Boys’ Cross-Country Preview: FitzGerald, Pattinelli lead way
Though cross-country is very much a team sport, a pair of individual runners have a great chance to turn in exceptional seasons.
Crescenta Valley High senior Colin FitzGerald and Flintridge Prep senior Evan Pattinelli are already two of their school’s greatest runners and each is looking for more in 2017, which includes team success.
Glendale, Hoover, St. Francis and St. Monica Academy all also want to improve this season.
Ask Crescenta Valley Coach Mark Evans where FitzGerald ranks among school greats and Evans notes that FitzGerald is consistently ranked between first and fifth in school history among top course times.
“I think the goal for Colin this year to hit top five in state, conservatively,” Evans said. “He would like to win league again, do well at the Southern Section meet and be in a position where he can make a national meet.”
FitzGerald captured his program’s first Pacific League title since 2008 (Zack Torres), finished second at the CIF Southern Section Division I championships and was 44th at the state Division I finals.
As for the Falcons, they displayed a strong final kick that saw them finish third in the Pacific League and miss out on first place by five points, while the squad took 10th at the CIF-SS Division I finals.
Nearly the entire team is back as FitzGerald will be followed by junior Manan Vats and seniors Zach Johnson, Artin Allahverdian, Carter Walch and Spencer Geck.
Perhaps Flintridge Prep should be graded on a different scale as compared to most area teams.
There was some disappointment after a year in which the Rebels captured their 24th Prep League title in 25 years, took third at the CIF Southern Section Division V championships and placed second at state in Division V.
While the team may not have hit its championships expectations, that didn’t stop junior Evan Pattinelli from flourishing.
Pattinelli took his spot among recent program giants Jack Van Scoter and Alan Yoho by winning a Prep League crown, capturing a Southern Section Division V title and finishing runner-up in state to national powerhouse Cooper Teare, who’s at Oregon.
“Evan progressed exactly how we would have liked him to last season and he’s on track for another amazing season,” Flintridge Prep coach Ingrid Herskind said. “He already shattered his Mammoth time by 30 seconds and beat Jack’s time by 10 seconds. He’s going to have a big year.”
Flintridge Prep is more than just Pattinelli, though, as the senior will be flanked by talented juniors Carson Hasbrouck and Sebastian Evans.
Herskind will also look to junior Ethan Moutes, who is returning from a stress fracture last year, along with senior Sunay Poole, freshman Bennett Oakes and sophomore Daniel Kotlyar.
Last season was a trying time for St. Francis, which finished sixth in the Mission League and showed growing pains as a young squad.
The Golden Knights are again green this season, but do have some sound returners, headlined by sophomore Stuart Serventi.
The then-freshman finished 15th at the league finals and is his team’s clear-cut best runner.
Serventi is part of a Golden Knights youth movement and will join fellow sophomores Jason Suh and Nico Siranna in front of the St. Francis pack.
St. Francis coach Pat Donovan was also excited about a few freshmen that entered the program and will likely take up scoring spots on the team.
“A really young team can be difficult to manage with a lack of experience and filled with peaks and valleys, but I’m looking forward to seeing how these guys do,” Donovan said.
“Based on the summer we had, we’re really, really looking to building this year and growing the program over the next couple of years and hopefully getting back to the postseason.”
Expectations for improvement are also at Glendale, where the Nitros placed fifth and just missed a postseason berth.
Coach Bob Bailey is counting on a trio of runners to lead his team back to the promise land.
Junior Arvin Sales impressed at the Crescenta Valley summer series — taking second in the final 2-kilometer race — and is back after missing his entire sophomore season with an injury.
Sales is expected to be Glendale’s top runner, but followed close behind by junior teammate Jose Romero and sophomore Chadi Saklaway.
“[Sales] is anxious to get back to competitive running,” Bailey said. “Both Chadi and Jose showed great improvement last year and I believe they are ready to show how much better they are since last season.”
Though the numbers are small at Hoover, the goal of improvement remains steady for the Tornadoes and coach Jack Sallakian.
Hoover participated in offseason competition, including at Crescenta Valley’s summer series, and Sallakian is confident that work will pay dividends.
Sallakian has one reliable contributor back this season in junior Omer Abdelrahim.
“He’s improved and he ran pretty well all summer long,” Sallakian said. “It’s just a matter of him now going forward and moving up with the better runners in league.”
By mid-season, Sallakian is hopeful some of his newcomers will become strong contributors.
While St. Monica Academy will be competing this season, it remains to be seen whether new coach Dennis Slavin will field an entire team.
Slavin confirmed he has six runners as of late August, but those numbers may change.
The Crusaders have a full schedule with seven invitationals and the team will be competing at the freelance level.
Slavin has a pair of experienced returners back in junior Mark Golbranson and sophomore Renee Urrea.
“My primary goal is that the team stays healthy for the season and that they have fun,” Slavin said. “For our returners, though, I really want to see improvement over last year’s times.”
