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
Tribune Roundup, Week 3: Saturday, September 26
Ramsey: Cross country is a tough sport – no breaks, no time outs to consult with the coaches, with steep and unpredictable surfaces. And in this part of the season – we also get heat. Saturday was blazing hot, but the SGV’s runners overcame the heat to turn in some amazing performances, most notably Jessica Mendez’s 19:32 for 5k at the Stanford Invite, ran when it was 104 degrees! She was joined by Duarte’s Fabian Velasco as the SGV’s top performer for Week 3, while the Los Altos boys turned in the top team performance with their Div 2 win at the Bell-Jeff Invitational at L.A’s Griffith Park.
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.
Girls
19:32 Jessica Mendez, SR-West Covina – Stanford 5k gently rolling
18:19 Lexie Jackson, FR-Bonita – Dana Hills, 3 miles net downhill
19:37 Reina Sotelo, Los Altos – Bell-Jeff, 3 miles hilly
19:34 Vanessa Lopez, Rowland – Sunny Hills, 3 miles rolling hills
19:36 Kristen Galvez, Rowland – Sunny Hills
18:33 Marissa Scott, FR-Bonita – Dana Hills
19:43 Carly Lake, SO-Charter Oak – Sunny Hills
19:35 Shavonn Johnson, SO-Bonita – Dana Hills
19:42 Heather Jackson, JR-Bonita – Dana Hills
20:41 Kristen Allen, SO-West Covina – Stanford
Boys
15:35 Fabian Velasco, Duarte – Bell-Jeff, 3 miles hilly
15:55 Avedis Gertmenian, SR-Duarte – Bell-Jeff
16:19 Miguel Gonzalez, Los Altos – Bell-Jeff
16:25 Judd Mateo, Los Altos – Bell-Jeff
15:48 Alexander Harvey – Diamond Bar – Dana Hills, 3 miles net downhill
16:51 Israel Orosco – SR, Azusa – Stanford 5k gently rolling
16:35 Jair Juarez, Los Altos – Bell-Jeff
16:38 Josh Sanchez, Los Altos – Bell-Jeff
16:44 Norris Sabio, Bassett – Bell-Jeff
15:58 Eric Espinosa, SR-Bonita – Dana Hills
Stanford: West Covina and Azusa took the long trip north to this prestigious meet which attracts nearly 100 schools from several states. It’s run on the university’s beautiful golf links over a gently rolling 5 kilometer course. Azusa, along with the West Covina boys, are developing teams, and the best performance from this group came from Aztec senior Israel Orosco, who ran 16:51. The West Covina girls ran in one of the last races of the day, when it was 104 degrees, according to meet coverage at Dyestatcal. Fresh off of their win at Rosemead, the girls braved the heat to finish sixth in the tough Division 1. The top Bulldog was once again senior Jessica Mendez, 5th in the division and 66th overall with an amazing 19:32
Sunny Hills: Baldwin Park, Charter Oak, Rowland and San Dimas traveled to Fullerton’s Craig Park to take part in this low key meet, contested by 30 teams over a rolling 3 mile course on an increasingly hot day.
The heat made it not a complete surprise for the top boys performances to come from a pair of Rowland freshmen, running in the first race of the day: David Galvez (16:56) and Felipe Galvez (17:02) went 3-4 in the frosh division. Running later in the day, Rowland’s Vanessa Lopez (19:34) and Kristen Galvez (19:36) and Charter Oak’s soph Carly Lake (19:43) were the top locals, placing 16th, 17th and 18th overall.
Bell-Jeff: Bassett, Bishop Amat, Duarte, Ganesha, and Los Altos traveled to L.A.’s Griffith Park to run over the hilly 3 mile course. The meet attracted over 70 schools are featured some of the top teams in the State.
On the girls side, Los Altos Reina Sotelo led the way, finishing 4th in the Div 2 girls race in 19:37. The Conquerors only entered four in the varsity division, so they couldn’t contend for the team honors.
On the boys side, the SGV runners made a strong showing, with Duarte’s Fabian Velasco (15:34) and Avedis Gertmanian (15:55) , finishing 3rd and 6th in the Div. 2 race. They were joined at the top by a 10th place, 16:19 effort from Los Altos’ Miguel Gonzalez, who led his teammates to the Div. 2 team title. The Conq’s 82:55 team time featured a tight 29 second gap from 1-5 shows they’ll be contenders for both league honors and a CIF finals spot.
Dana Hills: This is a big, well run meet, and South Orange County usually provides cool weather, but not this year. Almost all of the better performers from the SGV’s Bonita and Diamond Bar came from the early morning races, which were conducted on a 3 mile, net downhill course at the host school.
The Bonita girls showed best, shaking off a tough day at Woodbridge. They were led once again by their frosh duo of Lexie Jackson (18:19) and Marissa Scott (18:33) as they went 1-2 in the Div. 2 frosh race. On the guys side, the best efforts came from Diamond Bar’s Alexander Harvey – 15:48 for 4th in the Div 2 Junior race, and Bonita senior Eric Espinosa – 15:58 for 8th in his division.
Next Up: We move into full swing with cluster meets, with the Sierra League competing Tuesday at Bonelli Park, the Valle Vista running Wednesday at Bonelli, and the Montview kicking off the first of three cluster meets at Schbarum Park on Thursday.
