2004 Grossmont Conference Finals

Photo courtesy/www.photosport.com

Helix girls, Monte Vista boys once again rule Grossmont South League course

El Capitan sweeps West Hills in Grossmont North League showdown

By Phillip Brents

Posted Nov. 16, 2004

After the Helix varsity girls cross country team scored a narrow one-point win, 27-28, against Granite Hills in the teams’ celebrated Oct. 29 dual meet between Grossmont South League unbeatens, Helix coach Ray Mounts had one thing to say about last Saturday’s league championship meet at Harry Griffen Park.

"League finals should be very interesting racing," he predicted.

Photo: Josh Sandoval, Granite Hills

Grossmont South League finals champion

Overall, he was not wrong. El Capitan upset defending Grossmont North League champion West Hills in both the boys and girls varsity divisions while Monte Vista (boys) and Helix (girls) both repeated as Grossmont South League champions. The championship sweep was the first for El Capitan since 1995.

What Mounts might not have predicted after the Highlanders’ initial encounter this season against the Eagles was the sizable spread between the teams at this year’s league finals. Helix captured low scoring honors with 28 points, followed by runner-up Steele Canyon with 50 points, third-place Granite Hills with 65 points, fourth-place Valhalla with 93 points, fifth-place Monte Vista with 150 points and sixth-place Mt. Miguel with 163 points.

The Highlanders, who recorded their fifth consecutive league title, placed four runners among the top six individuals: Jamie Marliere (second, 14:56), April Montgomery (third, 15:08), Elena Esqueda (fourth, 15:35) and Amanda Schramm (sixth, 15:48). Times are for 2.34 miles.

Melissa Elizarraraz (13^th, 16:12) finished as the team’s fifth runner.

Marliere finished fourth at last year’s league finals while Montgomery was fifth. Last year, Helix held off Granite Hills by one point for the team title.

Marliere, whose invitational finishes this season included ninth at the West Hills Wolf Pack Invitational, 12th at the Mustang Invitational and 20th at the Dana Hills Invitational, could be peaking at the right time.

"Early in the season, she was struggling with a couple things. She has progressively gotten stronger each week," Mounts said.

Montgomery stepped off the season by finishing third at the Wolf Pack Invitational and followed that a week later by placing second at the Mustang Invitational. She took a first-place finish at the Woodbridge Invitational and ninth in a very fast race at the Dana Hills Invitational.

The team’s impact newcomers include freshmen Ellie Stone, Annalise Schramm and Cassandra Chase. Stone finished seventh at the Wolf Pack freshman division while Schramm finished 12th in the freshman division at the Dana Hills Invitational.

Though the Highlanders’ string of four straight conference junior varsity championships came to an end (Helix placed runner-up to champion West Hills), the Highlanders had two runners place among the top 10 individuals. Melissa Farrior was second in 16:19 while Chase was ninth in 16:33.

Esqueda and Amanda Schramm are JV conference champions from the past two years.

"The one thing I’ve been very impressed with is how Elena and Amanda have been pushing our fifth, sixth and seventh runners along with them. That little pack is running together. We’re running deeper now. That kind of back-running has tightened us up as a team," Mounts said.

The next step is this Saturday’s San Diego Section divisional championships that also serve as a qualifying meet for the state championships Nov. 27 in Fresno. Helix will compete alongside league rival Granite Hills in the Division I race slated for 1:20 p.m.

The top three finishing teams, with the exception of Division IV and Division V, advance to the state finals. Selected top-placing individuals on non-qualifying teams may also qualify.

"We’d like to qualify for state meet or take as many individuals as possible," said Mounts, whose team qualified for the state finals in both 2001and 2002 and sent one individual (Evon Willingham) last year after finishing seventh in the Division I standings. "The way the team is starting to run, they could surprise. I give them an outside chance at the No. 3 spot if we get good efforts from our three, four and five spots. We’re likely good for a top 10 finish."

Steele Canyon’s second place finish at league finals might not be surprising after Helix edged the Cougars, 28-29, to kick off the dual meet season on Sept. 30. Certainly, Steele Canyon’s runner-up league finals finish made up for the Cougars’ 22-35 dual meet loss to the Eagles earlier in the season.

Three Steele Canyon runners finished among the top eight individuals: Ali Mendoza (fifth, 15:37), Bethany Rangel (seventh, 15:51) and Kelsey Richardson (eighth, 15:54).

The Eagles had four runners place among the top 10 individuals last year — led by Ashli Sandoval (sixth) — but only placed one runner in the top 10 this season: Amanda Olah (ninth, 15:55). Sandoval, a nationally ranked soccer player, elected not to compete at this year’s league finals because of a conflict with club soccer.

Valhalla’s Alicia Nugent, who placed second among individuals at last year’s league finals, won top individual honors this year with a first-place finish in 14:26 -- the second-fastest time on the day behind Grossmont North League winner Kristen Peters of West Hills (14:12). Valhalla’s Michelle Dalton was 10th in this year’s Grossmont South League finals in 15:58.

