SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

30th South Bay Invitational

Mustangs win Frosh/Soph division

What could be next?

Bonita Vista dominates boys JV division; RBV runs to boys varsity title

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Sept. 26, 2003 -- The new Otay Ranch Mustangs keep raising their standard for excellence each week, it seems.

After putting established South Bay League foes on notice at the eighth annual Mustang-Baron Invitational Sept. 12 at Rohr Park, the Mustangs returned to the scene of their triumph to score perhaps an even more impressive one.

Whispers began circulating around the Rohr Park course before Otay Ranch even took to the running field in the 30th annual South Bay Invitational. After winning the boys frosh/soph division, speculation and conjecture turned to facing the facts.

Could first-year Otay Ranch be headed for a CIF title?

The Mustangs, in the least, appear to have put the entire San Diego Section Division IV field on notice after nosing out San Pasqual by one point, 94-95, to capture the team championship.

Otay Ranch finished the 3.1-mile race with three of the top nine finishers, placing its five scorers among the top 59 finishers -- its top four among the top 18 placers out of 127 finishers overall in the race.

Matt Danielson (third, 18:14) and Ernesto Valdez (fifth, 18:31) both scored impressive top five finishes. Following their lead were teammates Ryan Matias (ninth, 18:57), Ricky Pimental (18th, 19:05) and Ivan Dallet (59th, 20:57).

Both Danielson and Valdez engineered finishes ahead of San Pasqual's top placer, Ty Hines (seventh, 18:54), while Matias beat out the Golden Eagles' second man, Jon Kerby, by three seconds.

La Jolla Country Day, Bishop's and Coronado were the top three teams at last year's Division IV championship meet to earn trips to the state championship meet in Fresno. While Division IV individual champion Jacob Ruzevick of Coronado returns, Otay Ranch finished ahead of the Islanders in the team standings at the Mustang-Baron Invitational to fire the first salvo.

Interesting, indeed.

Otay Ranch head coach Ian Cumming, whose team will compete in its first-ever league dual meet Friday at Luckie Waller Park against San Ysidro and Southwest, was understandably pleased with the team's performance.

"It was our one chance to compete at the frosh/soph and junior varsity level this year and the kids took advantage of it with some solid performances," he said.

The Mustangs' girls team -- also paired up against similar age-group competition -- produced as well on the course at this year's South Bay Invitational. Jasmine Leija raced to a third-place finish in the girls junior varsity at this year¹s South Bay Invitational, timing 18:07 on the 2.5-mile course. Jasmine Schoonmaker (18:58) finished 11th in the same field while Natalie Dygert (19:25) placed 18th in the field of 138 finishers.

Bonita Vista win JV Division for seventh consecutive year
Domination. Pure and simple.

With freshman phenom Eric Avila leading the field with a time of 18:00 for 3.1 miles, Bonita Vista placed five of the top 10 finishers to capture the Boys JV Division for a seventh consecutive year.

Avila finished a remarkable 1:04 ahead of second-place finisher Brian Ballard of Patrick Henry.

"We're keeping up with tradition. Having Eric Avila leading the team with 18-flat, he has a shot at the top seven (on varsity)," said an elated Baron coach Hector Hernandez.

Joining Avila among the elite top 10 finishers in the race were Daniel Aguilar (third, 19:09), James Borik (eighth, 19:21), Jonathan Edwards (ninth, 19:27) and Patrick Raue (10th, 19:30). Bonita Vista had eight runners finish the race under 20:00.

Eastlake's Daniel Flores placed fifth in 19:17.

BV-RBV varsity boys showdown
The big event of this year's South Bay Invitational was the showdown between the third-ranked RBV Longhorns and fourth-ranked Barons. While Bonita Vista has been keying on placing among the top three teams at the season-ending Division I San Diego Section finals to earn a trip to the state meet, the Barons discovered they are going to have to navigate quite a logjam to reach that goal.

Running without No. 1 runner Ryan Becijos due to illness, Bonita Vista placed runner-up to RBV by 19 points -- 68 to 87.

Patrick Henry junior Kyle Bruser captured the field in 16:30.8, followed by San Pasqual's Thomas Whitson in 16:31 and a pair of Longhorns: Alec Petros in third place in 16:41 and David Phelps in fourth place in 16:49. A third RBV runner, Agustin Mateo, was sixth in 16:54 -- trailing fifth-place Matt Noble (16:52) of West Hills.

Had Becijos managed to finish ahead of both Petros and Phelps, the Barons would have won.

"The guys ran against some great competition in Irvine and got a taste of what state is like," Hernandez said. "But that's our goal. It's a realistic goal. We have a great shot at being top three at CIF."

With a pack time of 40 seconds -- a season best -- Hernandez has to think his team will get there.

Bonita Vista had 33 medalists overall in the five races in the invitational. Topping the girls varsity field for the Barons were Tiffany Caddell (11th, 16:30) and Jessi Tinsley (21st, 17:03). Montgomery's Priscilla Flores (18th, 16:57) also medaled. Karina Rios (32nd, 17:33) was Sweetwater's top finisher.

The boys varsity race actually got a bit more crowded from a South County standpoint as Sweetwater's Javier Diaz (ninth, 17:05) and Edgar Llanez (10th, 17:06) both ran to top 10 medals. The Red Devils had two other runners produce top 30 finishes -- Robert Isais (21st, 17:33) and Francisco Villasana (30th, 17:44) -- to place third overall in the team standings with 113 points.

SuHi coach Tim Latham seemed pleased with the results. "We're getting there. We knew this year was a work in progress. If we keep working hard, we'll be very competitive," he said.

Otay Ranch's Cumming offered compliments on the running of the meet. "Once again, Tim Latham and his Sweetwater assistants plus their many volunteers did a great job of running the meet," the Mustang coach said.

Notepad
Sweetwater's Meriel Martinez (19:06) placed 14th in the girls JV race while Bonita Vista's Soleil Joya (23rd, 19:43) also picked up a medal.

Sarah McKinney (17:39) was Eastlake's top finisher in the girls varsity race despite just one week of practice. Seniors John Stubbs and Kyle Maynes led the Titans in the boys varsity race.