Western: Scripps, Vikes: Yikes! UC girls roll; Barrack, Grimes look good

Maybe we could arrange it so that Scripps Ranch and La Jolla boys teams could race every week. It would certainly never be dull. They are both excellent programs and keen rivals. Scripps beat the Vikings by one point in the season's final dual meet and topped La Jolla in the league final last week, 29-35. "La Jolla has got to be the most under-appreciated team in the county," Scripps coach Bob Oliver said later. "We ran well, and we barely beat them." In girls racing, a powerful University City squad beat a very good La Jolla team, 28-48. University of San Diego's Michelle Barrack continues to improve. She dropped UC's Katherine Ziegler about halfway into the 3.0-mile race, and won in 18:38. Scripps' Patrick Grimes looked good in winning the boys race in a fast 15:47. Vikings Alejandro Mares (second, in 16:04), Brandon Behr (third, in 16:06) and Eric Koster (fourth, in 16:09) put La Jolla momentarily into the lead. But the Scripps pack closed the deal, with Brendan Riordan (fifth), Raphael Machado (sixth), Andy Delery (eighth) and Mike Comstock (ninth). The Falcons ranged only 0:48 seconds after Grimes' quality effort. La Jolla ran very well, but Scripps was impressive. Only one other league runner (St. Augustine's Colin Donnelly, seventh) could break up the Scripps/La Jolla monopoly of the top nine spots. Similarly, in the girls race, UC and La Jolla girls took six straight places after Barrack finished. Viking soph Desiree Leek was just 0:03 seconds behind Ziegler in third, but UC's pack was too dense after that. UC's Carly Votolato (fourth), Chessa Adsit-Morris (fifth) and Talisha Clophus (sixth) were the next three runners.

The Results: At Morley Field, Thursday, November 12. Conditions: reasonable temperatures; course softened by recent rains. Runners ran on dual meet course.