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

Ramsey: The season’s second week saw most area teams take part in the gigantic Woodbridge Invite in Irvine or what we could call the local version of that meet – the Rosemead Invitational. Both meets are run at the high school and surrounding park, both are flat, and both run under the lights, which leads to fast times.

Trib Area Top Performers – Week 2
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 while trying to account those differences. Your mileage may vary.

Boys
14:10 Jayson Perez, SR-South El Monte – Rosemead 2.9ish flat
16:07 Anthony Castro, JR-Glendora – Mt. Carmel, 2.95 miles rolling
16:14 Austin Goodheart, SR-Glendora – Mt. Carmel
16:36 Austin Mendoza, SO-Glendora – Mt. Carmel
15:03 Avedis Gertmenian, SR-Duarte – Rosemead
15:53 James McCreary, SO-Diamond Bar – Woodbridge 3 miles flat
15:09 Efren Alcala, SR-Arroyo – Rosemead
16:51 Kelly Hernandez, JR-Glendora – Mt. Carmel
15:10 Raul Quintero, SR-Duarte – Rosemead
15:10 Isaias Hinojosa, SR-South El Monte – Rosemead

Girls
16:24 Lauren Justus, JR-Glendora – Mt. Carmel 2.75 miles rolling
18:10 Marissa Horton, JR-St. Lucy’s – Woodbridge 3 miles flat
18:14 Taylor Hebb, JR-St. Lucy’s – Woodbridge
17:28 Brittnie Munoz, SR-Rosemead – Rosemead 2.9ish flat
18:23 Katy Hebb, SO-St. Lucy’s – Woodbridge
18:26 Kristyn Hebb, JR-St. Lucy’s – Woodbridge
17:44 Jessica Mendez, SR-West Covina – Rosemead
18:50 Lexie Jackson, FR-Bonita – Woodbridge
17:35 Vianca Holguin, JR-South Hills – Mt. Carmel
19:14 Emily Bruce, JR-St. Lucy’s – Woodbridge

Rosemead: Ten area schools took part in this 34 team meet, run over a flat 2.9-ish course in the late afternoon and evening. The top team performances came on the girls side, with West Covina, Rosemead and Arroyo taking the top three spots.

Individually, South El Monte senior Jayson Perez continues to own this meet, posting the fastest performance for the second year in a row with his blazing and dominant 14:10. He was joined in the overall top ten by fellow seniors Avedis Gertmenian (Duarte – 15:03) and Efren Alcala (Arroyo – 15:09). We should also note the performance by Efren’s freshmen teammates – Arroyo placed five runners in the top ten of that division, making them a team to watch. Among the girls, Rosemead senior Brittnie Munoz ran a strong 17:28 to finish second overall. She was joined in the top ten by West Covina senior Jessica Mendez (3rd – 17:44) and senior teammate Elizabeth Lyons (10th – 18:43)

Woodbridge: Nine local schools were among the 180 teams that ran is this huge, high quality meet, which attracts teams from all of California and several other states. The top team performance came from CIF-SS Div III 5th-ranked St. Lucy’s, who ran in the prestigious Sweepstakes race in the evening. While they only finished 15th, they outperformed all but one Div III school. Junior Marissa Horton led the Regents with a strong 18:10, and she was closely followed by the three Hebb sisters. The other area participants ran in the morning races, where the top performers were Diamond Bar soph James McCreary (15:53) and Bonita frosh Lexie Jackson (18:50), whose Div. III 6th-ranked teammates had a rough day.

Mt. Carmel: the Glendora boys (and one girl), South Hills, and Bishop Amat traveled to San Diego’s to race on the national championship course at Morley Field. This meet had San Diego’s top teams, plus several strong teams from the Southern Section and Arizona. The Glendora boys placed 5th in the team competition, led by junior Anthony Castro, who was 16th overall on this rolling 2.95 mile course, and senior Austin Goodheart, 22nd overall. South Hills featured a strong performance by Johnny Flores, whose 16:29 placed him 37th overall. The girls featured strong individual performances from Glendora junior Lauren Justus, who ran 16:24 for 2.75 rolling miles and was 18th overall, and Vianca Holguin (JR- South Hills) who ran 17:35.

Rosemead: Top Local Performers
Flat, reported at 2.9 miles, might be a bit shorter. Comfortable late afternoon/evening weather)

Girls
17:28 Brittnie Munoz, SR-Rosemead
17:44 Jessica Mendez, SR-West Covina
18:43 Elizabeth Lyons, SR-Rosemead
18:49 Lovella Perea, JR-West Covina
18:54 Allison Mayo, JR-Glendora
18:51 Karissa Austin, So-West Covina
18:56 Kristen Austin, So-West Covina

Boys
14:10 Jayson Perez, SR-South El Monte
15:03 Avedis Gertmenian, SR-Duarte
15:09 Efren Alcala, SR-Arroyo
15:10 Raul Quintero, SR-Duarte
15:10 Isaias Hinojosa, SR-South El Monte
15:25 Brandon Martinez, JR-El Monte
15:39 Brian Valencia, SR-West Covina

Woodbridge: Top Local Perfomers
(Flat, 3 miles. Races run in relatively cool morning or night)
Girls
18:10 Marissa Horton, JR-St. Lucy’s
18:14 Taylor Hebb, JR-St. Lucy’s
18:23 Katy Hebb, SO-St. Lucy’s
18:26 Kristyn Hebb, JR-St. Lucy’s
18:50 Lexie Jackson, FR-Bonita
19:14 Emily Bruce, JR-St. Lucy’s
19:24 Marissa Scott, FR-Bonita

Boys
15:53 James McCreary, SO-Diamond Bar
15:58 Alexander Harvey, JR-Diamond Bar
15:59 James Powell, SO-Diamond Bar
16:00 Paul Balderas, SR-Diamond Ranch
16:19 John Garcia, JR-Damien
16:20 Frank Gonzalez, SR-Covina
16:21 Eric Espinosa, SR-Bonita