they run and win and moving up on the weeks that they’re off. The South Pasadena boys had a bit of an off day in Fresno and fell out the rankings, but the Tiger girls ran well and re-entered the Div. III poll at #10. A win the the Small Schools race at Clovis moved Mayfield to #3 in Div. IV, and a strong finish in the boys race moved Flintridge Prep up to #3 in Div. V.
Full rankings are here
SGV in the CIF Rankings
- Div. I – Arcadia Boys – #2 this week, (1 last week); Girls – #5 (5)
- Div. II – Glendora Boys – #7 (5)
- Div. III РBonita Girls Р#3 (3), Damien Boys- #4 (3), La Ca̱ada Girls #7 (7) South Hills Girls #8 (8), South Pasadena Girls #10 (NR)
- Div. IV – Don Bosco Boys – #1 (1), Mayfield Girls- #3 (4), Flintridge Sacred Heart Girls- #5 (5),
- Div. V – Flintridge Prep Boys – #3 (4), Girls – #6 (6), Pasadena Poly – Boys #8 (8), Girls #5 (5), Webb – boys #10 (10)
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2011 Teams travel from all over California, including 13 schools from the SGV, to the Clovis Invitational to test themselves on this challenging 5000 meter layout. This meet provides top competition and a chance to run on the same rolling course used for the California State Championships in November.
 Megan Renken The best SGV performance came from Mayfield. The Cubs, ranked 4th in the CIF-SS Div. IV, and 5th in Calfornia, were clear winners in the opening Small Schools division at 98:59. They were led by junior Christiana Cordono 9th/19:26, and showed an impressive 20 second gap 1-4 while missing their usual #5 runner. Mayfield soundly defeated Div. IV #4 La Reina, and its team time just trailed the SGV’s best on the day, Glendora (98:54). The Tartans were second in the Large Schools division, led by soph Emily Hoey 11th/19:31, while missing their usual #3 runner.
The best SGV girls on the day were Megan Renken (So – Claremont) who was 24th/18:53 in the tough Championship race, just edging out Bailee Henry (Jr – El Rancho), 7th/18:54 in the Extra Large Division.
 Daniel DLT The best boys performance came from California in the Championship race. The Condors finished 13th/82:32, and 14th overall on the day. Their best was junior Sam Bautista at 45th/16:14, and they featured a mere 35 second gap 1-5. The top team finish came from CIF-SS Div. II #5 Glendora, which elected to run in the divisional race. The Tartans, led by junior Ryan Sanchez 7th/16:14, won the race in 83:39, despite Sanchez recovering from illness and another illness and injury in their top 5. SS Div. V #4 and State #5 Flintridge Prep boys were 6th/84:25 in the Small Schools race, behind only other State ranked teams, while defeating several ranked teams. Senior Casey Thompson 14th/16:21 was best for the Rebels.
The SGV’s best individual performance came from La Salle Junior Daniel De La Torre, who ran in the lead pack throughout the Championship race to finish 10th/15:37 and 12th overall! Kyle Bueckert (Jr, Maranatha) was 10th/16:09 in the Small School race.
Arroyo, Cantwell-SHM, La Serna, Rosemead, and South Pasadena also took part in the meet.
Full Results and Dyestat coverage is here. Race videos are here (Facebook Page)
SGV’s Top 10 and Team Leaders after the jump.
Continue reading Clovis: Mayfield, CalHi, & Glendora Make Their Cases
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2011  Mitchell Pratt in '10 Trading their usual trips to Stanford and Clovis for a win in Idaho two weeks ago, the Arcadia boys stayed closer to home but right on track win a dominating win at the Central Park Invite. This meet at Huntington Beach’s Park is run over a somewhat hilly, 3-mile course where the times track pretty closely with Mt.SAC. As they often do, the Apaches put four in the top 10 and their time of 77:20 broke the team record by more than two minutes.
Up front as usual were seniors Sergio Gonzalez 2nd/15:02 and Ryan Vargas 3rd/15:11, but the real news was the development of junior Mitchell Pratt 7th/15:38 and soph Estevan De La Torre 10th/15:44. Pratt opened with a nothing-to-sneeze at 15:15 at Woodbridge at Arcadia’s #7, but has run a series of strong races to be their #3.
On the girls side, the top performance came from La Mirada junior Taylor Jones. She was 8th/19:13 in the Div. II girls race, 27th overall. Her team was also 8th, in 1:45:27.
Others from the SGV: Div. II: La Mirada Boys – 12th/91:44, best was Charles Caley (Jr) 44th/17:21. Gabrielino Boys – 13th/92:45, best Hayden Sawkins 42nd/17:17, Girls – 19th/1:59:48, best Sharon Khoo (Fr) 54th/21:19. Wilson Girls – No team results, best Nicole Olivas (Sr) 87th/22:43.
Full Results and Dyestat coverage is here
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2011  Boys Varsity Start Also getting caught up, last week we received the results for first Almont League cluster meet, a flat, 3-miler run at Legg Lake on Wednesday, Sept. 28.