Monte Vista also ran away with the top team score in the boys division, finishing with 32 points to runner-up Valhalla’s 72 points. Helix was third with 84 points, followed by Granite Hills in fourth with 91 points, Steele Canyon in fifth with 92 points and Mt. Miguel in sixth with 140 points.

The Monarchs’ strength all season has been their ability to run as a pack and that was no different at league finals as Monte Vista placed all five of its scorers among the top 10 finishers -- taking five of the six places from fourth through ninth place. The Monarchs’ five-man spread was 15 seconds.

Monte Vista’s scoring punch was delivered by Michael Ramirez (fourth, 17:02 for 3.0 miles), David Frehafer (fifth, 17:06), Rob McGrorty (sixth, 17:13), Michael Wallace (eighth, 17:15) and Patrick Palmiter (ninth, 17:17).

The Monarchs won last year’s league meet with an 18-second spread as McGrorty, Frehafer, Ramirez and Wallace all strode to top 10 finishes as well.

On an individual basis, Granite Hills’ Josh Sandoval (16:20) defeated pre-meet favorite Anthony Bareno of Valhalla by nine seconds to win the boys individual league title. Sandoval had finished second at last year’s league meet.

Granite Hills’ Alex Guaderrama finished third this year in 17:00 while Mt. Miguel’s Chris Laguna placed seventh in 17:14.

El Capitan swept the top team score in both the boys and girls Grossmont North League finals. In the boys race, the Vaqueros totaled 24 points to the runner-up Wolf Pack’s 34 points. In the girls race, El Capitan out-pointed West Hills 30-34.

With seven finishers among the top 10 individuals (five among the top seven), El Capitan did nothing short but dominate the boys race. The Vaqueros totaled a 39-second pack time, led by Kevin Victor’s second-place finish in 17:20 and buttressed by its remaining top five scorers: Kyle Phipps (fourth, 17;27), Kevin Watters (fifth, 17;32), Rhett Stous (sixth, 17:47) and Alan Rostamijam (seventh, 17:59). For good measure, Mike Klutch finished eighth (18:04) while Hunter McAnally was 10th (18:11).

"Our boys ran in incredible conditions (rain) and ran well. West Hills ran well. We ran even better," El Capitan coach Anthony Garcia said.

Perennial champion West Hills had two of the top three runners in individual champion Dan Gonia (16:53) and third-place finisher Jeremy Root (17:22). Blake Caricato finished ninth in 18:07.

Grossmont finished with the third-best team score of 79 points, followed by El Cajon Valley in fourth with 112 points. Santana did not score in the meet.

On the girls side, El Capitan placed four runners among the top seven finishers: Christy James (third, 14:54), Amanda Vuletich (fourth, 15:12), Mallory Bawkey (sixth, 15:21) and Stephanie Cook (seventh, 15:21).

West Hills countered by placing three of the top four individuals and had four runners place among the top 10 finishers, led by Peters (first) and Johanna Fisherova, who placed second in 14:43. The Wolf Pack, which had out-pointed the Vaqueros in the teams’ dual meet earlier this season, also received top 10 finishes from Carrie Saccone (fifth, 15:18) and Samantha Espindola (10th, 15:24).

El Captian’s Garcia said it was an amazing race between two amazing teams. "The girls race was an incredible race. Three points is very close," Garcia said. "Our girls ran fantastic. We had a couple girls out and a couple girls stepped up. We ran well and West Hills also ran an outstanding race. It’s one of those things that if both teams ran 10 teams, each team would win five times. It comes down to which is the better team that day."

Between the two powerhouse teams, West Hills and El Capitan finished with eight of the top 10 individuals. Grossmont’s Randee Meek was eighth in 15:22 while Santana’s Afton Siebern was ninth, also in 15:22.

Grossmont placed third with 85 points, followed by Santana with 101 points and El Cajon Valley with 127 points.

The San Diego Section championship step off at 8:30 a.m. with the Division II boys race, followed by the Division III boys race at 9 a.m., the Division II girls race at 9:30 a.m., the Division III girls race at 10:05 a.m., the Division IV boys race at 10:40 a.m., the Division V girls race at 11:10 a.m., the Division I boys race at 11:45 a.m., the Division IV girls race at 12:15 p.m., the Division IV boys race at 12:50 p.m. and the Division I girls race at 1:20 p.m.

Granite Hills and Helix will compete in the Division I races while West Hills, Grossmont, El Cajon Valley, Mt. Miguel, El Capitan, Monte Vista and Steele Canyon will compete in the Division II races. Santana and Valhalla will compete in the Division III races.

The Vaqueros coach said both the El Capitan and West Hills girls teams have very good chances of qualifying for the state meet. "Both West Hills and El Capitan each have a good chance at finishing in the top three. Our boys have an outside chance if they run up to their potential," Garcia said.