SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

Next stop Wonderland for Barons, Mustangs?

By Phillip Brents
Posted Nov. 20, 2003

Next stop: Wonderland.

It could happen for the Bonita Vista and Otay Ranch boys high school cross country teams.

Not to be confused with Area 51’s “Dreamland” complex in Nevada, the wonderland the Barons and Mustangs seek is located in Fresno: the state championship meet.

Both teams will find out if destiny smiles in their favor Saturday at the San Diego Section divisional championships at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.

Mesa League champion Bonita Vista will compete in the Division I field; South Bay League champion Otay Ranch will compete in the Division IV field.

The top three teams in the Division I field qualify for the state meet; the top two teams in the Division IV field advance.

Otay Ranch, which will be chasing defending Division IV champion La Jolla Country Day at Saturday’s CIF finals, capped its first year of existence in spectacular fashion by turning back challenges from Hilltop and Mar Vista at last Friday’s Metro Conference championship meet to clinch the South Bay League title. The Mustangs finished with a meet low 31 points after completing the dual meet season undefeated at 5-0.

The magical nature of the team’s inaugural season? The team’s roster is comprised solely of freshmen and sophomores.

That young talent was admirably put on parade. Otay Ranch placed four runners among the top 10 South Bay League finishers (to earn all-league honors) and had five runners earn top 15 place-finishes (to receive medals). All-league honors went to front-running sophomores Ernesto Valdez (second in league) and Matt Danielson (third), freshman Ricky Pimentel (sixth) and sophomore Ryan Matias (seventh). Jesse Matias, who steadily worked his way into the team’s top seven varsity lineup, finished 13th in league.

Valdez, who finished second at last year’s conference junior varsity finals as a freshman, said preparations began even before the first classes convened at the district’s newest school.

“Before I left Eastlake, I went around to a lot of my friends who would be going to Otay and asked who would be willing to put in hard work over the summer,” he said.

Team members said they felt more relief than elation after making it official at last Friday’s league championships as months of hard work and determination came to a successful conclusion. “We just had to know where we were in the race and know what we had to do to win — to be ahead of the guys we need to be ahead of,” Valdez said.

Head coach Ian Cumming was obviously ecstatic about the first-ever banner, citing the team’s commitment to excellence and hard work despite its youth.

“I expected us to run well because of who they are and what they’ve done. They went out and matched my expectations,” said Cumming, whose team out-pointed Hilltop and Mar Vista by 26 points at the conference finals. “They’ve done an incredible job in motivating each other to work hard. It’s a neat job to be able to work with them.

Valdez said the team got its first inkling that it might contend for the league championship after its first meet of the season when the Mustangs finished ahead of Hilltop, Mar Vista and Castle Park at the eighth annual Mustang-Baron Invitational.

“When we finished ahead of every school from the South Bay League, that’s when we got the idea that we had the chance to win big,” he said.

The best could yet come for the Mustangs (who finished in a co-championship with San Ysidro in the boys junior varsity division).

“Some people didn’t think we could beat Mar Vista or Hilltop because we were a first-year team with only freshmen and sophomores. Our goal now is to do well at CIF and qualify for state. That’s our goal now,” Valdez said.

Earning that due amount of respect also seems to be the matter at hand for this year’s Mesa League champions.

Bonita Vista — paced by Mesa League Runner of the Year Ryan Becijos — finished this year’s league finals with five all-league runners and seven medalists to cap nothing short of a power-packed performance that left coach Hector Hernandez nearly speechless. After dealing their South County foes a defeat, the Barons now turn to tangle with the North County elite.

Bonita Vista entered last Friday’s conference finals ranked 10th in the section — seventh among Division I schools.

“I hope the North County coaches take time to look closer at my team as far as rankings. It’s really unfair for us being ranked at 10th place,” said the BV coach with a bit of defiance in his voice. “They have to look at our 5-6-7 guys to see that we’re a really good team — that we’ll be in the hunt for the state meet if we finish in the top three. Our goal we set at the beginning of the season is to win CIF. I still think we have a realistic shot at being in the top three.”

Hernandez may have reason to be a bit miffed at the lack of respect.

The Barons, with a pack time of 1:11 for their five scorers, placed two of the top three runners in the 77-strong conference field and notched four of the top six league finishers.
Becijos, who was one of three returning state meet qualifiers in the conference, made amends for a disappointing third-place finish at last year’s Metro finals by completing the 3.1-mile course in 16:22 behind the course record time of 15:33 posted by Mar Vista senior Troy Swier, who claimed his fourth consecutive South Bay League Runner of the Year award. Trailing Becijos in the overall conference field were teammates Abraham Alvarez (third, 16:38), Michael Valdez (sixth, 17:07), Julian Zamora (seventh, 17:08) and Michael Morales (11th, 17:17). Finishing as the team’s sixth and seventh runners, respectively, were seniors Ryan Groth (14th, 17:32) and Jared Purkey (15th, 17:33).

To realize its goals at Saturday’s divisional finals, Bonita Vista will likely have to place its top four runners under 17:00 and have its fifth runner finish as close as possible to 17:00. Be assured the adrenaline will be pumping at a higher level on Saturday.

Should either team not be successful at qualifying as a team at Saturday’s CIF finals, individual qualification may be an alternative. The top five individuals not on the three qualified teams (top two in Division 4) will advance to the state meet, providing they finish among the top 12 overall finishers in their race.

Notepad
•Hilltop edged Mar Vista for second place in the South Bay League standings on the strength of the higher finish by its sixth runner (Chad Urquidez) as the teams tied with 57 points at last Friday’s conference finals.

•CIF schedule (Saturday, Nov. 22 at Morley Field): Division 1 girls (8:30 a.m.); Division 2 girls (9:05 a.m.); Division I boys (9:40 a.m.); Division 2 boys (10:10 a.m.); Division 4 boys (11:15 a.m.); Division 4 girls (12:50 p.m.).