Last Friday’s Metro Conference championship cross country meet featured 572 participating runners and more than its share of exciting finishes. The South Bay League concluded the season with three teams sharing the boys varsity team title and two teams sharing the girls varsity team title, plus single team champions in both the Mesa League boys and girls varsity divisions.
That plays out to seven team champions, co-champions or tri-champions in the varsity division alone, not to mention four more team champions in the junior varsity races.
It was a thrill-packed adventure, to be certain, on the Rohr Park course.
“Back-to-back, the first time in school history,” Southwest High School coach Giovanni Medina exclaimed after his Lady Raiders team tied Chula Vista for the South Bay League girls varsity team championship.
Southwest upended traditional powers in the South Bay League last year by capturing the school’s first league championship in the sport since 1978. Five of the seven runners off that history-making team returned this year to give the Lady Raiders another boost.
Southwest finished undefeated in league dual meets to get halfway to successfully defending its title. However, Chula Vista out-pointed Southwest 30-39 at last Friday’s league finals to draw even with the Lady Raiders in the team standings.
(Teams receive points in order of finish in dual meets and the same for place-finish at the league championship meet. The points are then added together to produce a final order of finish to determine the league champion.)
Southwest and Chula Vista thus tied for this year’s team championship.
“We were going for it this year,” Medina said. “They beat us this year; we beat them last year.”
Castle Park junior Liliana Hakim successfully defended her individual league championship by navigating the 2.5-mile course in 16:19. She was followed by 12 runners from different schools, however, to set up the tight team finish.
Southwest junior Fabiola Gonzalez finished second in 16:57, followed by Montgomery senior Karen Murillo in third place in 17:35 and Sweetwater junior Ashley Barajas in fourth place in 17:46.
The Lady Raiders took an edge when senior Erica Basa finished fifth in 17:50. But five of the next six placer-finishers wore blue jerseys to give the advantage to Chula Vista.
Chula Vista freshman Priscilla Bentancourt finished sixth in 15:51, followed by senior teammate Jennifer Corona in seventh place in 18:19.
Montgomery sophomore Jazmine Hernandez placed eighth in 18:21. Three Lady Spartans – all freshmen — sewed up the co-championship by finishing ninth, 10th and 11th in the 42-deep race.
Mya Thomas placed ninth in 18:26, followed by Cassandra Sanchez in 10thin 18:27 and Milinda Jimenez in 11th in 18:43.
Sweetwater senior Diana Perea broke up the Chula Vista scoring surge with a 12th-place finish in 18:47.
Southwest’s third scorer, junior Nicole Diaz, placed 13th in 18:50. Castle Park sophomore Suzette Coronado finished 14th in 19:16 while Sweetwater senior Cristinn London rounded out the top 15 medalists with a time of 19:19.
The Lady Raiders’ next four runners followed: senior Rikki Thomas (16th, 19:23), senior Dulce Lopez (17th, 19:26), sophomore Michelle Mendias (18th, 19:32) and senior Jazmine Banaci (19th, 19:33).
Castle Park freshman Arian Negrete placed 20th in 19:40.
Teams must have five runners to score in a meet. However, both Castle Park and Montgomery fielded only four girls for last Friday’s finals to remove them from team contention.
By not scoring those two teams, Castle Park finished with a final team scoring order of 4-5-6-7-8 while Southwest finished 1-3-10-12-13.
The teams expect to develop a long-term rivalry. The Lady Spartans, with four freshmen among their top five scorers, look to be back in title contention next year. Four Lady Raiders also return.
Southwest’s success story remains amazing.
“This took a lot of hard work again, adding more mileage to our workouts and a lot of patience on my part because we had girls playing other sports – running was really their second sport,” Medina explained. “They also had a lot of patience with me because I’m very demanding.”
Sweetwater finished third at the league finals with 58 points, followed by Mar Vista in fourth place with 120 points and San Ysidro in fifth place with 142 points.
The top 10 finishers are denoted as first team all-league selections. Chula Vista finished with four, while Southwest and Montgomery each had two and Castle Park and Sweetwater each had one.
