Grossmonts: Finch in, Baird out West Hills nearly sweeps both North races; Granite boys, Valhalla girls win; Marquez best girl; Fox, Trask also win

There was no shortage of news stories at this year's combined Grossmont North and South league finals. Among the major developments: Granite Hills senior Jason Finch, one of this area's very best this year, returned to racing after an injury-forced layoff. He raced very well, and had the fastest time of the day (16:07) on the 3.1-mile Griffen Park course. "It was a classic Finch race," Granite coach Dave Yarbrough said. "He went out hard and it was like, 'Come and catch me.' " Helix senior Courtney Baird, the best local girl to this point this season, missed the league meet after contracting a respiratory infection. She is recovering fast, according to coach Ray Mounts, and is almost at 100 per cent at press time (Wednesday). The West Hills boys team, top-ranked in the county and second-ranked in the state (in Division I), made it look very easy in the Grossmont North team race, scoring just 17 points. The Wolfpack scored seven of the first eight places in the race, including the top three. Junior Evan Fox was the fastest Grossmont North boy, running 16:12. Ben Aragon and Paul Saccone were second and third for the Pack. Granite Hills' boys team, helped by the return of Finch, beat Valhalla in the Grossmont South team race. In an earlier dual meet, Granite had won by a point. In this meet, the Eagles used good races by their top three to beat Valhalla's superior depth. After Finch, Granite had Ryan Maynard in fourth and Ian Bartonicek in fifth. "The front end was awesome," Yarbrough said. "Ryan just ran great. It was a nice surprise. Ian also ran well, but shut down a little at the end." The West Hills girls team came up big on race day, and would have won the entire meet if it had been scored that way. The Pack girls (Heather Shurtleff, Becca Bartell, Shawna Winfrey, Cassie Kuske, and Ashley Handy) finished 2-3-4-5-6 to score 20 points. Valhalla's girls team hasn't developed a front-runner like last year's Andrea Clemons (the CIF Division I champ), but they still have great depth. Norse girls took nine of the first 13 places in the Grossmont South. The Helix girls ran very well, however, and would have been right behind Valhalla if Baird had run and won. Instead of Valhalla winning, 23-38, the score would have been Valhalla 28, Helix 30. Senior Natalie Sullivan ran an excellent race to lead the Highlanders, and, "came on really strong in the last mile," according to Mounts. Baird's absence also impacted the individual races, of course. El Cap's Jasmine Marquez won the race, just ahead of West Hills' Shurtleff, and Valhalla's Laura Trask was the Grossmont South champ. It was a great girls race. Maruez, Shurtleff and Trask broke away from the pack after the first mile, and "they really stepped it up," said El Cap coach Sean O'Hara. Marquez then opened about a 5 to 10 meter gap on Shurtleff, who closed it up with about 400 meters left to race. The pair ran nearly shoulder-to-shoulder for the run home, but Marquez edged ahead at the end. How newsworthy is the Grossmont League? The loop contains some of the state's best runners, according to the latest individual rankings. In Division I boys, Finch is rated number two, and Fox is sixth. In Division II boys, Monte Vista's Jon Rankin, who was third overall last week, is ranked fifth. In Division I girls, Baird is ranked third.

The Results: At Harry Griffen Park, Saturday, November 14.