Metro Conference runners put their best foot forward at last Friday’s 44th annual South Bay Invitational cross country meet at Rohr Park. Metro teams posted top three finishes in three of the five divisions and had five runners post top five individual place-finishes.
The Olympian Eagles captured the boys junior varsity division team championship while Otay Ranch finished second among girls varsity teams. Olympian finished third in the girls varsity division while Chula Vista finished third in the boys frosh/soph division.
Top individuals included Olympian junior Mariana Beltran-Picos (second in the girls varsity division), Olympian senior Nicholas Albro (third in the boys varsity division), Otay Ranch junior Yllana Casim (third in the girls varsity division), Otay Ranch sophomore Angelo Javier (fourth in the boys JV division) and Olympian junior Jaydon Caoile (fifth in the boys JV division).
Twelve South County schools participated in last Friday’s event. Overall, more than 1,100 high school runners from 33 teams throughout San Diego County and from as far away as Arizona competed in the five divisional races.
San Pasqual senior Renee Laurenzana crushed the field in the 2.5-mile girls varsity race by winning by a 33-second margin in 15:40. However, Beltran-Picos and Casim dominated the rest of the field as the next runners to cross the finish line.
Beltran-Picos secured the runner-up place-finish in 16:13 while Casim crossed the finish line in 16:24.
Overall, three Metro Conference runners posted top 10 finishes as Otay Ranch sophomore Micshilee Resendiz finished ninth in 16:44.
Buoyed by the two top 10 individual finishes, Otay Ranch recorded a second place team finish behind division champion Point Loma.
Point Loma, with three runners among the top 12 finishers, claimed the division title with 71 points. Otay Ranch finished second with 87 points while Olympian finished third with 148 points.
Beltran-Picos, who placed third in her division at the Mustang Invitational two weeks earlier at Rohr Park, battled through adversity to record the second place finish at last Friday’s event.
“It was a pretty tough race because I wasn’t feeling 100 percent,” explained Beltran Picos, who finished 32 seconds off last year’s time at the event. “I had a cold and cough. I didn’t feel really good but I tried. I was third pretty much half of the race but I knew I could do better, so I pushed myself a little more and got second. I didn’t PR.”
Casim, who posted a 12th-place finish in the preceding week’s Mt. Carmel/ASICS Invitational at Morley Field, finished with a time of 16:24 on the Rohr Park course to secure a third-place individual finish ahead of Point Loma junior Megan Rodi (16:28).
Casim, who placed 18th in her division at the season opening Mustang Invitational, called last Friday’s place-finish a breakthrough moment this season.
“This was definitely a turning point because the whole offseason I was injured and lost encouragement the first week of the season,” Casim explained. “I came into this meet more mentally prepared, came back, bounced back. I’m happy, especially with how well our team did.”
Otay Ranch placed its five scorers among the top 32 individuals (top 20 percent of the 157-deep field).
Following Casim and Resendiz’s lead were teammates Adriana Horne (27th, 17:16), Sara Williams (28th, 17:17) and Emelie Jones (32nd, 17:22). The Lady Mustangs’ five-person spread was 58 seconds.
Olympian sophomore Aylette Cisneros finished 20th in 17:08, followed by teammate Rosana Javier (25th, 17:15).
South County runners placing in the top 25 percent of the field included Chula Vista junior Mya Thomas (15th, 16:56), Mater Dei Catholic sophomore Christine Carey (37th, 17:31) and Mater Dei Catholic freshman Amalia Koch (38th, 17:31).
Otay Ranch head coach Julian Valdez was obviously proud of his team’s runner-up team finish in the division.
“We’ve been very lucky this season to have returned a lot of our girls from last year,” he said. “With me being a first year coach last year in cross country, those girls really rallied together and they worked together.
“I’m just the person here to make sure to make sure everything is running smoothly. But those girls are the ones who are putting in the work; they’ve been running very well. They’ve been intent on running together during the offseason and working hard together to try to do well this season. They’re working hard for one another.”
Boys varsity
Olympian posted the top team finish among Metro teams in the boys varsity division, finishing fourth with 163 points. Grossmont won the team title with 73 points, followed by runner-up San Diego with 112 points and third place West Hills with 154 points.
Otay Ranch, last year’s Division I San Diego Section champion, was seventh with 223 points while Southwest was ninth with 239 points.
El Capitan junior Matthew Machnov captured first place among the 182 individual finishers with a time of 15:54 on the 5K course. He improved his time 21 seconds after taking fifth in the division last year.
Granite Hills senior Brady DeHaven finished second in 16:00, followed by Albro in third place in 16:09.
Southwest senior Jacob Fierro finished 23 seconds behind Albro in sixth place.
“This race took off slow but the second mile I put the hammer down around 10:30,” Albro recounted. “The first two runners are extraordinary. They took me the last mile, but it was a very fun race.”
Albro finished ninth at last year’s Mesa League finals and 16th in the Division I race at the ensuing San Diego Section finals. He is looking to move up considerably this season.
He moved up 14 place-finishes and 56 seconds from last year’s 17th place-finish and 17:05 time at the South Bay Invitational.
“I started out the season at 16:30, that’s about where I wanted to be,” he said. “I want to PR every race, hopefully win CIF and take a banner home.”
Fierro, last year’s South Bay League champion, moved up two place-finishes from last year’s South Bay Invitational.
Otay Ranch senior Giovanni Stone finished 18th in this year’s field in 17:02.
Seventeen Metro runners finished in the top third of the field; 10 finished in the top 25 percent of the field.
Also posting top end finishes were Olympian freshman Justin Hoban (26th, 17:24), Southwest junior Esteban Magana (27th, 17:25, Olympian junior Enrique Lopez (28th, 17:34) and Chula Vista senior Eduardo Flores (30th, 17:38).
Boys JV
Olympian (56 points) and Otay Ranch (76 points) finished first and second, respectively, in the team standings.
Otay Ranch junior Nate Perry finished second among individuals in 18:14 — eight seconds behind race winner Alexander Wright of Granite Hills.
Five Metro runners placed among the top 10 finishers. Otay Ranch sophomore Angelo Javier (fourth, 18:34), Olympian junior Jaydon Caoile (fifth, 18:34), Olympian junior Cisco Gonzalez (seventh, 18:39) and Southwest senior Adan Yniquez (ninth, 18:42).
Boys Frosh/Soph
San Ysidro sophomore Daniel Rodriguez finished eighth in the 216-deep field with a time of 18:40 while Chula Vista sophomore Lucio Gutierrez was the next local runner (20th, 19:13). Complete results at www.athletic.net.
