Valley: Pasqual boys, VC girls win Three girls teams finish one point apart; Ramona girls share league title; Cox, McInvale winners

The Valley League championship was a meet of contrasts. The Valley boys final had so much blue and gold up front that it looked like a San Pasqual home-coming parade. The Valley girls final was much more democratic, with three teams finishing within one point, in the closest team race of the week. San Pasqual's boys, who are coming to a nice peak under coach Pat King, were dominant in the brand-new league. The Golden Eagles took second (Adam Van Wart), third (Kyle Combe), fourth (Erik Kerby) and fifth (Matt Dowthit) in the race. The race winner, no surprise, was Ramona's Matt McInvale. His time was 16:35 on the 3.2-mile course, well off the 15:42 he ran at the Southern Cal Invite, but he was unpressed here and the temperature was warm. (NOTE: Times in the boys races at the north county meets were relatively slow across the board, as the thermometer climbed rapidly after the early races.) San Pasqual's boys put together a one-to-six spread of 0:34 seconds, which was the best of any of the league championship boys teams in the section. Jason Zamora and Joe Dupee were eighth and ninth for the Golden Eagles. Other than race winner McInvale, only Escondido frosh Juan Mondragon could break into the tight Pasqual pack. The girls race was expected to be wide open, but this race may have set a new standard for closeness. Valley Center and Ramona both finished with 49 points, and Escondido had 50. The tie-breaker went to Valley Center, and that race-within-the-race was also close: VC's Diana Strong beat Ramona's Deanna Hitchcock by one second. Escondido senior Lanele Cox won the girls race in an unchall- enged 15:13, and the Cougars also had Sandra Mitchell (eighth) and Thea Rusthoven (tenth) in the top ten. Valley Center's Diana Dibble was second in the race, and team- mate Maria Cervantes was seventh. Also scoring were Jamie Morasco (11th), Laura-Lee Reid (13th) and Emily Hall (16th). Ramona had a nice grouping, with Bre Goetz, Kennie Kwok and Leslie Mitchell finishing fourth, fifth and sixth. The Bulldogs were without Loretta Kilmer, a key runner, who was attending a band function. Kilmer is expected to run the CIF meet, which means that the Bulldogs should be a contender in the Division II field. Ramona's girls had finished ahead in the dual meet standings, but the Valley Center finals win meant that the teams shared the league title. Coach Mike Cummings' Valley Center girls team not only won a league co-title in their first year of competition, but they are now in good position to make a run at the CIF Division IV girls title as well. They are a slight favorite against contenders Coronado and San Dieguito Academy.

The Results: At Guajome Park, Saturday, November 14. Conditions: course in good shape, weather cool for girls race; warming for boys race.