SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

www.geocities.com/sdprepsports

E-mail us at sdprepsports@aol.com

Home   Swimming/Diving   Cross Country  Track & Field   Roller Hockey   Water Polo   CIF Scorecard

The West Hills Wolf Pack put defending Grossmont North League champion El Capitan on notice by finishing 12 points ahead of the Vaqueros in the girls varsity division at the 32nd South Bay Invitational Sept. 23 at Rohr Park in Chula Vista.

West Hills -- buoyed by a 3-4-5 individual finish courtesy of Kristen Peters, Johanna Fisherova and Kelsey Hall -- placed second overall in the team standings behind defending San Diego Section Division III champion Valley Center. El Capitan finished third in the team standings ahead of Rancho Buena Vista (fourth) and Patrick Henry (fifth).

"It’s still early in the season but we ran well," Wolf Pack girls team coach Bill Cleaves said. "We’re pleased because we seem to be improving each week."

Peters timed 15:36 on the 2.5-mile course, followed by Fisherova and Hall, both with a time of 15:51. Samantha Espinolda (21st, 16:38) also recorded a top end finish in the 131-deep field for West Hills.

For good measure, Sam Timanus captured the girls junior varsity race in 17:23 as West Hills won the team championship ahead of Patrick Henry and Valley Center. In an impressive showing, the Wolf Pack placed its top five scorers among the top 13 finishers in the 184-deep field.

Peters and Fisherova are the Wolf Pack’s top returners after both earned First Team All-CIF top 10 finishes at last year’s Division II finals. Peters was second while Fisherova was ninth.

West Hills finished fourth at last year’s Division II championships -- missing the state cut by 10 points. Cleaves is not predicting anything yet but the Wolf Pack could have the potential to return to Fresno as a team since last accomplishing that feat in 2003. "El Capitan is tough. First we have to get through league. Once we get there, we’ll start thinking about CIF," Cleaves said.

El Capitan placed six of its seven runners among the top third of the field at the South Bay Invitational, with Christy James leading the way with a time of 15:53 in seventh place, followed by Stephanie Cook (11th, 16:05), Mallory Bawkey (16th, 16:20), Katie Martin (19th, 16:24), Ashley Tillery (16:53) and Jamie Ferguson (32nd, 17:02). The Vaqueros’ five-runner spread was 59 seconds.

Photo: Returning state qualifier Kristen Peters led the West Hills' scoring parade at this year's South Bay Invitational.
 

The dual between the two Grossmont North League running superpowers should be interesting on the boys side as well. Though neither squad finished among the top five teams in their division at this year’s South Bay Invitational, the defending champion Vaqueros still appear to have the early season edge.

El Capitan placed its five scorers 62 deep in the field of 137 runners while West Hills’ fifth man finished 72nd.

Kyle Phipps paced the Vaqueros with an 11th-place finish in 16:45 on the 3.1-mile course, followed by teammates Mike Poffenbarger (36th, 17:26), Kevin Watters (38th, 17:27), Rhett Stous (50th, 17:46), Miles Segni (62nd, 18:00), Patrick Green (64th, 18:05) and Chris Torres (68th, 18:10).

Dan Gonia, a state qualifier as a junior last year, led the Wolf Pack with a fourth-place individual finish in 16:09. However, West Hills’ second scorer did not cross the finish line until 1:18 later in 39th place. By contrast, El Capitan’s five-man spread was 1:15.

Steele Canyon’s Megan Meyer captured top honors in the girls varsity field with a time of 15:29.

West Hills finished second in the boys frosh/soph division while Christian was fifth. El Capitan finished fifth in the boys JV division.