Burroughs boys’ cross-country, Virtue, Zavala look for one last good race at state
It’s down to two cross-country programs that will represent the city of Burbank at the CIF State Championships on Saturday at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
Burroughs High will have its boys’ team and sophomore Emily Virtue competing as an individual, while Bellarmine-Jefferson will be represented by Valerie Zavala.
Unfortunately for the two-time defending Pacific League champion Burroughs boys, ranked ninth in the state by PrepCalTrack.com, they will be short-handed in their Division I championship race at 11:15 a.m.
Coach John Peebles confirmed that one of the team’s top runners, Alexander Hirsch, will not be available due to a shin injury.
“It’s going to be alright, even without Alex, but it’s a blow,” Peebles said. “Alex has sat out a couple of races already and we were hoping he would be able to make it and he can’t, so that’s a bummer.”
Hirsch was unavailable for both the Pacific League finals and CIF Southern Section Division I preliminaries.
The sophomore made a comeback attempt at last week’s Division I finals and finished fifth for his squad and 55th overall in 16 minutes, 13.3 seconds. However, his shin injury worsened after Saturday’s run to the point where he is unable to compete.
Despite Hirsch’s absence, Peebles said there is no change in plans.
“Injuries are a part of cross-country and we’ve preached a next-man-up philosophy,” Peebles said. “In the grand scheme of things, the expectations are very simple. You run as best as you can and you help the team run as best as it can regardless of who’s competing.”
Burroughs finished sixth at the Division I finals at Mt. San Antonio College with 207 points. While the team was unable to defend its 2014 Southern Section title, it still advanced to state with seniors Justin Villagran (32nd, 15:56.3) and Andrew Barrondo (41st, 16:03.6), sophomore Jagdeep Chahal (43rd, 16:06.7) and junior Timothy Wells (47th, 16:08.4) all placing in the top 50.
Last year, Burroughs finished fourth at state with 109 points with a squad that included Barrondo, Villagran and Wells.
As for Virtue, the Pacific League champion will be making her Woodward Park debut at 12:50 p.m. in the girls’ Division I race.
The sophomore has been stellar this season, including Saturday at Mt. SAC when she finished second in Division I with a time of 17:45 and trailed only Walnut super freshman Chloe Arriaga (17:40.7).
Virtue will be running alone as her squad finished three spots outside of qualifying in Division I by taking 10th place with 242 points.
“Even though she’s going to be toeing the line by herself, her teammates will be with her in spirit,” Peebles said. “She’ll still have the love and support of her family and teammates when she runs.”
In finishing second, Virtue became her school’s first girls’ state qualifier since Sadee Martinez, who advanced in 2006 and 2007.
Like Virtue, Bell-Jeff sophomore Zavala will also be a one-girl team when she kicks off local action at 10:40 a.m. in the girls’ Division V race.
Zavala turned in arguably the race of her life as the Guards’ usual No. 2 runner was first for her squad at the Division V finals and 14th overall in 20:12.7.
Zavala ended up grabbing the fourth of five at-large individual bids to state, much to the surprise of her coach, Jim Couch.
“That’s why we do what we do. You run the races and sometimes you get results like these,” Couch said. “That’s our reward as a coach, to see these kids progress and move on. It’s great to have a representative from our school in the state meet.”
Zavala had finished runner-up to teammate Caitlyn Couch in both the Santa Fe League finals (19:04.1) at Santa Fe Dam on Nov. 4 and at the Division V preliminaries (25th, 20:39.9) at Riverside City Cross Country Course on Nov. 14 before jumping ahead of her fellow sophomore to advance to state.
“The only thing I told Valerie is that it’s an accomplishment making it there and you just have to do what you naturally do, which is just run it like a normal race,” Jim Couch said. “I’m excited for her.”
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Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com
Twitter: @campadresports