SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

South Bay League championship race heating up

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Oct. 10, 2003 -- The South Bay League may not carry the overall strength that higher enrollment schools in the Mesa League possess, but there is certainly no less drama as to which teams will capture championship titles this season.

There appears to be a ferocious three-way battle for supremacy for the boys team championship while two teams appear to have taken the high road, so to speak, among girls squads.
A photo finish looks to be brewing between Hilltop, defending champion Mar Vista and newcomer Otay Ranch in the boys ranks after both Hilltop and Otay Ranch dealt the reigning champion Mariners narrow defeats to open the season.

Hilltop edged Mar Vista 27-28 on Oct. 3 at Rohr Park in a dramatic fourth- and fifth-man finish while Otay Ranch registered a 25-30 victory the following week.

Hilltop and Otay Ranch are scheduled for a high profile dual showdown Oct. 31 at Discovery Park.

That might be only the start of potential fireworks, however.

Lancer head coach Mark Hedderson indicated the highly anticipated outcome of the dual is only half the winning equation as the team finish at the season concluding Metro Conference championship meet Nov. 14 at Rohr Park will fill in the rest of the pieces of the missing puzzle.

“You can win first place for the duals but you’re still got that league final. I’m sure Ian (Otay Ranch coach Ian Cumming) and Benny (Mar Vista coach Benny Holt) would say the same thing,” Hedderson said.

Hilltop improved to 2-0 in South Bay League duals by sweeping Castle Park in both boys and girls competition last Friday at Rohr Park. The Lancer boys team placed five of the top seven finishers en route to scoring a 22-39 win while the Hilltop girls team was even more dominant in recording a 20-49 victory.

Castle Park’s Jorge Diaz was the first to cross the finish line in the boys dual meet, timing 17:47 for 3.1 miles, but the Lancers responded with the next three finishers: Ryan Smail (second, 17:33), Marcos Gonzalez (third, 17:43) and Johnny Pina (fourth, 17:58). Three more Hilltop runners followed the Trojans’ Paige Ledezma (fifth, 19:18): Musai Endo (sixth, 19:23), Sergio Santillan (seventh) and John Real (eighth).

It was Endo and Santillan’s finishes in the dual against Mar Vista that proved critical in the victorious outcome for Hilltop.

The Mariners placed two of the top three finishers in the 3.1-mile race — Troy Swier in first in 17:03 and Rene Garcia in third in 18:40 — but Hilltop responded with two of the next three runners to give each team three place-finishers with two scoring positions remaining to determine the outcome.

Endo finished ahead of Mar Vista’s Oscar Estrada by five seconds to tie the team score through four of the five scoring positions. That left the outcome of the dual up to the runner from which team who would finish next. Santillan found himself in a battle with Mariner freshman Zack Friechtinger, with Santillan edging his Mar Vista opponent by one second to give Hilltop the dramatic victory.

“We were down by one point after six finishers. Musui gave us the tie and Sergio gave us the one-point win. Both those positions were hotly contested. It made for a darn good race,” the Hilltop coach said.

Swier, who captured top honors in the Dana Hills Invitational Sept. 28, earned medalist honors on the 3.1-mile Imperial Beach Pier course in last Friday’s dual against the first-year Mustangs by timing 17:29 but Otay Ranch overcame his No. 1 individual finish to claim the team victory. Ernesto Valdez (18:10) and Matt Danielson (18:22) finished second and third, respectively, for the Mustangs. Otay Ranch then placed the fifth and sixth runners in a heated three-way dash for fourth place won by the Mariners’ Garcia to give the first-year squad four of the top six place-finishers.

Matching Garcia’s 19:04 time were Mustang runners Ryan Matias (fifth) and Ricky Pimentel (sixth) as the three runners crossed the finish line chest-to-chest.

“We thought our second and third guys could beat their second guy, so our 3-4-5 guys were the key for us. Our No. 5 guy (Andre Negron) ran a huge race. It was a breakthrough for him,” Otay Ranch’s Cumming said.

Negron timed 19:51 in ninth place ahead of Mar Vista’s final scorer (19:57).

The Hilltop girls team placed the top five scorers in its 15-44 victory against the Mariners — Selina Munoz, Jameela Alneyadi, Lisa Lane, Vivian Aguilar and Rosie Rodriguez — and notched four of the top five runners in the matchup against Castle Park.
Munoz finished as the medalist in both dual wins for the Lancers.

Otay Ranch defeated Mar Vista 22-33 as the Mustangs’ Jasmine Leija won medalist honors with a time of 18:15 for the 2.4-mile course along the IB Pier. Otay Ranch claimed the dual win by pushing across the first three runners in the race. Natalie Dygert finished second, followed by teammate Jasmine Schoonmaker, also in 18:53.

