Once again, a local coach has stepped up and offered to help give insight to what's going on in cross country. This comes from Glendora assistant coach Bob Ramsey

Cross Country season reached full force this week as Tribune area teams began league competitions and about half the teams competed in Saturday's invitational meets. The San Antonio, Montview and Del Rey Leagues kicked off the league action this week with their first Cluster Meets. A cluster meet involves all of a league's teams competing against each other in one meet, rather having an individual or dual meet with each opponent. All of the SGV leagues except for the Mission Valley use this format.

South Hills runner Amanda Camarillo.

San Antonio meet: The South Hills girls were the winners at Wednesday's San Antonio League meet, led by individual winner senior Amanda Camarillo's strong 19:14 on the hilly 3 mile Bonelli Park course. Among the boys, Rowland senior Jonathan Taylor led the way with a 16:40 while West Covina won the team competition. Bishop Amat competes in the Del Rey League, and their girls, led by soph Illiana Vasquesz' (19:53) second place won the meet on the flat 5k (3.1) course at Santa Fe Dam. The boys, led by senior Peter Carreaga (17:30) finished fourth. The Montview league has not published their results.

Stanford Invitational: On the weekend, the leading event was the huge Stanford Invitational, where St. Lucy's, Azusa, West Covina, and the Glendora girls took part. St. Lucy's ran well to place 13th in the prestigious Seeded Race, led once again on the gently rolling 5k course by frosh Katy Hebb (19:14 - 21st in the race and 47 overall) and soph Marissa Horton (19:26). Glendora soph Lauren Justus was 10th in the Div II race. Among the boys, the top performance was a 16:59 from Azusa junior Israel Orosco.

Sunny Hills Invite: At the Invitational in Fullerton, Arroyo, Baldwin Park, Charter Oak, Glendora (boys), Rowland and San Dimas competed in this 36 team meet held on a hilly 3 mile course. The Glendora boys took second overall, led by seniors Corey Bullock (15: 49) and Christopher Ramsey (16:20), and soph Anthony Castro (16:21), who were 6th, 17th and 18th overall and the top three from the SGV. Among the girls soph Vanessa Lopez (20:01 - Row), senior Joyce Chiao (20:11 - Wal) and frosh Carly Lake (20:13 -
CO) finished 15th, 17th and 18th overall, while Rowland's 9th place was the top Valley result.

Dan Hills Invite: Bonita and Diamond Bar competed in the Dana Hills Invite on a 3 mile slightly downhill course, with Bearcat runners taking the highest honors - senior Taylor Harrison (15:53) was 8th among D II seniors while Eric Espinosa (16:06) was 9th among juniors. Soph Heather Jackson (18:48) and frosh Shavonn Johnson (19:35) were both 4th in their races.

Bell-Jeff Invite: This Invite saw Bassett, Ganesha, Los Altos and Northview compete on the rolling 2.9 mile course in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. Los Altos senior Sergio Rodiriguez finished a strong fifth in the D I race with his 15:15, and was 11th overall. Ganesha's Elijah Durian (16:02) and LA's Joshua Sanchez were the other top SGV performers. Los Altos' Reina Sotelo (19:26) led area girls with her 4th place in Div I, followed by Araina Flores of Bassett (19:39 - 9th Div II) and teammate Kystal Martinez (20:13 - 10th Div I)

Up Next: Midweek, three more leagues hold cluster meets. Tuesday has the Valle Vista League and Wednesday the Miramonte League competing on the Bonelli Park 3 mile course. Thursday, the Sierra League will open competition on the 5k course at Bonelli. On Saturday, SAT testing will limit competition, but we'll see SGV teams at the Brea Invitational and the Yucaipa Invite.

SGV Trib Area Top Performers

Boys
Corey Bullock, senior, Glendora, 15:49, Sunny Hills, 3 miles hilly, hot
Sergio Rodriguez, senior, Los Altos, 15:15, Bell-Jeff, 2.9 miles rolling, hot
Christopher Ramsey, senior, Glendora, 16:20, Sunny Hills
Anthony Castro, sophomore, Glendora, 16:21, Sunny Hills
Taylor Harrison, senior, Bonita,15:53, Dana Hills, 3 miles net downhill, cool
Efren Alcala, junior, Arroyo, 16:26, Sunny Hills
Israel Orosco, junior, Azusa, 16:59, Stanford, 3.1 miles gently rolling, mild

Girls
Katy Hebb, freshman, St. Lucy's, 19:14, Stanford, 3.1 miles gently rolling, mild
Marissa Horton, sophomore, St. Lucy's, 19:26 Stanford
Amanda Camarillo, senior, South Hills, 19:14, SAL/Bonelli, 3 miles hilly, hot
Priscilla Llanos, sophomore, Rowland, 19:24, SAL/Bonelli
Lauren Justus, sophomore, Glendora, 19:58, Stanford
Liz Zuniga, senior, South Hills, 19:36, SAL/Bonelli
Heather Jackson, sophomore, Bonita, 18:48, Dana Hills, 3 miles net downhill, cool
Note: It is notoriously difficult to compare XC performances over different terrain, distances, surfaces and weather conditions. The rankings below reflect a rough attempt to rank performances accounting for those differences. Your mileage may vary.