SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

MV's Swier runs into history as 4-time league champion

By Phillip Brents
Posted Nov. 20, 2003

Cross country royalty surely defines the South Bay League’s reigning king: Mar Vista senior Troy Swier.

The Mariner standout, ranked second in the state after earning a sixth-place medal as a junior, has set a goal of competing in the season-ending Footlocker national championships. That’s still a few weeks away.

While the elite competition beckons, he has also not lost sight of his accomplishments — and what they mean to him — at the local level.

Swier earned his fourth consecutive South Bay League Runner of the Year award after lapping the field in last Friday’s Metro Conference cross country championships at Rohr Park. Not surprisingly, he set a course record at 15:33.

“Of course, it’s special. I don’t consider it any less an honor,” said Swier, who earlier in the week announced plans to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo next fall. “I’m sad to leave. I realized this was my last race at Rohr Park.”

Swier finished nearly a minute — 49 seconds, to be exact — ahead of Bonita Vista senior Ryan Becijos, the Mesa League’s 2003 Runner of the Year.

“He’s peaking for state and Footlocker. He wants to get to nationals. He’s about where he wants to be right now,” said Mar Vista coach Benny Holt of the South County superman.
Becijos, who finished a disappointing second to Sweetwater’s Edgar Llanez at last year’s Mesa League finals, said his strategy at the onset was to go out with Swier. That lasted for about a mile, the Baron runner said.

Becijos finished 16 seconds ahead of sophomore teammate Abraham Alvarez (second among Mesa League runners) and 22 seconds ahead of the league’s third-place finisher, Chula Vista’s Ivan Villareal.

Llanez, last year’s Mesa League Runner of the Year, finished fifth in this year’s conference field in 16:55 (fourth in league).

Bonita Vista junior Tiffany Caddell earned honors as the Mesa League Runner of the Year by winning the girls varsity race in 13:39 (2.1 miles). Hilltop’s Selena Munoz repeated as the South Bay League Runner of the Year by greatly improving her place finish in the conference field (fifth, up from 17th) and time (14:05, up from 14:36) from last season.

Bonita Vista won the girls varsity Mesa League title while Hilltop won the girls varsity South Bay League title. Both teams repeated championships of a season ago. Hilltop finished with five all-league runners and six medalists while Bonita Vista finished with three all-league runners and five medalists.

Hilltop’s all-league runners, besides Munoz, included Lisa Lane, Jameela Alneyadi, Rosie Rodriguez and Vivian Aguilar.

Joining BV’s Caddell as all-league runners were Jessi Tinsley and Kristen Ross. The Barons placed two runners under 14:00 — Caddell (first) and Tinsley (third) — and had six of their seven entrants finish at 15:00 or under.

Chula Vista won the Mesa League girls junior varsity title with a meet low score of 20 points, followed by Bonita Vista (65), Eastlake (77) and Sweetwater (95). Chula Vista placed the top three runners (four of the top six), led by Runner of the Year Carlene Belen. Hilltop’s Marga Crain won honors as South Bay League Runner of the Year.

By Phillip Brents
sports editor
They are clearly the runners of the future: Bonita Vista freshmen Austin Jett and Eric Avila.
The two frosh sensations helped the Barons easily win last Friday’s Mesa League boys junior varsity team championship with a meet low 16 points. Jett’s time of 17:37 for 3.1 miles would have earned him a top 15 finish and a medal in the Mesa League varsity race. Avila (18:18) simply showed his resiliency by placing third after being cleared to compete just days before the event. He had been sidelined several weeks with a foot injury.
Bonita Vista placed the top four runners in this year’s JV league finals and had six all-league runners among the race’s top 10 finishers.
San Ysidro sophomore Charles Lovelace captured South Bay League JV Runner of the Year honors with a time of 19:24 (23rd overall in the conference field). He was a freshman at Montgomery High last season but did not run cross country despite his apparent natural affinity for it.
He led a whirlwind finish for the second-year Cougars, whose five scorers all earned all-league honors. Following Lovelace’s lead in the South Bay League finals were teammates Chris Quintana (second, 19:28), Oscar Valdez (seventh, 20:04), Rafa Rodriguez (eighth, 20:07) and William James (ninth, 20:10).
San Ysidro scored a meet low 27 points to finish ahead of Hilltop (39) and regular season dual meet leader Otay Ranch (62). Because the final standings are based evenly on dual meet and conference finish, the Cougars’ 4-2 dual meet record brought them into a tie with Otay Ranch for the overall season championship. Hilltop finished in third place, one point behind the two co-leaders.
“I think they did a great job of coming together as a pack rather than as individuals. They went from running as single runners to working together as a team,” San Ysidro coach Rick Kane said.
Otay Ranch, which finished 6-0 in dual competition, placed one all-league runner: Amit Patel (fifth, 19:47). The Mustangs’ five scorers, in order of team finish, also included Matt Westcott, Ernesto Roman, Mark Marsden and Anthony Gagajena.
“We got some runners who are going to be pretty good in the future and they’re just now finding out how good,” Otay Ranch coach Ian Cumming said.

By Jacob Reed
special to the star-news
Marian Catholic clinched the South Bay League championship with last Friday’s 47-14 victory at Castle Park. League play until this game had ended in lopsided victories for the top-ranked Crusaders and this game was no exception. It would appear as if defending Division III champion Marian Catholic (9-0) is charging into the San Diego Section playoffs with just about everything going its way.
The Crusaders went right to work at the start of last Friday’s game by posting big plays on both offense and defense. A timely sack by Matt Mount ended Castle Park’s first drive, forcing a punt. Marian Catholic’s first play on offense set the tempo as quarterback Scottie Goodloe connected with wide receiver Jonathon Alvarado to make the score 7-0.
The Trojans’ next drive yielded a strong ground game led by the physical running of Eric Smith, who finished the game with 94 yards on 18 carries. Yet the drive was ultimately stopped on a risky fourth down play call and the ball changed possession. Then Metro Conference scoring leader Pat-ick Gates got his first carry, which set up another TD pass for Goodloe as he hit Gates for the score.
Gates (1,288 rushing yards on the season, 19 touchdowns) would finish the night with 198 yards on only seven carries but with two rushing scores for a total of three.
The shutout was averted by Castle Park standout DeMarco Sampson, who took matters into his own hands by returning a kickoff to make the score 41-6 after a failed two-point conversion. Sampson’s next return almost ended in another six points but did set up a 14-yard pass to Alex Bates from quarterback Rudy Salazar.
Castle Park’s 5-4 record doesn’t rule it out of the Division II playoffs but that will be weighted by Friday’s performance against Southwest (4-5).