SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

Granite Hills runners aim for strong finish

By Phillip Brents

Posted Nov. 9, 2003

With five of the top seven runners returning from last season, the Granite Hills girls cross country team is looking to improve its finish at this year’s San Diego Section championship meet. The Eagles placed 13th among the 18 Division I teams last season.

The first step toward accomplishing that goal will be to notch a strong effort at Saturday’s Grossmont Conference finals at Harry Griffen Park — another of the goals set by Granite Hills coach Dave Yarbrough.

The section championships are Saturday, Nov. 22, at Morley Field in Balboa Park.

“Our goals are to have a real good league performance. Last year they did a good job and hopefully we can do better at CIF,” Yarbrough said.

The Eagles return three all-league runners in seniors Allison Hack, junior Alicia Moore and sophomore Lisa Walker. Other top returners include junior Kim McGrath and sophomore Breeanna Lorenzen.

Senior Ashley Locke and freshman Ashli Sandoval are the team’s newcomers.

Granite Hills tied El Capitan for sixth overall (second among Division I teams) in the girls varsity division at the 30th South Bay Invitational Sept. 26 at Rohr Park in Chula Vista. Sandoval led the Eagles with a sixth-place individual finish with a time of 16:23 for 2.5 miles.

The previous week, Hack was 19th among senior girls at the regional-wide draw Mt. Carmel Sundevil Invitational at Balboa Park’s Morley Field after opening the season with a 14^th place finish at the Baron-Mustang Invitational.

The Granite Hills boys team is led by senior Leonei Carrillo and sophomore Josh Sandoval. The Eagles are in the midst of a rebuilding season after graduating seven seniors. Only two of the team’s top nine runners returned this season.

Newcomers include senior Luis Carmona, junior Marc Porter, sophomores Joe Bost and Walter Bueno and freshman Alex Guaderrama.

Sandoval, who placed 50th out of 152 runners at last year’s CIF finals, started the season by placing 10^th at the Baron-Mustang Invitational and was 13th among juniors at the Sundevil Invitational while Carrillo placed 33^rd at the Baron-Mustang Invitational and Guaderrama was 16th among freshman boys at the Mt. Carmel Invitational.

The Eagles opened the league season by scoring a dramatic 27-28 victory against Steele Canyon on Oct. 3 as Sandoval led the way with a 17:45 time on the 3.1-mile Lindo Lakes course.

“When you have a young team, you hope they are able to bond as a team and run as a team and get experience to perform better as they get older,” Yarbrough said.