STANFORD:
Torrey girls take second in Division I
San Diego runners have a big day; Chandler wins; Scripps boys second in D-II; West Hills
boys sixth in D-I
San Diego's cross country teams haven't gotten much respect in the state rankings in the early weeks of the season.
The results from last week's prestigious Stanford Invitational could change all that. The Torrey Pines girls showed their class, finishing second in the Division I girls race. Valhalla's girls also made a good showing in the same race, finishing seventh. For Torrey, Camille Dredge was sixth, Julie Komosinski seventh, Kathy Read 25th and Jackie Appel 28th. San Diego boys teams also ran well, with West Hills (sixth), Vista (eighth) and Valhalla (tenth) all placing well in the Division I race. West Hills' Evan Fox was sixth, and Vista's Justin Neuroth was ninth in the race. The Scripps Ranch boys were second in the Division II race, led by Patrick Grimes (fifth) and Raphael Machado (11th).Serra's Marcus Chandler won the Division II race in 15:51, an impressive effort.
The annual Stanford race is one of the standards that measures team strength, as powerful fields are attracted to the competition. They include a good number of the state's ranked teams and a few strong outfits from out of state. The girls Division I race featured powerhouse teams from Esperanza, Clovis West, Ayala, Thousand Oaks, Peninsula and University of San Francisco, all of which makes Torrey Pines' showing indeed impressive. "I'm pretty pleased," Torrey Pines coach Brent Thorne said. "This is absolutely a great group of girls. I just have a bunch of girls that can really run." The Falcons had such top quality in their first four runners (two in the low 19s, two more in the high 19s), that a 1:04 gap to runner number five in a very large field didn't prove fatal. "They raced hard," Thorne said. "They didn't have much left." Valhalla coach Randy Montesanto was upbeat about his team's seventh-place finish. "Overall, I'm fairly pleased," he said. He was also referring to his boys taking tenth. Scripps coach Bob Oliver was also satisfied with his boys finish (second in Division II). "It's a good middle-season placement," he said. One unhappy coach was University City's Jim McCarthy. His highly regarded girls team was there to test the waters at the state level in Division III. Instead, they almost missed the race entirely. "They lost all track of time," McCarthy said. The team literally had to run to the starting line and arrived just as the gun fired. In fact, one of the team's best runners, Talisha Clophus, couldn't fight her way through the crowd in time and missed the race. "Our strategy was to get out fast," McCarthy said. "We got left, and never got back into it.""We are going through a major growing pain," he said.
The Results:
At Palo Alto, Saturday, October 3. Conditions:
"Perfect Northern California fall day," according to coaches. Ideal
running temperature; course mostly grass surface.
| BOYS (3.1 miles): Top Ten, Division I race: 15:33 Fernando Cabada, Buchanan 15:47 Josh Spiker, Ventura 15:48 Arturo Garcia, Don Lugo 15:49 James DeBruhl, Chino 15:56 Fabian Soria, Ayala 15:56 Evan Fox, West Hills 15:58 Ryan Bousquet, Esperanza 15:58 Seth Neumuller, Thousand Oaks 16:01 Justin Neuroth, Vista 16:01 Brett Holte, Bend, Oregon Top Teams,
Division I: Top Ten, Division II race: Top teams, Division II: San Diego area runners, all races, ranked by time: TEAM TIMES: |
GIRLS (3.1 miles): Top Ten, Division I race: 18:14 Erin MacDonald, Punahou, HI 18:14 Amy Nickerson, Coquille, OR 18:44 Katie Hotchkiss, MissSJ, Fremont 18:58 Kira Morser, Uni, SanFran 18:59 Heather Lozano, Ayala 19:02 Camille Dredge, Torrey Pines 19:05 Julie Komosinski, Torrey Pines 19:08 Abby McAllister, Bend, OR 19:17 Tessa Cendejas, Ayala 19:20 Melissa McBain, Thousand Oaks Top Teams,
Division I: Top Ten, Division II race: Top Teams, Division II: San Diego area runners, all races, ranked by time:
TEAM TIMES: |