For the record, Otay Ranch finished ahead of Hilltop in the team standings at the season opening Mustang-Baron Invitational but the Lancers were without the services at that time of Alneyadi, their second runner.

“It’s difficult to see how the two teams match up but it should be interesting to find out,” Cumming said.

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Oct. 10, 2003 -- Bonita Vista’s Ryan Becijos and Abraham Alvarez broke into energetic sprints toward the finish line in last Friday’s Mesa League dual meet pitting the sixth-ranked Barons and ninth-ranked Sweetwater. There was good reason they did: Not far behind were a trio of Red Devils trying to enhance their scoring positions.

Becijos captured the 3.1-mile race in 16:49, with Alvarez finishing second in 16:55. The one-two finish proved critical as Sweetwater claimed the next three positions to remain in contention for a possible upset. However, the Barons wrapped up the victory by placing four of the next five runners in the race, with BV sixth man Ryan Groth displacing the Red Devils’ fifth man, Francisco Villasana, for good measure.

Still, the final score stood only 26-30 in the Barons’ favor. The defending Mesa League champions definitely had to sweat this one out — a fact borne out by the elation displayed by coaches congratulating the Baron runners afterward.

What’s that old saying? The winners knew they had been in a race.

“Getting first and second with Ryan Becijos and Abraham Alvarez was vital. That makes a big difference. What really saved our day was Ryan Groth. He was our sixth man. He was able to beat their fifth man. If we can get first and second and have our fifth and sixth guys take care of the fifth man for the other school, we’ll be there,” said Bonita Vista head coach Hector Hernandez, whose team still maintains hope of qualifying for this year’s state championship meet.

A trio of Red Devils had taken the lead by the half-mile mark but the SuHi pack was eventually cut up by the two BV front runners by the midpoint of the race. Javier Diaz (16:57), Edgar Llanez (17:01) and Azael Gomez (17:08) finished within six seconds of one another for Sweetwater but Bonita Vista’s Michael Morales (17:08), after nearly catching Gomez at the finish line, held a three-second margin over the Devils’ fourth man, Roberto Isais, with three more Barons — Julian Zamora (17:15), Michael Valdez (17:20) and Groth (17:27) — following Isais across the line.

The girls race was no less dramatic, with Bonita Vista scoring a seven-point win against Sweetwater. The teams each placed two runners among the top four individuals. In fact, the Red Devils had three of the top five runners in the race. But the Barons completed their team scoring before SuHi could place its fourth scorer.

Bonita Vista’s Tiffany Caddell and Sweetwater’s Karina Rios both were credited with the same time of 14:08 for the 2.23-mile course but Caddell was the first to cross the finish line. Jessi Tinsley, a consistent No. 2 runner all season, was next for the Barons in 14:53 ahead of SuHi’s Savannah Size (15:00) and Brenda Diaz (15:35). Bonita Vista clinched the win as Kristin Ross (15:36), Angel Torres (15:46) and Jessica Munoz (16:08) all finished in order to round out the top five team scorers.

BV senior Chris Wymer, rehabilitating himself from tendonitis, won the boys junior varsity meet.

Next up for the Barons is an Oct. 31 dual meet at Rohr Park against Chula Vista that could decide the Mesa League leader heading into the conference meet.

Rankings shuffle
Despite failing to lose a dual meet, the Bonita Vista boys squad has dropped from fourth to seventh in the section rankings in the past month (Sweetwater dropped from ninth to 10th this week). The top three place-finishers at the Division I finals advance to the state meet.
The big event at this year’s South Bay Invitational, held Sept. 26 at Rohr Park, was the showdown between the then third-ranked RBV Longhorns and fourth-ranked Barons. It was here that Bonita Vista discovered it may have to navigate a logjam of teams to reach the state finals. Running without No. 1 runner Becijos due to illness, the Barons placed runner-up to RBV by 19 points: 68 to 87.

Bonita Vista did produce a season-best pack time of 40 seconds and, with a healthy Becijos back in the lineup, Hernandez has to think his team will be in the running at the CIF finals.

Key stat: had Becijos managed to finish ahead of both RBV’s first and second scorers in the race — Alec Petros (third, 16:41) and David Phelps (fourth, 16:49) — the Barons would have won the division.

It’s that vote of no respect that has to provide that extra incentive.

“As for rankings, I think we are close to several schools. I think it will come down to which team is healthiest that day,” BV’s Hernandez said. “But that is still our goal. It's a realistic goal. We have a great shot at being top three at CIF.”