Burroughs’ Virtue, Chahal punch tickets to state
RIVERSIDE — Though the city’s four cross-country programs sent at least one representative each to Saturday morning’s CIF Southern Section Championships at Riverside Cross Country Course, only two individuals survived and advanced to state.
Burroughs High seniors Emily Virtue and Jagdeep Chahal earned qualification to next week’s season-ending race, while a fine 2017 campaign ended for the Burbank girls, Burroughs boys, Providence’s Carissa Guardado and Bellarmine-Jefferson’s Nick Montijo.
If there was a lock to advance to Saturday’s CIF State Finals at Fresno’s Woodward Park, then Virtue was certainly it.
The former two-time Pacific League champion had twice before advanced to state and once again proved she’s one of the Southern Section’s elite runners by taking fifth place in the Division I championships in an area-best time of 16 minutes, 58.5 seconds.
“The race went out really fast like last year and I didn’t want to go out too fast,” Virtue said. “This year I still went out faster than I wanted to go, but I didn’t go overboard. I was in 20th place and decided it would be better to slowly pick off people. “
Virtue was 10th at the midway point and followed her plan of gradually passing runners before eventually taking fifth. While Virtue’s place was the same as last year, her mark this time around easily eclipsed last season’s 17:09.01.
While Virtue ran as an individual Saturday, she lined up near the Burbank girls.
The Bulldogs saw a season of progress end as the squad finished 20th with 448 points in a race won by Great Oak (56).
Sophomore Sol Fernandez was Burbank’s top finisher, taking 66th in 18:39.8.
“It’s pretty amazing to run out here, especially with the history of Burbank High,” a tearful Fernandez said afterward. “The Burbank girls haven’t made it to CIF that often, so it feels good to have got here.”
Burbank’s Noemi Apreza (85th, 18:55.9) was her team’s next placer.
Though the season ended, the Bulldogs took delight in becoming only the program’s third girls team to advance to the Southern Section finals in 30 years.
“The girls are a little disappointed right now, but they did well,” Burbank co-coach Kathryn Nelson said. “They came here 25th in the division and moved up five spots. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
To advance to the state finals, a team had to place in the top seven in its respective division.
The news was bittersweet for the Burroughs boys in the Division I championship race.
As a team, Burroughs finished 12th with 327 points in a race won by Great Oak (86) and in a competition in which league rival Crescenta Valley (seventh, 244) grabbed the final qualifying spot.
While the Indians will miss state for a second straight season, they’ll be represented in Fresno by the surging Chahal.
Fresh off a stunning Pacific League championship victory, the senior is heading to his second state appearance (first as an individual) after finishing fifth in 14:46.8.
“It wasn’t easy today, but we had a great group of juniors and a great team that prepared for this race,” said Chahal, who was part of the Burroughs 2015 state squad. “The good thing for those guys is that they’ll get good experience when they’re back here next year.”
Chahal was the first of five individual qualifiers in Division I and turned in the city’s best time. The senior was also just a bit off the time of rival Crescenta Valley’s Colin FitzGerald (second, 14:39.9).
Alexander Hirsch (27th, 15:08.6) was Burroughs’ only other top-50 runner.
A wonderful season concluded for Providence’s Guardado.
The Liberty League champion placed 19th in the Division V championship in a personal-record time of 19:16.3.
Though Guardado finished in the requisite top-20 spots needed to merit state at-large consideration, she finished 11th out of individual runners with the cutoff being at the top five.
“We are all really proud of her season,” Providence coach Michelle Boucher wrote via email, “and the fact that she is Providence’s first CIF championship qualifier for cross-country and that she ran so well this year, including today.”
It was the end of an era for Bell-Jeff cross-country as Montijo, the Camino Real League champ, ran in perhaps his school’s final race and placed 32rd in 16:39.6 in the Division V finals.
With Bell-Jeff announcing a one-year shutdown set to take place this spring, Montijo knew he was involved in a historic run.
“It is because Bell-Jeff is small and everyone knows the news of the school closing,” Montijo said, “I just wanted to go out and represent my school one last time.”
Twitter: @campadresports
