Boys’ Cross-Country Preview: Crescenta Valley aims high in Pacific League

It’s been an offseason of intrigue for the six local cross-country programs, who suffered big graduations, but all welcome newcomers.

The goals certainly are different for Crescenta Valley, Flintridge Prep, Glendale, Hoover, St. Monica Academy and St. Francis highs, but the push to improve is the same for all.

At Crescenta Valley, the Falcons graduated one talented runner, but welcome another back.

Gone is Pacific League runner-up Philip Thomas.

Despite the loss, the Falcons return arguably the favorite to win the league title along with Burroughs’ Alexander Hirsch in Colin FitzGerald.

The junior enjoyed a breakout 2015-16 year in cross-country and track and field.

After finishing third (14 minutes 44.55 seconds) at the cross-county league finals, FitzGerald placed 11th (15:30.2) at the CIF Southern Section Division I Championships and 23rd (15:39.1) at the CIF State Division I Finals. In track and field, FitzGerald captured the league’s 3,200-meter run in 9:28.89.

“Colin is for sure a guy who can win a league title,” said Crescenta Valley co-Coach Mark Evans, who will share the responsibilities with his son, Rob, who formerly coached at Golden Valley. “He did it in track and he has to be up there in cross-country.”

Behind FitzGerald, Evans has a pair of returners from league finals in junior Zach Johnson and sophomore Manan Vats.

Outside of those runners, Evans has a slew of other contributors in juniors Logan Neil, Artin Allahverdian, Jon Yoon and Spencer Geck, sophomore Ethan Sharp, senior Matt Brunner and freshman Dylan Wildur.

Last season, the Falcons finished third in a very competitive Pacific League that sent three squads to the CIF-SS Division I finals. Crescenta Valley was one of the teams and took ninth with 230 points, which was four points shy of securing eighth place and the last spot to state.

Crescenta Valley opens the season Thursday at Crescenta Valley Park in a three-team meet against Newbury Park and Camarillo.

Perhaps there was no better season in the history of Flintridge Prep boys’ cross-country than last year, as the Rebels won the Prep League, CIF Southern Section Division V and CIF State Division V Championships. Glendale News-Press Boys’ Athlete of the Year Jack Van Scoter wasn’t just the catalyst, but the heart and soul behind the team’s success as the Georgetown University freshman captured individual league and Southern Section titles, while finishing second in state.

Throw in the graduation of steady No. 2 runner Nikhil Poole and Flintridge Prep Coach Ingrid Herskind certainly has more parity on her squad than she’s had in a while.

“There’s no denying we lost some heavy hitters from last year, some great runners,” Herskind said. “And for the first time in a while, we don’t have a set lineup. We have a battle for who’s going to round out this team and it’s one of the more interesting and fun starts to the year we’ve had in a while.”

While it’s unlikely anyone can replace Van Scoter, Herskind has a solid returner in Evan Pattinelli. The junior finished second for the Rebels in state and ninth overall in a mark of 15 minutes, 52.2 seconds at Fresno’s Woodward Park. Pattinelli also tied Poole for second at the Prep League finals (16:17) and was seventh overall (15:55.2) at the Southern Section championships.

“Right now you probably have to say Evan is going to be our No. 1,” Herskind said.

Behind Pattinelli, the Rebels boast seniors Jonathan Vahala and Riley Coan.

Vahala finished fourth (16:29) in league, 10th (16:17.8) in CIF-SS Division V and 17th (16:19.1) at state, while Coan is coming off a strong year in track and field in which he finished second in league in the 800-meter run (2:03.47).

Sophomore Sebastian Evans also figures to make an impact with the Rebels.

Flintridge Prep opens the season Friday at the Rose Bowl at the Cool Breeze Invitational.

Over the last few years, the St. Francis cross-country team has seen its share of progress, albeit at an agonizing pace.

Last season, the Golden Knights made a strong surge to qualify for the Division IV postseason and just came up short at the Mission League finals at Crescenta Valley Park on Nov. 4.

Needing to finish in the top four, the Golden Knights placed fifth and were bested by Bishop Alemany, 112-128.

“Every year you hope it’s your year and we were close last year,” St. Francis Coach Pat Donovan said. “We lost some guys from last year, but we have three returners back, so I’m cautiously optimistic.”

St. Francis graduated its top three league finishers from last year in Chris Rodriguez, Ryan Hambley and Matthew Fernandez.

Despite the losses, Donovan has some strong returners led by senior C.T. Mayne, who sat out half of last season due to transfer rules. Mayne was the Golden Knights’ No. 4 runner and took 33rd in league.

Senior John Gandara and junior Ben Grace will be right behind Mayne.

“This is only John’s second season of running and he’s shown a lot of progress,” Donovan said. “Ben is back with us after taking a hiatus last season. He was a strong runner for us as a freshman and I think he’ll be that guy again.”

St. Francis commences the season Friday at the Fastback Shootout at Bonelli Park.

It was a rough offseason for Glendale High a year after the Nitros took fifth in the Pacific League.

Glendale graduated four of its top seven, including all-league selection Paulo Vazquez.

Longtime coach Bob Bailey does have a few returners back, though, with No. 2 sophomore runner Arvin Sales, junior Albert Hernandez and senior captain Dexxer Medina. Newcomers Robert Peralta and Mikkel Laspinas are also near locks to make the team.

“Boys’ varsity lost a large chunk of runners to graduation, so it will be interesting to see who will step up to take the remaining varsity spots,” Bailey stated. “Dexxer, Albert, Robert and Mikkel have been running well during the summer and are looking forward to our first invitationals to see what they can do. Arvin is sidelined with a stress fracture, so I am hopeful that we can get him going in the second half of the season.”

Bailey’s biggest challenge this year is converting his athletes into cross-country runners. Several members of the team have competed in the distances during the track and field season, but are making their cross-country debuts.

Glendale begins its season Saturday at the Cool Breeze Invitational at the Rose Bowl.

It’s been a brutal offseason for coach Jack Sallakian and Hoover.

Sallakian lost both his top runners from last year, sophomore Corey Ellis, who transferred to Burroughs, and No. 3 runner Roger Reyes, who moved to Florida.

“It’s been heartbreaking, because they’re really two amazing runners and I was looking forward to a big year from them and for us,” Sallakian said. “They’re both guys who ran under 15 minutes and their loss is a big blow to the program.”

Sallakian’s eight-man squad does have back a top-three returner in senior Chris Chereque, the team’s second-best runner last season.

Chereque will be joined by senior Matthew Regner and both will represent the bulk of experience for the Tornadoes.

Sophomore Omar Abdelrahim, Sallakian’s former neighbor, is also joining the cross-country squad after only running track his freshman year.

“We’re going to go out and do our best,” Sallakian said. “It’s a young team with a couple of freshmen and a few sophomores, so it’s about learning this year.”

Hoover begins the season taking part in the two-day long Rosemead Invitational, from Sept. 9-10.

St. Monica Academy athletic director Darren Bradley has a new coach this year in Jake Whalen, who is taking over a program that just began practicing for the upcoming season.

“We just got underway, so it’s hard to identify which runners will be standouts at this point,” Whalen said. “We’ll have a better understanding later in the year.”

The Crusaders have participated on an individual basis in the past, but are hoping to have enough runners to field a full team.

The squad opens its season at the Rosemead Invitational.