Overlooked Burroughs boys’ cross-country ready to defend CIF crown
If there’s a common thread for the Burroughs, Burbank, and Bellarmine-Jefferson high cross-country programs heading into Saturday morning’s CIF Southern Section Championships at Mt. San Antonio College, perhaps it’s that all three have high expectations, but all three are still grounded in reality.
Burroughs Coach John Peebles is aware that there is virtually no chatter about his boys’ team as it’s set to defend its Division I title — the lone team championship in school history — at 9:25 a.m. in a field that includes some familiar faces in Pacific League rivals Arcadia and Crescenta Valley.
“I’m not surprised about that,” said Peebles in regards to a perceived lack of respect his team is receiving. “At the beginning of the season, we weren’t doing everything we needed to do. At the first league meet, we wanted to try to do different things and we finished third. We have the talent to compete and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Last season, Burroughs appeared an afterthought for a Division I title with the focus seemingly more on advancing to state.
That all changed, though, when Burroughs upset favorite Dana Hills, 70-91, to win the Division I championship.
Gone from that Burroughs squad are its top three runners, but the Pacific League champion Indians are still more than formidable. They enter ranked fifth and are coming off a second-place effort to Dana Hills, 75-96, in the second Division I heat at last weekend’s preliminaries at Riverside City Cross Country Course.
If both heats from last week’s Division I preliminaries were combined, Burroughs would have finished fifth in its division and is in excellent shape to advance to the CIF State Meet at Fresno’s Woodward Park on Nov. 28.
For any team to advance to the season-ending state finals, a squad must finish in the top seven. For any individual qualifier to advance, they’ll have to be one of the top five finishers from a non-qualifying team.
The odds are a bit longer for the Burroughs girls, who will complete along with Burbank individual qualifier Candela Fernandez at 10:25 a.m. in the Division I finals.
Burroughs took seventh in the second Division I heat at Riverside to qualify, but was 12th overall with 411 points, which is a good distance from seventh-place Ventura (293 points).
According to Peebles, last weekend marked the first time in school history that both the boys and girls advanced to the division finals. The girls’ team has yet to qualify for state.
“They definitely have a tough road ahead of them,” Peebles said of the girls’ squad. “I’m not going to put the goal or the focus on qualifying to state, but instead on just running the best we can.”
Maybe Burroughs’ best chance at qualifying will come individually from Pacific League champion Emily Virtue, who took second in her heat at Riverside in 16 minutes, 58 seconds. Should Virtue advance, she would be the first Indians girls’ qualifier since Sadee Martinez in 2007.
Virtue may very well be joined at state by Fernandez.
Fernandez finished second in her prelims heat in 17:24.7 and said that’s she already pleased with what she’s accomplished this year.
“I feel really good and I’m excited, but this is all icing,” Fernandez said. “I’m a senior and this is my last year and my last time at Mt. SAC, which is just crazy. I appreciate every race I have left and I’m not going to get caught up in qualifying to state.
“Yes, I would love to do it, but I’m going to value every moment I have left.”
Before Burroughs and Burbank get going, it’s the Bell-Jeff girls who have the honor of starting up local action in the Division V championships at 9:05 a.m.
“We’re real excited that we’ve made it to this stage considering that we still haven’t run as well as a team as I think we could,” Bell-Jeff Coach Jim Couch said. “I still think we have more to give.”
The Guards are attempting to advance to state for the first time since 2009 and finished seventh in the first Division V prelims heat. A combined Division V result places Bell-Jeff in 16th with 481 points, a good distance away from seventh-place St. Margaret’s (258).
Santa Fe League champion Bell-Jeff still has an excellent chance of boasting an individual qualifier in two-time league titlist Caitlyn Couch, though.
The sophomore placed fourth in her heat, but fifth overall in the division in a time of 18:51.8.
“I think we can get top seven,” Jim Couch said. “Our goal is to finish in the top seven. If we can do that, then we’ve had a great season. There are a couple of teams ahead of us that we beat. I’m just looking forward to the chance to compete.”
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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com
Twitter: @campadresports