Cross-town rivals Schurr and Montebello shared the team honors, with the Spartans taking the boys race over the Oilers and the girls reversing the finishing order. Alhambra was third among the boys and Keppel took that spot in the girls race.
The boys race featured a strong effort by Montebello senior Justin Raya. He ran an untroubled 16:16 to win by nearly 40 seconds. The girls race was a bit of a battle, with Oiler junior Elizabeth Castillo (19:33) outpacing Keppel senior Patsy Hurley (19:44).
Partial Results (Team Scores and Top 5’s) from San Gabriel Coach Ted Brock after the jump.
Continue reading Almont #1: Schurr & Montebello Trade Off
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2011 Getting caught up, FSHA maintained their spot as Div. IV contenders with a third place finish in the second Mission League Cluster meet, run Thursday, Oct. 6 on a flat 5000 meter course at Woodley Park in Lake Balboa. The Tologs were led by senior by a 2nd place, 18:33 finish by senior Stephanie Vargas, and would have challenged for the win had team co-leader Paulina Antaplyan competed and run to her usual level.
On the boys side, brother school St. Francis was sixth in this tough league. Senior Colin Peterson was best for the Knights at 10th/15:53.
Full results are here
By Bob Ramsey, on October 7th, 2011  Every ambitious XC team has plans to travel to Fresno on Thanksgiving weekend for the California State Meet. Many of those teams like to get in a practice race on the same course by running in this weekend’s Clovis Invitational, run over the same rolling, 5000 meter course at Woodward Park.
Only three four of the SGV’s ranked teams will be competing – South Pasadena will be in the boys Championship race, the girls in the Medium Divisional race. Flintridge Prep boys and (update) Mayfield will be in the Small schools race. Glendora chose to enter the divisional races, where they’re slotted with the Large schools.
On the boys side, La Salle’s Daniel De La Torre will look to contend in the Championship race, along with California, which has been led by a rotating cast of runners this year. South Pasadena will be running their second “big” race of the year after an excellent start at Woodbridge. 2010 State and CIF podium team Claremont is also entered in the big race.
On the girls side, Claremont hopes to follow their strong effort in the Sierra League last week with a good finish in the Champs race where they’re joined by the quickly improving California team.
Here’s the complete lineup:
- Small – Flintridge Prep (b), La Salle (g), Maranatha, Mayfield (g).
- Medium – South Pasadena (g)
- Championship: California, Claremont, La Salle (b), South Pasadena (b)
- Large – Arroyo, Glendora, Rosemead
- XL – El Rancho, La Serna
Elsewhere, the SGV One on One Challenge, which always has heavy participation from the SGV, was postponed to next week due to adverse conditions on the Mt.SAC course. Meanwhile Gabrielino, La Mirada, and Wilson will compete in the Central Park Invitational in Huntington Beach, run on a hilly 3 mile course that correlates pretty well to Mt.SAC.
By Bob Ramsey, on October 5th, 2011 With four weeks down in the 2011 San Gabriel Valley Cross Country Season, everyone has raced, and everyone has raced hard, so we can begin to get a sense of how the runners rank. However, the races have been over super-fast courses in cool evening weather (Woodbridge and Rosemead) and over slow courses in hot weather, requiring some very inexact conversions to try to compare performances.
 Sergio & Ryan at Bob Firman This coming weekend, many of the athletes will race on the two benchmark course’s for SGV XC – Woodward Park in Fresno, home of the California State Meet, and Mt.SAC, site of the Invite, several league meets, and the Southern Section Prelims and Finals. It will be the athletes’ performances on these courses in the coming weeks that will really prove their worth.
With that throat clearing out of the way, the top boys performances of this season have come from a pair of Arcadia runners, and none of the top performers are really a surprise. The senior due of Sergio Gonzalez and Ryan Vargas have been the class of the SGV, leading their team to a meet record win at Woodbridge, and running really strong races to pace another team win at the national Bob Firman Invite in Idaho. Daniel De La Torre (Jr, La Salle) returned from an injury marred ’10 track season with strong performances at the Fastback Shootout and the Mt. Carmel meet in San Diego. Whittier senior Aaron Mora has made a nice progression following two strong 2nd place finishes in San Diego and at Rosemead with a big win in the suddenly tough Del Rio League cluster meet.
The top two girls performances came at Woodbridge from Arcadia’s Veronica Yamane (So) and Alejandra Quintero (Sr), but their later performances have been up and down. Yamane followed up with a win at the Pacific League Cluster and a bit of an off day at Staub/Barnes, while Quintero was further back in the league meet and did not race last weekend. The next two on the list have a series of solid races. Bonita junior Marissa Scott opened with a solo wins in the divisional races at Woodbridge and Dana Hills. Kellian Hunt (Sr, Whittier Christian) followed an excellent opener in the Woodbridge sweeps race with a Divisional Meet Record at Dana Hills.
The new season has also brought a strong group of newcomers the XC scene, especially among the girls, where five of the top 22 are frosh, led by Arcadia’s Laura Guidolin.
Top 14 Boys and Girls and Top 5 Boys Frosh/Soph.
Continue reading 2011 Individual Rankings (So Far)
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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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