It’s not necessarily how one starts the season but how one finishes it that matters most. That was aptly demonstrated at last Friday’s Metro Conference cross country championship meet by the Bonita Vista Barons girls team and the Sweetwater Red Devils boys team.
Both squads suffered early season dual meet losses to league rivals but came back at the league finals to trump the field. In the case of Bonita Vista, it earned the Barons a Mesa League co-championship with the Eastlake Titans. In Sweetwater’s case, the Red Devils broke a three-way tie for the South Bay League lead to reign outright as league champions.
Both BVHS coach Matt Seat and SuHI coach Adrian Garcia beamed with pride at the conclusion of the meet.
“Our girls performed phenomenally well,” Seat gushed. “Looking at times and comparing them to Eastlake, I knew it was going to be a close race but I never thought we’d blow them out of the water like we did.”
The Barons recorded a meet low score of 42 points — well ahead of second place Eastlake’s 64 points, third place Otay Ranch’s 68 points and fourth place Olympian’s 73 points.
Veteran Otay Ranch coach Ian Cumming called the Barons’ power-packed finish “one of the better team efforts ever in a Mesa League Finals meet.”
“Bonita put all the pieces together,” Cumming noted. “Only one of their top runners had a so-so day, while the other six ran extremely well to win the meet and share the league title with a strong Eastlake team. Otay Ranch was third with solid effort, but for many reasons, we could not get all of our top seven healthy on the same day. It is something that will improve in the future as we move forward. Congratulations to both Bonita Vista and Eastlake on their co-championship.”
Bonita Vista finished last Friday’s girls varsity race with six medalists (top 15 place-finishers) and four first-team all-league runners (top 10 place-finishers). The Barons’ finish was dramatic. Bonita Vista placed all five of its scorers among the top 11 finishers, including four within a five-second span.
Bonita Vista’s five-person spread was a jaw-dropping 28 seconds. “They really came through for the team,” Seat explained. “As individuals, they each turned in huge personal records. I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
However, the first three runners across the finish line did not favor Seat’s squad.
Eastlake freshman Layla McFarland continued her spectacular season by topping the combined 83-deep conference field with a time of 15:11 on the 2.5-mile course.
McFarland finished four seconds ahead of Otay Ranch senior Darla Osuna (15:15), a two-time state meet qualifier, to earn Mesa League Runner of the Year honors.
It was a two-woman race from the outset. Both runners finished well ahead of the third-place finisher, Otay Ranch senior Alicia Huerta (15:59).
The Bonita Vista scoring parade then began. Baron junior Izabel Garcia Arce finished fourth in 16:05, followed by Hilltop senior Lorena Mendoza (16:10) in fifth place.
A pair of Olympian runners grabbed the next two place-finishes to further break up the field. Senior Isabella Fernandez was sixth in 16:24 while freshman Alexandra Martinez was seventh in 16:28.
Bonita Vista then dropped the hammer on its opponents with the next four finishers in the race. Freshmen Milla Padilla (eighth) and Arianna Miranda (ninth) matched Olympian’s Martinez with a 16:28 time. BV junior Marleen Aranda was right behind the trio in 10th place in 16:29.
Junior Justine Holden rounded out the Baron surge with an 11th-place finish in 16:33.
Eastlake’s second scorer, freshman Fiona Nielsen, finished 12th in 16:38, followed by Bonita Vista junior Yazelyn Vargas (13th, 16:41), Eastlake sophomore Emily Bonilla (14th, 16:52) and Hilltop sophomore Brianna Smith (15th, 16:53) to round out this year’s field of medal-winners.
The Barons went 4-8-9-10-11 in team scoring while the Titans finished 1-12-14-17-20.
Otay Ranch’s five scorers finished 2-3-18-22-23 while Olympian’s top seven went 6-7-16-19-25.
Both McFarland and Osuna have to be considered top contenders to qualify for this year’s state meet at this Saturday’s San Diego Section finals at Morley Field.
“I just wanted to stay with Darla because she was the best runner in the league,” McFarland said. “I just hoped to pace off with her and win at the end.”
Red alert
Sweetwater, Southwest and Chula Vista each finished 5-1 in dual meets, meaning the winner of last Friday’s league finals would emerge as the league champion for 2014. Sweetwater earned the banner by out-pointing Southwest 42-46. Chula Vista finished third with 61 points.
Chula Vista opened the season with a 26-29 dual win over Sweetwater. However, the Red Devils went undefeated from there, while Southwest upended Chula Vista to draw all three teams into a tie for first place.
SuHi coach Adrian Garcia told his team not to give up hope after the dual loss to Chula Vista.
“I told the team that the season was not over, that we still had a chance, that they had to keep their heads up,” Garcia said. “I told them that if we kept working hard that by the end of the season that we could still be in the running for a co-championship or even win it outright. We had to keep our focus and they did a good job.”
SuHi junior Carlos Aviles-Sullivan carried the torch for the Devils as he battled Olympian senior Sydney Leverett for the top conference spot throughout the 5K race.
Leverett (16:15) eventually claimed that top spot, finishing six seconds ahead of Aviles-Sullivan (16:21). In the process, Aviles-Sullivan earned honors as South Bay League Runner of the Year.
“It was a pretty fast race,” Aviles-Sullivan said. “My plan was to take off, to break 16:00. But it didn’t work out as planned. I got second in Metro, so I was a little disappointed. But I got first in South Bay League and our team won. I’m proud that we won; I’m proud of my team. Hopefully, we can come back next year to win.”
Aviles-Sullivan finished 28 seconds ahead of his nearest South Bay League challenger, Chula Vista senior Cristian Baez, who finished second among league runners in 16:49.
Southwest senior Sergio Castro (17:32) placed third, followed by sophomore teammate Hector Ayala (17:36) in fourth place.
Sweetwater senior Luis Morquencho (17:50) finished fifth while San Ysidro senior Ernesto Cantera (17:59) was sixth, Sweetwater junior Eugenio Ulloa (18:00) was seventh, Chula Vista junior Daniel Jauregui (18:11) was eighth, Sweetwater junior Eduardo Flores (18:16) was ninth and Chula Vista junior Alejandro Tellez (18:16) was 10th.
Overall, the Devils finished the race with four first team all-league runners and placed their top five scorers among the top 20 finishers.
Overall, the Red Devils finished the race with four first team all-league runners and placed their top five scorers among the top 20 finishers.
Chula Vista had three runners earn first team all-league honors while Southwest had two first team all-league runners and San Ysidro had one all-league runner.
“We started off the season on a rough note,” Garcia said. “We lost some top runners to graduation and some runners chose not to return. We looked down and out, but the guys stepped up and really did a good job.”
Rounding out the field of 2014 South Bay League medalists were Southwest senior Alex Soto (11th, 18:24), Southwest freshman Jacob Fierro (12th, 18:29), Chula Vista junior Daniel Mondragon (13th, 18:31), Mar Vista senior Leo Martinez (14th, 18:34) and San Ysidro senior Joel Talamantes (15th, 18:35).
Mar Vista finished fourth at the league finals with 94 points, followed by San Ysidro (fifth, 110 points) and Montgomery (sixth, 177 points). Castle Park did not score in the meet.
