The Bonita Vista Barons boys cross country is returning to familiar territory this weekend at the California state championship meet. But they will be treading new territory as the Division I San Diego Section champions.
The Barons, fresh off a dominating performance at the preceding Mesa League finals, recorded a division low 97 points to secure first place in the team standings at last Saturday’s section finals at San Diego’s Morley Field.
Only the top two finishing teams in the division earned advancement to this Saturday’s state finals in Fresno.
Bonita Vista, with two runners among the top 16 finishers and five runners among the top 30 finishers in the 146-deep race, out-pointed runner-up Torrey Pines 97-130 to secure one of those coveted berths.
It will be the second consecutive year the Barons will travel to the state meet as a team qualifier after placing second to Otay Ranch last year.
BVHS head coach Matt Seat said while the team has qualified multiple times over the past decades for the state meet, this was the first time it had qualified as a division champion.
“It’s so, so exciting,” Seat explained. “We’ve been looking forward to this for years. It hasn’t been an easy season, but I’m so proud of all my guys for pulling it off.
“Our pack time was very small and there were very small gaps between each of our runners. We had some big performances from some of our key players who moved up in scoring position.”
New horizons
This year’s section finals featured a new course at 2.96 miles — down from 3.04 miles for boys races and up from 2.75 miles for girls races.
Therefore, all top finishing times in each of the 10 divisional races (five boys and five girls races) this year were new course records.
Senior Isaiah Labra led the Barons across the finish line with a fourth place individual time of 15:41.8. He finished 14 seconds behind Otay Ranch junior Justin Mulvany, the third-place individual finisher, and 18 seconds behind race winner Mario Trasvina, a senior from El Camino.
Trasvina won in 15:23.7, followed by Mira Mesa senior Stefen Rasmuson (15:24.0) and Mulvany (15:27.3).
Olympian senior Nicholas Albro placed fifth among individuals in the race in 15:45.1.
The Metro Conference finished with three runners among the top five finishers in a show of power.
The Barons displayed their power as a team.
Senior Armando Campos finished 16th in 16:11.7, followed by junior Jonathan Kelly in 21st place in 16:16.3, junior Christian Mason in 26th place in 16:24.6 and senior Toshin Agbede in 30th place in 16:33.1.
Bonita Vista’s five-man spread was 39.6 seconds, with its second through fifth runners bunched within 21.4 seconds on the course.
Labra finished second at last year’s CIF finals after placing fourth as a sophomore. He covered last year’s longer course in 16:19.
“The strategy was to go out a little bit slower and just work my way into the pack,” explained the fleet-footed Labra, who won the Mesa League individual title by two-and-a-half seconds the previous week. “It didn’t necessarily work to my advantage … I let them get a little too far (ahead).
“But as much as I was disappointed in this race, I’m so happy that we won as a team. That’s what kept me holding on to push at the end … just to get that team title that we deserved.”
The Barons led the section with an eighth-place finish at the 2005 state championship meet. What could this weekend hold for this new talented BVHS group?
“That year, in 2005, we came in eighth as a team and I think it’s possible for this group to do better than that,” Seat noted. “Eighth is the best that Bonita Vista has ever done at the state meet and I’d love to one-up that, and possibly be even top five.”
It could be an exciting finish to the season indeed. The Far West regional championship meet follows the California state finals on Dec. 2 in Walnut. The annual Foot Locker national championship meet is scheduled Dec. 9 at Morley Field.
Ladies first
Eastlake sophomore Patricia Miessner etched her celebrity status on the day by winning the Division I girls race in 17:37.1. She finished 20 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Liliana Prieto (17:57.7), a junior from El Camino.
The Metro Conference had two runners finish among the top five individuals in the race as Olympian junior Mariana Beltran-Picos was fifth in 18:23.0.
Miesser and Beltran-Picos finished first and second, respectively, at the preceding Mesa League finals.
Miessner entered the CIF finals in top form.
“It was really amazing,” she gushed. “I started out really slow. It was kind of stressful. After about the mile I started to pull away and it felt really good.”
She called winning the Division I individual championship an “incredible” experience.
“I didn’t expect it at all,” she said. “It was really an amazing experience. I can’t believe I did it as a sophomore.”
