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

Said Ramsey: Mt. Sac is the standard for cross country in the Southern Section, and this past weekend two thirds of the local schools tested themselves against the course’s three huge hills and the intensity of the big meet atmosphere. Glendora had the top team performance, with their 80:27 effort earning them a #2 CIF-SS Div 2 ranking in the polls released Monday. The Tartans had 4 of the top 6 local performers and 5 of the top 9. In a merge of all 21 local schools, the Tartans lead with only 22 points, meaning that if they had raced against the 7 best performers from all of the other ESGV schools, Glendora would win 22-33. Los Altos, led by soph Joshua Sanchez, also put in a strong performance team performance and showed a big upside.

Individually, Glendora’s Kelly Hernandez and Austin Mendoza led the locals with the only sub 16:00 performances, while Johnny Flores of South Hills had a big PR. The expeted showdown between ESGV’s top performers coming into the meet, South El Monte’s Jayson Perez and Glendora’s Anthony Castro and Austin Goodheart, didn’t materialize when they all underperformed to expectations, but they still ran relatively fast times.

Among the girls, four runners, all from different schools, stood out with sub 19:00 performances. West Covina’s Jessica Mendez was top with a 18:36 effort, a big PR and better than the area’s best effort from last year. Joining Jessica were Bonita frosh Melissa Scott (18:45), Taylor Hebb (St. Lucy’s, 18:56) and heat winner Carly Lake (Charter Oak, 18:59)

St. Lucy’s and Bonita came into the meet ranked in the CIF-SS Div. 3, and both performed well and held their spots. They are ranked 5th and 8th, respectively, in this week’s polls, after finishing 4th and 7th, respectively in Friday’s Div. 3 Sweepstakes race.

Boys Top Teams (from a merge combining the results of the only the ESGV teams)
1. 22 Glendora
2. 89 Los Altos
3. 140 West Covina
4. 158 South El Monte
5. 166 South Hills
6. 183 Arroyo
7. 210 Damien
8. 224 Walnut
9. 248 Northview
10. 278 Rowland

Boys Top Performers
1. 15:42 Kelly Hernandez – Glendora
2. 15:49 Austin Mendoza – Glendora
3. 16:10 Jayson Perez – South El Monte
4. 16:13 Austin Goodheart – Glendora
5. 16:14 Joshua Sanchez – Los Altos
6. 16:18 Anthony Castro – Glendora
7. 16:24 Johnny Flores – South Hills
8. 16:29 Fabian Velasco – Duarte
9. 16:32 Shin Yamamura – Glendora
10. 16:37 John Garcia – Damien
11. 16:41 Isaias Hinojosa – South El Monte
12. 16:41 Miguel Gonzalez – Los Altos
13. 16:52 Kevin Gomez – West Covina
14. 16:52 Israel Orosco – Azusa

Girls Top Teams (from a merge combining the results of the only the ESGV teams)
1. 63 St. Lucy’s
2. 73 West Covina
3. 98 Bonita
4. 114 Los Altos
5. 125 Rosemead
6. 181 Arroyo
7. 187 South Hills
8. 200 Walnut
9. 200 Rowland
10. 203 Glendora

Girls Top Performers
1. 18:36 Jessica Mendez – West Covina
2. 18:45 Marissa Scott – Bonita
3. 18:56 Taylor Hebb – St. Lucy’s
4. 18:59 Carly Lake – Charter Oak
5. 19:01 Lauren Justus – Glendora
6. 19:11 Marissa Horton – St. Lucy’s
7. 19:19 Brittnie Munoz – Rosemead
8. 19:32 Reina Sotelo – Los Altos
9. 19:34 Kristen Galvez – Rowland
10. 19:37 Vanessa Lopez – Rowland
11. 19:49 Karissa Austin – West Covina
12. 19:51 Nicollette Garcia – Los Altos
13. 20:11 Lexie Jackson – Bonita
14. 20:17 Kristen Austin – West Covina