SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

Swier, Booker set pace at Mustang-Baron Invitational

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Sept. 12, 2003 -- The name of the event may have added a name and the course might have undergone some slight modifications due to construction but one thing was constant at this year’s Mustang-Baron Invitational: Mar Vista’s Troy Swier.

At right: Mustang-Baron Invitational winners Riley Booker, a sophomore at University City (Blue Division), and Troy Swier, a senior at Mar Vista (Gold Division).

The Mariner senior established the time for others in the future to beat in winning the boys varsity Gold Division race, clocking 14:56.1 on the 3.1-mile course.

He the new course record at last year’s event in 15:04.

Despite posting the incredible time, Swier was not especially pushed this year, as his main competition — University City sophomore Riley Booker and Bonita Vista senior Ryan Becijos — headlined the larger school Blue Division race.

Booker set the pace in the Blue Division race, finishing 19 seconds ahead of Becijos with a winning time of 15:27. Becijos (15:46) finished 10 seconds ahead of Helix senior Garrick Frew, who was followed by Bonita Vista junior Abraham Alvarez in fourth place in 15:59.

The Barons placed three runners among the top seven finishers to win the Blue Division team title. Julian Zamora was seventh in 16:15, trailing Indio’s Joel Cota (fifth) and Sweetwater’s Javier Diaz (sixth), both of whom timed 16:08.

Swier entered the meet after setting a new course record for senior boys at the previous Friday’s Wolf Pack Invitational. He will next compete in the celebrated Woodbridge Invitational on Sept. 20 that will feature a prime time showing of the best runners in the nation.

It is the Footlocker Nationals that the three-time South Bay League Runner of the Year has set his sights on this season.

“The goal is to win league, win CIF section and go after the state meet champion. But just to keep improving — that’s our main goal,” Mariner veteran boys coach Benny Holt said.
Swier finished sixth at last year’s state meet. In order to qualify for the Footlocker Nationals, he will need to place among the top eight finishers at the Western Regional championships. In order to get that far, he will once again be required to place very high in the state meet, if not win it this year.

At left: Bonita Vista's Ryan Becijos.

The practice regimen includes more mileage and less rest, according to Holt.

“I’m well on my way,” said Swier, who finished a stunning 1:05 ahead of his nearest challenger, La Jolla's Paul Coover (16:01), at the Mustang-Baron Invitational. “I want to wish good running to other runners. I just hope when the time comes, I’m there.”

Swier went out in 4:30 last year in setting a new course record; his first mile this year was 4:49. “This year, I wasn’t going for the record. I was more relaxed. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t difficult, of course. I wasn’t just pushing it.”

Booker set a course record (8:02 for 1.65 miles) in winning last Saturday’s El Capitan Vaquero Stampede freshman/sophomore boys race. Moving up to take on upperclassman runners this week, he showed he was more than game.

Perhaps that was expected, however, as he finished as his team’s second runner at last year’s state meet, finishing 32 overall in the Division III race after just missing First Team All-CIF honors as a freshman with his 12th-place finish at the section finals.

Swier competed at the Division II level, winning the race at the San Diego Section finals en route to a sixth-place finish at the state meet .

Bonita Vista, which has designs on qualifying for this year’s Division I state finals, notched the second, fourth, seventh, 16th and 18th scoring positions in the Blue Division race. The Barons, whose top five scorers finished within one minute of each other, totaled 47 points to finish ahead of runner-up Monte Vista (95 points), third-place Sweetwater (121 points), fourth-place Valley Center (124 points) and fifth-place Helix (129 points).

“Forty-seven points brings me flashbacks from Adams State College, the 1993 Riverside Cross County championships,” said first-year Baron coach Hector Hernandez, an accomplished national-caliber collegiate runner and six-time All-American in cross country and track and field. “We always scored under 50 points in a meet. To score under 50 points is really sensational.”

At right: Steele Canyon's Fadi Al-Banna.

Hernandez, armed with his bullhorn, took special relish in handing out post-race awards to his victorious team that saw James Serratos break into the team’s top seven finishers this week with a time of 16:49.

Michael Morales finished as Bonita Vista’s fourth man in 16th place while Mike Valdez was 18th.

Serratos was competing as part of the Barons’ “B” team but placed ahead of “A” teammates Ryan Groth (26th, 17:06), Bersain Gutierrez (30th, 17:10).

Jared Purkey (17:19) was the Barons’ ninth man in 37th place, just missing a medal (that went to the top 35 finishers) as another member of the “B” squad to excel in the race.