Miessner has been a front-runner all season after winning her division at the Vaquero Stampede, Mustang Invitational, five dual meets, Mt. SAC Invitational and league finals. Her only blemish: she placed second at the Mt. Carmel Invitational.
This marks Miessner’s second consecutive individual state meet appearance. She finished 49th at last year’s state meet in 18:45.0 on a 5K course.
She said she would like to move up in place-finish this weekend, but that’s just a guideline.
“I want to get top 15, top 20,” she said. “I just want to PR, not necessarily judge myself by my placing.”
Beltran-Picos placed fifth at last year’s division finals after moving up from ninth place as a freshman.
“I feel very proud,” she said, offering a smile. “I’ve gotten better and better from last year and I feel confident I can PR up in Fresno. I feel very proud of my accomplishments and the season in general.”
While Miessner said she preferred the course extension for the girls race, Beltran-Picos said she had to alter her race strategy. Runners had to climb the hill only once, which actually made for a faster race even with the course extension.
“It was tough,” she admitted. “They added .20 mile. I expected it to go faster than last year (because of the new course layout). I pretty much did what I would do for a 2.7-mile (race) and then the last .20-mile I kind of started doing my kick a little before that so I could gain some advantage on the fifth place girl because I was in sixth place.”
Top notch
Mulvany and Albro advanced to this weekend’s state finals as individual qualifiers in the Division I finals.
Mulvany broke away in the second half of the race to challenge for the lead. He was among the lead pack of three runners heading up the final hill.
“At the start, our whole team got swallowed up in the pack,” Mulvany said. “We had to work our way into the front of the pack. It took a lot of energy out of us but we were still able to perform at our best and give it our all.”
The top three finishers in the Division I boys race were separated by less than four seconds. Mulvany finished three seconds off second place.
“It was challenging,” Mulvany admitted of keeping pace with the leaders. “They were good runners. I tried to just stick with them. I had support from my coaches and my family to tell me to keep going with them and I did. Eventually they got me. They just out-ran me today.”
Albro was also giving chase at the end, finishing four seconds behind Labra. Albro was happy to secure his state-qualifying berth.
“I’ve been grinding for three years and hadn’t made it,” he said. “The disappointment from my sophomore and junior years was big. I worked hard over the summer and wanted to do my best. I’m glad I made it.”
Also famous
The Metro Conference will have a total of seven individual qualifiers for this weekend’s state championship meet.
Joining Mulvany, Albro, Miessner and Beltran-Picos as individual qualifiers are Southwest senior Jacob Fierro, Castle Park senior Andre Berry and High Tech High Chula Vista sophomore Drake Prince.
Fierro finished eighth in the Division II boys race in 15:55.4 while Berry finished 13th in the Division III boys race in 16:31. Prince finished 13th in the Division IV boys race in 16:43.5.
Notable
Olympian finished seventh in the Division I boys team standings with 205 points; Otay Ranch was eighth with 216 points.
Olympian sophomore Aylette Cisneros finished 11th in the Division I girls race in 18:55.0, followed by Otay Ranch junior Yllana Casim in 27th place in 19:25.9.
Olympian freshman Justin Hoban finished 23rd among individuals in the Division I boys race in 16:20.4 while Otay Ranch senior Giovanni Stone was 24th in 16:21.1.
Eastlake was 18th in the Division I boys race with 474 points, followed by San Ysidro with 496 points in 19th place, Chula Vista with 514 points in 20th place and Sweetwater with 553 points in 21st place (last among scoring teams).
San Yisdro sophomore Joshua Talamantes finished 29th in 16:30.3 while Olympian senior Enrique Lopez placed 31st in 16:33.8.
Bonita Vista’s sixth and seventh non-scoring runners finished 32nd (junior Christian Salt in 16:35.2) and 37th (junior Mario Barone in 16:44.0).
Eastlake senior Jeffrey Page finished 40th in 16:50.3 to finish in the top 27 percent of the field.
Mater Dei Catholic was fifth among teams in the Division III girls race with 131 points. Sophomore Christine Carey (21:04.6) and freshman Amalia Koch (21:08.7) finished 24th and 25th, respectively, in the 94-deep race for the Lady Crusaders.
Southwest finished 13th as a team in the Division II boys race.