The South Bay League boys varsity race was a bit more convoluted, but no less exciting.
In order for the Chula Vista boys team to cement a tri-championship, a lot more things needed to happen. The Spartans finished behind both Sweetwater and Castle Park in the dual meet standings. In order to come out on top in the final table, Chula Vista needed to finish in first place in last Friday’s league finals while another team needed to place ahead of Sweetwater.
Such a scenario transpired as Chula Vista carried the field at last Friday’s league finals with 54 points, followed by Castle Park with 56 points and Sweetwater with 61 points.
Southwest followed with 92 points, Montgomery with 94 points, San Ysidro with 152 points and Mar Vista with 200 points.
The Spartans, Trojans and Red Devils all finished with 18 points in the final standings – Chula Vista with eight points for its third-place dual meet finish and 10 points for its first-place finish at the league finals; Castle Park with nine points for its second-place dual meet finish and nine points for its second-place finish at the league finals; and Sweetwater with 10 points for its first-place dual meet finish and eight points for its third-place finish at the league finals.
Sweetwater senior Carlos Aviles-Sullivan repeated as the South Bay League male individual champion by completing the 5K course in 16:32. He placed 14 seconds ahead of his nearest league challenger – Southwest sophomore Jacob Fierro.
Aviles-Sullivan was third overall in the conference field behind Mater Dei Catholic senior Salvador Rodriguez (16:21) and Bonita Vista sophomore Isaiah Labra (16:23).
Castle Park senior Eduardo Rodriguez (16:50) was third among South Bay League finishers while Chula Vista senior Alejandro Tellez (17:33) was fourth.
From there, individual placement was key.
Castle Park senior Carlos Mendoza (17:35) was fifth, Sweetwater senior Eduardo Flores (17:40) was sixth, Castle Park senior Julian Perez (18:02) was seventh, Montgomery senior Johan Rodriguez (18:12) was eighth, Montgomery sophomore Hector Navarro (18:15) was ninth and Chula Vista senior Daniel Jaurequi (18:22) was 10th to round out the South Bay League first team all-league selections.
Castle Park had three all-league runners while Chula Vista, Sweetwater and Montgomery each had two all-league runners and Southwest had one all-league runner.
It appeared as if the Trojans might sneak off with the league championship all to themselves but the Spartans had other ideas.
Chula Vista placed two of the next three runners across the finish line to secure four top 15 place-finishers, and had three more runners finish ahead of Castle Park’s fourth scorer.
Medal-winners also included Chula Vista senior Daniel Mondragon (11th, 18:29), Sweetwater senior Victor Romero (12th, 18:33), Chula Vista sophomore Eduardo Flores (13th, 18:34), Southwest senior Leo Contreras (14th, 18:34) and Sweetwater senior Eugenio Ulloa (15th, 18:35).
Junior Dante Covarrubias (18:38) rounded out Chula Vista’s top five scorers (4-10-11-13-16 in team scoring).
Senior Adrian Hernandez (18:42) and Abraham Rodriguez (18:48) rounded out Castle Park’s top five scorers (3-5-7-19-22 in team scoring).
Senior Javier Medina (18:58) rounded out Sweetwater’s top five scorers (1-6-12-15-27 in team scoring).
A total of 49 runners finished the race.
“Working hard together, we’re a family,” Mondragon noted as the strengths of this year’s Chula Vista team. “We’ve been trying to get the league banner since last year. We had xxx. We backed each other.”
“We acted like a family and worked out together,” Tellez explained. “We didn’t leave anyone behind. In the race, we all ran an even pace. We used other people in the race to catch up to the runners.”
“The meet was for the runners to come out and perform the best they could, race the course,” CP coach Juan Lozano explained. “We had prepared for this meet the whole season after taking that first loss against Sweetwater.”
Aviles-Sullivan became a two-mile individual league champion. He won last year’s South Bay League individual title but was injured during the race and could not participate in the ensuing San Diego Section finals.
