SAN DIEGO, Nov. 20 -- Ask team members of the 2004 San Diego Section Division II
champion Monte Vista High School boys cross country team what their secret to
success was this season and they will tell you to a man that it was simple
teamwork. "We run as a really tight pack. We’ve moved up together. The biggest thing on our team is that we don’t have a No. 1 runner. We have five," senior Rob McGrorty said.
"Everybody switches off. It just depends on who has the better day, that person will come in first. It could be a different person each week," senior David Frehafer said.
Junior Patrick Palmiter earned that honor at this year’s Division II championship meet Nov. 20 at Balboa Park’s Morley Field by timing 16:44 on the 3.04-mile course to finish eighth overall among the 158 runners in the race. Following Palmiter on the course were junior Michael Ramirez (13th, 16:51), Frehafer (16th, 16:54), McGrorty (22nd, 17:04), senior Michael Wallace (34th, 17:27), senior Justin Bruce (49th, 17:42) and sophomore Andrew Owens (89th, 18:29).
In winning the team championship, the Monarchs placed their top two runners within seven seconds of each other, had three runners finish within 10 seconds of each other and four runners finish within 20 seconds of each other. The team’s top five scoring spread was 43 seconds — bettering the 1:00 pack time at last year’s division finals when the team took third place.
The CIF team championship was the first for a Monte Vista team since 1984, according to the proud and victorious 2004 team members.
"That’s pretty awesome," Frehafer said.
"It’s just luck that all of us happened to come together at the right time," Ramirez said.
The prize to go with this year’s CIF championship plaque was a return trip to the state championship meet Nov. 27 in Fresno. The Monarchs had advanced to last year’s state finals as the third-place finisher at the section meet and engineered an 18th-place finish among teams in its division in Fresno.
Monte Vista’s CIF title also kept the top San Diego Section Division II bragging rights among Grossmont Conference schools after West Hills won the 2003 team title. The Wolf Pack, which relinquished its Grossmont North League title to El Capitan this season, finished fifth at this year’s meet.
Monte Vista out-pointed runner-up San Pasqual 93 to 101 to capture this year’s Division II team title. University City, which featured individual champion Riley Booker (15:51), finished in third place with 146 points to complete the three San Diego Section state qualifiers.
Orange Glen, with 155 points, finished in fourth place ahead of West Hills (195 points). El Capitan placed well back in10th place with 235 points.
Experience was on the Monarchs side this year with four runners — Ramirez, Frehafer, McGrorty and Wallace —returning from last year’s division finals — and the subsequent trip to the state meet. Three will be back to lead next season’s team: Palmiter, Ramirez and Owens.
"That made the difference. The kids had some experience," Monte Vista coach Bob Muschek said. "They knew how hard they had to work to get back there. They wanted to take the next step."
Muschek, who is in his 10th year coaching the team, pointed to hard work and dedication as other characteristics that defined this year’s team.
"We had a good year. I told them the very first day of practice that we had the potential to win CIF. They were kind of surprised. I don’t think they thought they could be as good as they showed," Muschek said.
Monte Vista’s strength all season has been its ability to run as a pack and that was no different at this year’s league finals as the Monarchs placed all five of their scorers among the top 10 finishers with a phenomenal 15-second spread. Monte Vista runners occupied five of the six spots from fourth through ninth place at the Nov. 13 meet on a rainy morning at Harry Griffen Park.
Delivering the Monarchs’ awesome scoring punch were Ramirez (fourth, 17:02 for 3.0 miles), Frehafer (fifth, 17:06), McGrorty (sixth, 17:13), Wallace (eighth, 17:15) and Palmiter (ninth, 17:17).
The Monarchs had won last year’s league meet with an 18-second spread as McGrorty, Frehafer, Ramirez and Wallace all strode to top 10 finishes.
The Monte Vista girls team finished 20th out of 22 teams in the Division II CIF finals. Junior Joella Silvera (91st, 20:39) and senior Hallie Taylor (94th, 21:01) both posted top 100 times out of 149 finishers.