By Phillip BrentsSD Prep Sports: Cross Country
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2005 Cross Country Preview:
Prep cross country season steps off in East County
By Phillip Brents
Posted Aug. 31, 2005
Photo: Monte Vista's Patrick Palmiter navigates 2004 CIF course.
The road to last year’s state cross country championship meet took many turns during the regular season for Grossmont Conference runners but ended on the right one for no less than eight individual qualifiers, plus San Diego Section Division II boys champion Monte Vista.
The Monarchs concluded their history-making campaign with a 10th-place finish in Fresno while Valhalla’s Alicia Nugent won the San Diego Section Division III girls individual title and West Hills’ Kristen Peters placed second in the San Diego Section Division II girls race.
Peters is back to lead a strong corps of East County runners this season. Of the eight individual state qualifiers last season, six are eligible to return this season. Also slated to return are Valhalla’s Anthony Bareno, who finished third in the boys Division III finals as a sophomore, and Granite Hills’ Josh Sandoval, last year’s conference individual champion. Other top returners include West Hills’ Dan Gonia, Granite Hills’ Ashli Sandoval and West Hills’ Johanna Fisherova. All finished with top-10 All-CIF honors. Gonia finished fourth in the Division II boys race.
The 2005 season steps off Friday, Sept. 2, with the Wolf Pack Invitational at West Hills High School. Races are divided by grade level and start at 4 p.m. All girls races, as well as the freshman boys race, will utilize a 1.6-mile course. Sophomore, junior and senior boys will run 2.1 miles. Medals will be awarded to the top 15 placers in all races.
The Movin Shoes Vaquero Stampede steps off Saturday, Sept. 3, at Lindo Lake Park in Lakeside. Entered boys teams include Bonita Vista, Chula Vista, Eastlake, Granite Hills, Mira Mesa, Morse, San Pasqual, University City, Vista and Westview. Entered girls teams include Castle Park, Christian, El Capitan, Hilltop, Hoover, Mar Vista, Mount Miguel, Santana, Serra and Scripps Ranch.
Two division sizes (large schools, small schools) will be featured.
Jason Finch (Granite Hills, 1998) holds the 2.15-mile junior/senior boys course record at 10:05. Claire Rethmeier (San Pasqual, 2003) holds the 1.65-mile girls junior/senior course record at 8:54.
Riley Booker (University City, 2003) holds the boys frosh/soph course record at 8:02 (1.65 miles) while Andrea Jacobs (Vista, 2004) holds the girls frosh/soph record at 9:29 (1.65 miles).
Granite Hills, Helix, Monte Vista and Steele Canyon will all participate in the 10th annual Mustang Invitational on Sept. 9 at Rohr Park in Chula Vista.
The City Conference will host this year’s San Diego Section championship meet Nov. 19 at Morley Field in Balboa Park. The format will feature five enrollment divisions. Division I teams this year include Granite Hills and Helix; Division II teams include Grossmont, West Hills, El Cajon Valley, Mt. Miguel, Monte Vista, El Capitan, Valhalla and Steele Canyon; Santana will compete in the Division III race while Christian and Mountain Empire will both compete in the Division IV race.
Josh Sandoval ran to top honors at last year’s Grossmont Conference championship meet by timing 16:20 on the 3.1-mile course at Griffen Park. Valhalla’s Bareno turned in the second-fastest time on the day in 16:29, followed by Granite Hills’ Alex Guaderrama (17:00) and Monte Vista’s Michael Ramirez (17:02) and David Frehafer (17:06).
Gonia clocked the top time in the Grossmont North League at 16:53, placing him behind both Sandoval and Bareno for the fastest time in the combined conference field. Wolf Pack teammate Jeremy Root (17:22) finished third behind El Capitan’s Kevin Victor (17:20). The Vaqueros placed six runners among the top eight finishers to post the low score in the meet.
At the section finals, Sandoval ran to the fifth-best time (fourth among juniors) among the 520 finishers while Bareno was 13th overall (third among sophomores).
Peters raced to a winning time of 14:12 (2.34 miles) at last year’s conference finals to post the top time for girls in the combined conference field. Fisherova placed second in the Grossmont North League race with a time of 14:43 to finish with the third-best time overall behind Peters and Valhalla’s Nugent (14:26).
El Capitan turned in the low team score, led by Christy James (third, 14:54) and Amanda Vuletich (fourth, 15:12).
Peters had the third-fastest time at the 2004 section championships (first among juniors), while Ashli Sandoval was 18th overall (fourth among sophomores) among the 495 finishers.