That should be different this year.
“I just had to go out, have a good start and do what I usually do,” he said somewhat modestly. “There was a lot of competition from the Mesa League runners.”
He will be shooting for a state qualifying berth this Saturday in the Division I race at Morley Field.
“I’m fully healed,” Aviles-Sullivan explained. “I feel I’ll be able to run in CIF. My goal is to break 16:00 at state.”
Lozano said his team – all seven runners with no junior varsity – performed well as an iron man unit.
“It’s the quality, not the quantity,” the CPHS coach noted. “We were a strong family.”
Mesa League
Eastlake (girls) and Otay Ranch (boys) both completed undefeated seasons, winning both the dual meet and league finals portions of their seasons.
Eastlake out-pointed runner-up Bonita Vista, 30-42, in the girls field while Otay Ranch out-distanced its nearest challenger, Bonita Vista, 38-47.
Eastlake sophomore Leyla McFarland won her second consecutive individual league championship with a time of 15:38 — 15 seconds ahead of junior teammate Emily Bonilla and 22 seconds ahead of Olympian freshman Marianna Beltran-Picos.
As a team, the Lady Titans posted a scoring column of 1-2-4-11-12 to the Lady Barons’ 5-7-8-9-13.
Eastlake helped itself immeasurably by placing three of the top four runners across the finish line. The Lady Titans finished the meet with five all-league medalists.
Eastlake senior Mia Costello finished in fourth place in 16:04, followed by Bonita Vista senior Marleen Aranda (16:10) in fifth and Hilltop junior Brianna Smith (16:28) in sixth.
A trio of Lady Barons followed to make the final score interesting. Senior Izabel Garcia-Arce (16:32) placed seventh, followed by junior Natalie Medina (16:46) in eighth place and sophomore Milla Padilla (16:56) in ninth place.
Hilltop senior Savannah Crean (17:02) rounded out the Mesa League’s first team all-league team, giving Bonita Vista four first team all-league selections, Eastlake three all-league selections and Hilltop two all-league selections and Olympian one all-league selection.
However, Eastlake placed its next two runners ahead of Bonita Vista’s fifth scorer to seal the deal.
Lady Titan seniors Harper Moulton (17:03) and Vania Pena (17:10) finished 11th and 12th, respectively.
Lady Baron senior Justine Holden (17:15) was 13th, followed by a pair of all-league medalists from Otay Ranch: sophomore Emelie Jones, (14th, 17:16) and freshman Adriana Horne (15th, 17:17).
A total of 42 runners competed in the race.
Olympian finished third with 84 points, followed by fourth place Otay Ranch with 103 points, fifth place Hilltop with 111 points and sixth place Mater Dei Catholic with 174 points.
Eastlake coach Mark Coziahr noted his team excelled despite undergoing a big line-up change since September. Star transfer Mara Acord was hit by a car during a training run while other runners who started the season dropped off the active roster due to injuries or other issues.
“The girls who ran did a great job, I can’t be more proud of them,” the EHS coach said.
It was the third consecutive league title overall for the Lady Titans, either shared or outright.
The Otay Ranch boys team returned to the winners circle after dethroning Olympian, last year’s league champion, by a 40-point margin. The Mustangs won in big fashion, placing four runners on the first team all-league team and securing six top 15 medals.
This year’s line-up of Otay Ranch thoroughbreds include senior Ryan Andrews (fourth, 16:47), juniors Cale Parise (sixth, 16:51), Jeremiah Suzara (seventh, 17:01) and Harold Thomas (ninth, 17:04), and seniors Ryan Velasquez (12th, 17:19) and Rigo Baza (14th, 17:23).
The Mustangs’ five-man spread was 32 seconds. Bonita Vista’s five-man spread was 1:34.
“We won back the banner,” Baza and Andrew both chimed in. “It took a lot of training, a good off-season, good team chemistry and great coaching.”
“Great teamwork,” added Jose Nobles, the team’s seventh runner who crossed the finish line in 19th place in 17:41.
