SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

2005 Footlokcer Nationals:
Prep cross country season concludes on uplifting note

By Phillip Brents
Posted Dec. 10, 2005

The 2005 high school cross country season concluded on a very uplifting note for the San Diego Section — and El Camino senior A.J. Acosta, in particular — at this year’s FootLocker national championship meet Dec. 10 at Balboa Park’s Morley Field. Acosta held off a late push by Lompoc Cabrillo senior Michael Coe to win the boys division, thus becoming the first San Diego runner in 19 years to win a national title.

Now all that appears ready to sew up is the scholarship money as Acosta — one of the section’s most dominating runners in recent memory — can pretty much now have the pick of wherever he wants to attend college.

Acosta, who finished ninth at last year’s national finals as a junior, spoke about performing up to expectation and taking care of business at this year’s national finals, which will be broadcast Dec. 21 on the Fox Sports Network. The Wildcat runner broke away from the pack and held sizable leads at various junctures of the 3.1-mile race before fending off a final push by Coe in the last 200 meters to win the national championship.

Both Acosta and Coe were credited with identical 15:02 times — an improvement of 36 seconds for Acosta from last year’s ninth-place finish.

Afterward, San Diego’s Marc Davis, the last area runner to win a national cross country title in 1986, held up Acosta’s arm in victory. Davis timed 14:38 to emerge with an 11-second victory at the lead of the pack at the 1986 finals, also at Morley Field.

It was a pairing of elite company, indeed, as Davis’ time still ranks second all-time on the Balboa Park course).

(El Cajon’s Mark Dani owns the ninth-fastest time on the Morley Field course after placing third with a 14:50 time at the 1985 finals where San Antonio’s Reuben Reina set the course record with a 14:36 time and nine boys time under 15:00 in one of the fastest races ever.)

Besides being one of the most talented runners in the section over the course of his prep career, Acosta also owns the distinction as one of the more charismatic competitors. He was cheered on by a legion of fans, the especially boisterous and body-painted “A.J. Nation,” as well as by a highly partisan crowd, feeling the energy that spurred him on to victory despite battling the after-effects of a head cold.

Among those joining in the post-race festivities were the Bonita Vista quartet of Chris Close, Daniel Garcia, Derek Groom and Eric Avila, all of whom were adorned in body paint that, when lined up in proper order, read “Go A.J. Go West.”

The Barons finished as the unofficial highest-scoring team at the West Regionals, with Avila (finishing 12th as the second-fastest junior among the 1,363 entrants) narrowly missing a chance to run in this year’s nationals. Next year, the body paint looks to be on someone else, potentially spelling out Avila’s name.

The A.J. Nation, meanwhile, took care of the decibel levels with constant chants exulting in their hero’s victory.

The FootLocker nationals include the top 40 runners in the nation, with the top 10 runners qualifying from four regional championship meets.

Led by Acosta and Coe’s 1-2 finish, Team West won the team scoring title with a 22-38 edge against Team Midwest while Team South finished third with a 72-78 scoring edge against Team Northeast. Runners from 21 states were represented in the boys field.

The girls field produced its own level of drama despite the absence of a local runner as 14-year-old San Luis Obispo Mission College Prep freshman Jordan Hasay — all 5 feet, 2 inches and 95 pounds of her — ran away from the field to post a winning time of 17:05. Hasay, who admitted being nervous entering the prestigious race, won by a 14-second margin over Marie Lawrence of Reno, Nev.

The 17:05 time (the girls also ran 3.1 miles) tied for eighth-best on the all-time list and became the fastest time ever run by a freshman, eclipsing the 17:11 turned in by New York’s Erin Davis in 1993. Both Hasay and Davis are the only two freshmen to ever win a national championship since the race’s inception in 1979.

RBV’s Kira Jorgensen was the last female runner from San Diego to win a national title, that coming in 1987 when she timed 17:08.

2005 accolades & honors
East County standouts place high at state meet
Spurred by Muluken Beressa’s fifth-place finish among individuals, Monte Vista finished seventh in the boys Division II team standings at this year’s state championship meet, held Nov. 26 in Fresno. The Monarchs totaled 247 points to trail sixth-place San Pasqual (244 points), a tam they also finished behind at the San Diego Section finals the previous week.

Beressa, a junior, timed 15:40 — 13 seconds off the winning time of University City senior Riley Booker — while senior teammates Patrick Palmiter (34th, 16:30) and Michael Ramirez (46th, 16:38) also engineered top showings in the field of 189 finishers. Junior Juan Lepe was 88th in 16:58 while sophomore Darius Nocon finished 152nd in 17:44 to round out the team’s top five scorers. Junior Connor Breen (162nd, 18:05) and Joaquin Llamas (174th, 18:39) also ran in the race for the Monarchs, who finished 10th in the team standings last year.

Among individual qualifiers, Valhalla junior Tony Bareno finished sixth in 15:42 while West Hills senior Dan Gonia was 37th in 16:32. Valhalla sophomore Brian Randlett was 107th in 17:14 as a replacement runner for Steele Canyon’s Nolan Williams, who could not compete in the race because of religious reasons.

In the Division II girls team standings, El Capitan (third at this year’s section finals) finished 13th while West Hills (this year’s section champions) finished 14th. Both Grossmont Conference teams finished behind University City (the section’s second-place finisher), which ran to a meteoric eighth-place finish.

West Hills senior Kristen Peters led the parade of East County harriers by finishing 25th with a time of 19:10 on the 3.1-mile course. West Hills freshman Kelsey Hall followed in 35th place in 19:19 while El Capitan sophomore Christy James placed 56th in 19:38 ahead of Grossmont sophomore Sablle Scheppmann (60th, 19:40).

The Division II girls race featured 188 finishers. Recording top-half finishes were El Capitan junior Stephanie Cook (65th, 19:42) and El Capitan freshman Katie Martin (67th, 19:42).

Mallory Bawkey (109th, 20:14), Jamie Ferguson (130th, 20:42), Ashley Tillery (149th, 21:03) and Kelsee Ramsey (166th, 21:36) rounded out the E Capitan runners.

Johanna Fiserova (99th, 20:06), Samantha Espindola (125th, 20:34), Samantha Timanus (145th, 20:58), Kelly McNulty (153rd, 21:09) and Carrie Saccone (160th, 21:23) rounded out the West Hills runners.

Mountain Empire seniors Jon Durflinger (17:23) and Chris Reed (17:35) finished 87th and 97th, respectively, in the Division IV boys race. Also, Mountain Empire sophomore Morgan Smith was 138th in 18:05 while freshman Hector Perez was 187th in 19:25 as the Redhawks finished 23rd in the team standings. Also running for Mountain Empire were sophomore Cory Jameson (192nd, 19:43), senior Frank Questal (194th, 19:58) and sophomore Dustin Hove (195th, 21:13).