Girls’ Cross-Country Preview: Is another virtuoso effort in store for Burroughs?

As a new girls’ cross-country season gets underway, hope is high among the city of Burbank’s four high school squads.

Burroughs High, Burbank, Bellarmine-Jefferson and Providence all have aspirations of making an impact in their respective league title chases and advancing to the CIF prelims and beyond.

BURROUGHS

If 2014 was a coming out party for the Burroughs High boys, then 2015 certainly was a breakout year for the girls.

While Burroughs took fourth in league in 2014, the Indians moved up to second place in 2015, led by junior Emily Virtue.

The Indians’ top runner won the league title in 16 minutes, 42.22 seconds, holding off Arcadia’s twosome of Holly Lung (16:45.87) and Jasmine He (16:48.35).

From there, the All-Area Girls’ Cross-Country Runner of the Year soared and finished second at the CIF Southern Section Division I Championships in 17:45 as she was just clipped by Walnut’s Chloe Arriaga (17:40.7).

At state, Virtue took sixth in Division I in 17:39 before placing 38th (18:51.7) at the Foot Locker Cross-Country National Championships.

“Emily was competing at the [track and field] Junior Olympics, so don’t expect her to come out and immediately match what she did last year,” Burroughs Coach John Peebles said. “As we progress into the season, I expect that she’ll have another big year.”

Overall, Burroughs finished 10th at the CIF-SS Division I Championships.

The Indians are a solid squad beyond Virtue and have some excellent returners back in senior Heidi Eligio, who was eighth (18:00.29) in league, along with junior Sapphire Sandoval and sophomore Lakely Nealis.

Peebles also has a few other girls in the loop in senior Dru Kim, junior Kenna Guzman and junior Catrina Villalpando.

“We have some experience from last year’s team,” Peebles said. “It’s just a matter of finding other kids and going out and working hard.”

Burroughs opens the season Saturday at the Great Cow Run in Cerritos.

BURBANK

A year after a Pacific League tri-championship in 2014, the Bulldogs finished third in league in the final season for runner Candela Fernandez (Chico State) and fellow senior Carolina Adams.

While no one may be able to match Fernandez’ exploits, the 2016 Bulldogs return their share of talent, including league top-10 finisher Kira Bochard.

The Leader Girls’ Athlete of the Year took ninth last season in league in 18:00.47.

Bochard is one of four returners for Burbank along with senior co-captains Gabby Collins and Jamie Giammichele and sophomore Natalie Danao.

“We have two captains on varsity, but if you throw in Bochard, then you’re talking about three senior leaders,” said Burbank co-Coach Kathryn Nelson, who is sharing the duties with Robert Hammell. “Legitimately, we have 10 who will compete for a starting spot and I think you’ll see some names fluctuate throughout the season.”

Last season, Fernandez advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division I finals as an individual and placed 14th in 18:30.7.

Nelson is hoping Burbank’s entire team can advance to this season’s Division I finals and listed that as a season goal along with finishing in the top three in league.

Burbank has a small, non-scoring meet Thursday at Santa Clarita’s Central Park before opening up the season at the Rosemead Invitational, which begins Sept. 9.

BELLARMINE-JEFFERSON

The 2015 campaign was truly a successful one for the Guards.

Last season, Bell-Jeff defeated St. Pius X-St. Matthias, 26-55, for the Santa Fe League title and eventually took 12th at the CIF Southern Section Division V Championships. The season didn’t end there, as sophomore Valerie Zavala finished 14th at the CIF-SS Finals in 20:12.7 and earned a spot to state.

At the CIF State Division V Championships at Woodward Park, Zavala earned 19th with a mark of 19:30.8.

This year, however, the challenges are starting to mount.

Guards No. 3 runner Samantha Geyer transferred to Agoura in the same summer in which the team was moved up from the Santa Fe League to Camino Real League, which boasts a pair of formidable teams in reigning league champion St. Paul and runner-up St. Monica.

“I think we’re ready for the move,” Bell-Jeff Coach Jim Couch said. “It’s definitely going to be more difficult than the Santa Fe League, but we’ve got a good team coming back and they can compete.”

Couch has most of last year’s squad back, led by his daughter, Caitlyn Couch. The junior is the reigning league champion and is coming off a track season in which she won three league crowns (800, 1,600 and 3,200) and advanced to the division finals.

Couch’s (18:35.2) and Zavala’s (second place, 19:04.1) times at the Santa Fe League Championships at Santa Fe Dam were better than any mark posted in the Camino Real League.

As for the team’s next two runners, Jim Couch is leaning on multi-sport athletes Dalila Rincan and Claire Borot.

“I’m really excited to see what we can do this year,” Jim Couch said. “We’re still in Division V and maybe we can do better than last year.”

The Guards open the season Saturday at the Cool Breeze Invitational at the Rose Bowl.

PROVIDENCE

Though the team is small, the enthusiasm is still high for the Pioneers heading into the new season.

Co-coaches Michelle Boucher and Ross Genovese have a squad of 10 girls, who are hoping to improve upon a fourth-place finish in the Liberty League last season.

“It was a little strange last year finishing fourth after a string of second-place finishes,” Boucher said. “Our goal this year is to get back into the top three and to get back to CIF, which we had been doing for a while.”

Providence has a pair of talented returners back, led by junior Milena Mooradian.

The soccer standout is in her second year with the cross-country program and will likely be the team’s top runner, although she’s likely to be pushed.

Senior Emi Avila is back a year after consistently running as Providence’s No. 3and is expected to be No. 2, if not No. 1.

“I think you’re looking at the top two runners for us this year,” Boucher said. “As for the rest of the team, we have some newcomers who should provide a boost for the program.”

The Pioneers received another type of boost in the offseason when the year-long renovation effort to Johnny Carson Park, the team’s designated home course, was completed.

“We had spent 25 years at that park and it’s nice to have a tradition and times from the last 25 years that our runners can compare themselves to,” Boucher said. “We kept the 2.6-mile course, which is in line with all the previous times.”

Providence will open its 26th season at Johnny Carson Park on Sept. 7 with the Providence Invitational.

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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com

Twitter: @campadresports