Mater Dei Catholic’s Rodriguez recorded the top overall conference finish, though his winning team of 16:21 was well off the course record set by Bonita Vista alumnus Eric Avila, who would go on to break the four-minute mile barrier in a celebrated meet earlier this spring at Balboa Stadium.
Avila, now competing on the pro circuit, was present at last Friday’s league finals.
Rodriguez, a three-time state meet qualifier, said his strategy was to get out to a fast start and hold off challengers Isaiah Labra and Ethan Lamprecht, both sophomores from Bonita Vista.
Labra, having recovered from an early season injury, was spectacular on the course with a time of 16:23 — just two seconds behind Rodriguez.
In fact, Rodriguez looked over his shoulder while making the final turn down the finishing chute.
“I heard people yelling ‘Isaiah!’” Rodriguez said.
Lamprecht finished third in 16:40 — seven seconds ahead of Otay Ranch’s top scorer.
With only two seniors among the top 10 finishers, next year’s race should be very interesting, indeed.
Bonita Vista’s top five scorers were all sophomores, followed by two juniors.
Olympian had two runners crack the top 10 for first team all-league honors: sophomore Nicholas Albro (fifth, 16:49) and junior Diego Arriola (10th, 17:06).
Medalists also included Bonita Vista sophomore Armando Campos (11th, 17:10), and Mater Dei Catholic juniors Juan Pablo Villegas (13th, 17:21) and Luis Cerna Gomez (15th, 17:25).
Sophomore Gustavo Perez (23rd, 17:57) round out Bonita Vista’s contingent of five scorers.
Following third-place Olympian at the finals were Mater Dei Catholic (fourth, 99 points), Eastlake (fifth, 109 points) and Hilltop (sixth, 163 points).
Junior Varsity
Otay Ranch junior Evan LeDesma finished as both the Mesa League individual boys champion and the overall top conference JV runner with a time of 17:39. He best senior teammate Rafael Patricio by eight seconds at the finish line as the Mustangs won the team title by 10 points over Olympian (28 to 38 points).
Otay Ranch had five runners place in the top 10 and seven in the top 15 in the league field.
A total of 191 runners competed in the Mesa League boys JV race and 54 runners competed in the South Bay League boys JV race for a total field of 245 runners.
Chula Vista placed the top four runners in the South Bay League finals, with junior Felix Torres posting the top league time of 18:54. The Spartans racked up a meet low 18 points to easily out-distance runner-up Sweetwater (70 points).
Chula Vista placed all seven runners among the top 10 league finishers.
The Mesa League girls JV race included 119 runners. Tack on 33 runners from the South Bay League for a total of 152 runners.
Top individuals included Olympian senior Djoana Nicolo (Mesa League) and Chula Vista senior Karina Hernandez (South Bay League). Nicolo finished as the overall conference leader in 17:31; Hernandez timed 19:50 to lead South Bay League runners.
Olympian, braced by six finishers in the top nine places, won the girls JV Mesa League team title with a 27-51 edge over runner-up Bonita Vista.
Sweetwater, with four runners in the top eight, won the girls JV South Bay League team title by a narrow 37-40 edge over runner-up Southwest.
Cross country leads South County runners to state championship meet
Sandra Loya-Estrada, a member of the Chula Vista Learning Community Charter School’s first graduating class, was proud to represent the school at this year’s California state championship cross country meet, held Nov. 28 in Fresno.
The senior runner recorded her best time in three appearances for the Cobras at the San Diego Section finals to punch her historic trip to the state meet.
Loya-Estrada finished ninth at the section finals as a sophomore and 13th as a junior.
CVLCC competes in the Frontier Conference’s Apollo League.
Loya-Estrada stepped off the season by placing 54th in the girls varsity division at the South Bay Invitational Sept. 25 at Rorh Park with a time of 17:56 on the 2.5-mile course. She placed 22nd ion her division at the 68th Mt. SAC cross country invitational on Oct. 23.