On the girls side, Bonita Vista junior Tiffany Caddell finished eighth overall in the varsity Blue Division race. She has set her goal this season to finish among the top 10 All-CIF runners after earning Second Team All-CIF honors last season with a top 20 finish in the Division I finals.

Another Baron to excel on the day included Eric Avila, pictured at left, who was cleared to compete on Wednesday and wound up finishing fourth out of 205 runners (189 finishers) in the boys JV Blue Division race. His time was 12:22 for 2.15 miles.

The previous record for entrants came in the first race when 164 runners competed in the boys JV Gold Division race.

Josh Schaeffer was 11th in the boys JV Blue Division race for Bonita Vista, timing 12:31.

The Barons (117 points) finished third in the the team standings behind race champion University City (32 points) and runner-up Scripps Ranch (56 points). The first-place Centurions mobbed the field with four top 10 finishers (two of the top three) and had all five scorers place among the top 12 finishers.

Fast start for Mustangs
The co-host Otay Ranch Mustangs got their first taste of competition on the course — and it turned out to be not only a most agreeable experience but a very productive one as well.

The Mustangs corralled four top 40 finishes in the girls varsity race (“an incredible pack,” according to the Otay Ranch coach Ian Cumming) and three top 40 finishes in the boys varsity race, wit both races producing a pair of medalists.

Ernesto Valdez (17:03) scored a 10th place finish in the boys Gold Division race after finishing ninth in the last year’s JV division. Matt Danielson was 11th in 17:07.

In the girls Gold Division race, Jasmine Leija was 16th in 14:52, followed by Natalie Dygert in 35th in 15:53. The Mustangs just missed a third medalist in the race as Jasmine Schoonmaker finished 36th in 15:56.

Also recording top 40 varsity finishes were Ryan Matias (38th, 18:15) and J. Amos (39th, 16:05).

What had to make Cumming most happy were the team scores. The Mustangs finished ahead of their South Bay League competition in both varsity races. Otay Ranch (221 points) finished eighth in the boys Gold Division field ahead of ninth-place Hilltop (235) and 10th-place Mar Vista (273). The Mustangs (177 points) were seventh in the girls Gold Division race, out-distancing themselves from fellow Metro Conference member Montgomery (204) while South Bay League resident powers Hilltop and Castle Park both failed to crack the top nine scoring teams.

“We got off to a good start. We’re only going to get better as the season goes on,” Cumming said.

Boys roundup
Montgomery’s Hector Mardueno was eighth in the Gold Division race with a time of 17:00, followed by Aztec teammates Eric Delgado (12th, 17:07). Ryan Smail (22nd, 17:40) was Hilltop’s top finisher in the race. Also earning a medal for the Lancers was Marcos Gonzalez (27th, 17;55). Castle Park’s medalists included Jorge Diaz (17th, 17:17) and Edson Garcia (34th, 18:05). Smail was 11th among sophomore boys the previous week at the West Hills Wolf Pack Invitational.

Sweetwater's third-place team finish in the Blue Division was engineered with four top 30 finishes -- seniors Javier Diaz (6th, 16:08) and Edgar Llanez (13th, 16:33), sophomore Azael Gomez (22nd, 17:01) and senior Robert Isais (29th, 17:09).

Eastlake had two top 35 finishers in the Blue Division -- senior John Stubbs (23rd, 17:01) and junior Andy Sist (34th, 17:17). The Titans finished 10th in the team standings with 265 points, trailing sixth-place Indio (210), seventh-place Pt. Loma (222), eighth-place University City (223) and ninth-place Granite Hills (240).

Girls roundup

Montgomery's Priscilla Flores (4th, 13:55) was the top Metro finisher in the Gold Division varsity race, followed by Hilltop's Selena Munoz (11th, 14:30) and Aztec teammate Chelsea Nicklen (12th, 14:33). Castle Park sophomore Veronica Gonzalez was 25th in 15:19 while Hilltop freshman Lisa Lane was 40th in 16:05.

This year’s invitational was sponsored by The Phair Development Company. The Bonita Road Runners donated a check for $2,000 to be shared among three local high school programs: Bonita Vista, Sweetwater and Eastlake. The money was raised through the Bonita 5000 road race during the summer.

“I’m really happy about all the help from the Bonita parents, the Otay Ranch parents, parents who have kids no longer in school, people who have no affiliation to any school and the kids helped a ton,” said Cumming, who served as race director.

Additional story elements and race results to be added.