Burroughs boys’ cross-country, Virtue, Zavala advance to state

A year ago at this time, Burroughs High’s boys’ cross-country team was winning its school’s first-ever CIF team championship, Burbank’s Candela Fernandez was vying for individual title glory and Burroughs’ Emily Virtue and the school’s girls’ team were not even taking part in the finals.

Times have certainly changed, but they are not yet concluded, as the Indians’ boys’ team came up short of defending its title, but emerged from Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Cross-Country Championships at Mount San Antonio College with a berth to the state finals in Fresno. Joining the Burroughs boys’ team will be Virtue and Bellarmine-Jefferson’s Valerie Zavala, while Fernandez’ decorated cross-country tenure with the Bulldogs came to a close.

Burroughs sophomore Virtue placed second in the Division I girls’ race and earned a qualifying spot to the state finals, becoming the first Indians girls’ qualifier since Sadee Martinez in 2007. Virtue, the fourth individual qualifier in school history, turned in the Indians’ greatest individual finish ever, whether in boys’ or girls’ chronicle.

Virtue clocked 17 minutes, 45 seconds on the 2.93-mile course to finish behind Walnut freshman Chloe Arriaga, who captured the individual title in 17:40.7.

Virtue, the Pacific League champion, advanced to the state finals Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. Despite her performance, the Indians missed advancing as a team, finishing 10th with 242 points, though it was still the finest finish in program history.

“We wanted to make it to state as a team,” Virtue said. “We’re disappointed in the team results, but I am happy that I will be able to represent the team and the school at state. We’re still very happy as how far we’ve come as a team this season.”

Heidi Eligio placed 57th (19:46.9) and Teresa Perez finished 64th (19:56.2) for Burroughs.

Burbank senior Fernandez, who took third last season, placed 14th in 18:30.7 to come up short of an individual qualifying spot. For an individual to qualify, he or she must be one of the top five finishers on a non-qualifying team. Fernandez was the seventh finisher among individuals on non-qualifying squads.

“This season was a bunch of highs and lows,” said Fernandez, the reigning All-Area Girls’ Cross-Country Runner of the Year. “There were points I felt my worst and things didn’t go to plan. This year, I learned a lot and I felt I matured my senior season.”

Great Oak placed five runners in the top 13 to win its fourth straight section title with a 37-161 victory over Vista Murrieta in Division I.

The Burroughs boys’ team, the defending Division I champion, finished sixth with 207 points to return to the state finals for the second season in a row and second time overall.

Despite advancing, the Indians, the two-time reigning Pacific League champions, were frustrated with their performance.

“We’re a little disappointed with the outcome today,” said Justin Villagran, who finished as Burroughs’ top performer at 15:56.3 to place 32nd. “We’re going to continue to work hard this week and have a better race strategy next week.”

Andrew Barrondo clocked 16:03.6 to place 41st, Jagdeep Chahal finished at 43rd in 16:06.7 and Timothy Wells was 47th in 16:08.4.

“We are happy that we get to move on, but we also know that, at the same time, we could have done better with all the training we have done throughout the season,” Villagran said. “We worked hard, but we know we can do a lot better and plan on doing so.”

Arcadia’s Phillip Rocha repeated as individual champion, clocking 14:42.7. Great Oak was the team winner with a 47-70 victory over Dana Hills.

Bell-Jeff’s girls’ team, the Santa Fe League champion, missed advancing to the state finals, finishing in 12th place in the Division V race.

Valerie Zavala was the top performer for the Guards, as she was a surprise 14th-place finisher in 20:12.7 to take the last individual qualifying spot and become her school’s first state runner since 2009.

“After last week’s performance, I knew she had to pick up 10 to 20 spots,” said Bell-Jeff Coach Jim Coach of Zavala, who took 25th in the first Division V heat last week in 20.39.9 and was 41st overall. “Fortunately, the race was so fast that a lot of frontrunners dropped off. She was steady throughout the race and being steady helped her move on.”

Caitlyn Couch, the Santa Fe League individual champ and the Guards’ usual top runner, finished 39th at 21:17.4.

Rolling Hills Prep freshman Mazzy Genovese was the individual winner in 18:16.9. Flintridge Prep won its third straight team title with a 24-123 victory over Pacifica Christian.

Andrew J. Campa and Grant Gordon contributed to this report.