Metro: Real Chula stands up Spartan boys win boys title; girls push Bonita to tie-breaker; Davila, Paff win

Chula Vista enjoys being mysterious. They are one of the teams least seen locally, unless you attend Metro League dual meets on a regular basis. Rumors abound. Are they running well? The Metro meet brought a few answers, as the Spartans came to race. The boys team was impressive in taking the team championship, and the Spartan girls lost to Bonita Vista only on a tiebreaker. Hilltop's Desiree Davila and Bonita's Brian Paff ran to unchallenged wins for the individual crowns. Davila's margin was a whopping 0:43 seconds; Paff cruised in with a comfortable 0:12 second margin. The Chula boys team had narrow dual-meet wins over both Sweetwater and Bonita Vista, and had run poorly at the Kit Carson Invite. They seemed to be vulnerable. Forget it. They ran well. Ken Nwadike was second to Paff, and Michael Manzano was fourth. The scoring was rounded out by Gabriel Cornejo (eighth), Efrain Novelo (12th), and Aaron Galvan (15th). The Spartans had all of their seven in the field's top 19 runners. Bonita Vista was second, paced by Paff, Ted Herbert (third) and Dustin Whitson (ninth). Third- place Sweetwater had Ruben Vences (sixth), Adrian Garcia (seventh) and Luis Reyna (tenth) all in the top ten. The girls race was a great struggle between the Bonita and Chula squads. Positions among all the scorers changed often, with points swinging wildly back and forth. One decisive move was Nguyen's final kick, when she passed Spartan Sophia Marquez at the last possible moment.

The Results: At Southwestern College, Friday, November 13. Conditions: course in good shape, but warm temperatures slowed times.