At the section championship meet, held Nov. 21 at Morley Field, Loya-Estrada placed fifth among Division V runners with a time of 18:34 on the 2.75-mile hill course.
She qualified for the state championship meet as an individual qualifier among in the 86-deep field.
At the state meet, which took place at Fresno’s Woodward Park, the Chula Vista runner finished 53rd in the field of 196 runners (top 27 percent) with a time of 20:34.
CIF finals
Mater Dei Catholic finished third in the Division IV boys team standings to earn a state qualifying berth among teams. The Crusaders finished behind team champion Sage Creek and runner-up Valley Center in the division standings. The top three teams advanced to the state meet.
Senior Salvador Rodriguez, the top finisher at the Metro finals, placed fourth among the 133 individuals in the race with a time of 17:03 to lead Mater Dei Catholic across the finish line.
Luis Humberto Cerna Gomez placed 13th in 17:43, followed by fellow junior Juan Pablo Villegas in 15th place in 17:46 to further bolster the Crusaders. Senior Joseph Chiappe (22nd, 18:06) strode across the finish line as Mater Dei Catholic’s fourth scorer while freshman Daniel Orozco (19th, 19:03) rounded out the Crusaders’ five scorers.
For Rodriguez, it was his third state-qualifying berth after placing as an individual in 2014 and as a team qualifier in 2013.
High Tech Chula Vista sophomore Donovan Prince nailed down an individual state qualifying berth after placing fifth in 17:09. It was the second trip to the state meet for Prince after placing 12th at last year’s section finals.
Bonita Vista led Mesa League teams with a fourth place finish in the Division I boys race ahead of seventh place Olympian and eighth place Otay Ranch.
Two Metro runners in the 130-deep field earned individual state qualifying berths. Sweetwater senior Carlos Aviles-Sullivan, the reigning South Bay League champion, was second among individuals in 16:45 while Bonita Vista sophomore Isaiah Labra was fourth in 16:59.
Aviles-Sullivan held the lead late in the race until Torrey Pines senior Charlie Pope passed the Sweetwater runner in the late stages of the race to win by four seconds with a time of 16:41.
Overall, four Mesa League runners finished among the top 10 individuals: Bonita Vista sophomore Ethan Lamprecht was seventh in 17:02 while Olympian junior Diego Arriola was 10th in 17:14. Lamprecht missed the state cut by one second.
Bonita Vista (fifth) was the highest Metro Conference team to place in the Division I girls race, followed by Mesa League champion Eastlake (sixth). Bonita Vista senior Marleen Aranda was eighth among individuals in 17:49, followed by Olympian freshman Mariana Beltran-Picos in ninth place in 17:51.
Junior Emily Bonilla (16th, 18:12) was the top finisher for Eastlake in the field of 125 runners.
Southwest sophomore Jacob Fierro finished 14th in the Division III boys race in 17:18 (out of 111 runners) while Lady Raider junior Fabiola Gonzalez finished 21st in the Division III girls race in 18:10 (out of 107 runners).
State meet qualifiers
Division I
Boys individuals (5K): 80. Isaiah Labra (Bonita Vista) 16:19; 124. Carlos Aviles-Sullivan (Sweetwater) 16:37 (197 finishers)
Division IV
Boys teams: 20. Mater Dei Catholic 466 points
Boys individuals (5K): 26. Donovan Prince (High Tech Chula Vista) 16:08; 62. Salvador Rodriguez (Mater Dei Catholic) 16:39; 92. Luis Humberto Cerna Gomez (Mater Dei Catholic) 16:54; 127. Juan Pablo Villegas (Mater Dei Catholic) 17:16; 143. Joseph Chiappe (Mater Dei Catholic) 17:38; 171. Daniel Orozco (Mater Dei Catholic) 18:16; 185. Diego Olivares (Mater Dei Catholic) 19:07; 188. Tony Rubio (Mater Dei Catholic) 19:14 (192 finishers)
Division V
Girls individuals (5K): 53. Sandra Loya-Estrada (Chula Vista Learning Community Charter) 20:34
