Flintridge Prep, Crescenta Valley cross-country enjoy historic efforts at finals
RIVERSIDE — Championship Saturday certainly had its share of titles, history and tears for the Crescenta Valley High boys and girls, Flintridge Prep boys and girls and Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy girls at the CIF Southern Section Cross Country Finals in Riverside.
The Flintridge Prep girls continued their dominance of Division V, while Rebels boys’ standout Evan Pattinelli claimed his second straight Division V title, the Crescenta Valley boys broke through to state and La Crescenta resident Mia Barnett also took home a crown.
Only one race included two local winners and took place first in the Division V girls’ championships.
Flintridge Prep shrugged off a runner-up effort at the Prep League finals to bounce St. Margaret’s, 55-101, for the program’s fifth straight Southern Section crown and sixth in program history.
“The girls did really great today,” Flintridge Prep coach Jill Henry said. “They ran with a lot of heart and they ran composed. This is exactly what we needed heading into next week to defend our state title.”
Reigning state Division V champion Flintridge Prep will now head into Saturday’s CIF State Finals at Fresno’s Woodward Park.
While Flintridge Prep was a virtual shoe-in, there was still plenty of drama up front.
Rebels senior Sophie Gitlin led through a large portion of the race before Barnett, a Village Christian freshman and La Crescenta resident, gained on Gitlin over the final 500 yards.
Barnett eventually passed Gitlin down the final 200 yards for victory in 17 minutes, 43.1 seconds, while Gitlin took silver in 17:59.
“With about half a mile left, I thought I could get [Gitlin],” Barnett said. “Oh my gosh, when I crossed the finish line, I was so shocked and I was so happy, I couldn’t believe it.”
The only negative for Barnett was that her Crusaders finished 11th with 344 points and missed the state cut.
On the flip side, Gitlin will be bringing along plenty of friends to Fresno.
“I guess I like this course even though it’s a little boring,” said Gitlin, who finished sixth (18:14) last season. “I’m so proud of the girls because they’ve been working insanely hard for this and totally deserve it.”
After Gitlin, the Rebels’ scoring squad consisted of junior Sasha Codiga (fourth, 18:06.5), junior Haley Allen (eighth, 18:19.7), senior Gabriella Bennett (17th, 19:11.2) and junior Jenna Mijares (29th, 19:47.4). Flintridge Prep’s championship squad also included Hope Codiga and Molly Schwartz.
In the boys’ Division V competition, the Rebels finished third with 122 points behind Thacher (82) and Cerritos Valley Christian (117) in advancing to state.
The wonderfully competitive rivalry between Pasadena Poly’s Xian Shively and Pattinelli played out once again.
While Shively captured a Prep League title, Pattinelli exacted revenge in winning a second straight Division V championship in 14:51.9, ahead of the Poly runner’s time of 14:56.2.
“I didn’t want it to come down to a kicker’s race because [Shively] has got a great kick, but that’s just the way it played out and I didn’t want to lose again,” Pattinelli said. “I just went for it.”
Behind Pattinelli, junior Carson Hasbrouck (11th, 15:42.3), freshman Bennett Oakes (24th, 16:19.9) and junior Sebastian Evans (31st, 16:39.5) posted top-50 efforts for the Rebels.
For the first time since 2013, the Crescenta Valley boys are heading to state.
The Falcons finished seventh in the Division I championships with 244 points and took the final state spot in a race won by Great Oak (86).
“We’ve been waiting for this moment for four years now and we made it, we finally made it to the big dance,” Crescenta Valley senior Colin FitzGerald said. “I’ve been there before as an individual, but it means so much more to bring my team. I’m excited.”
For a second straight year, FitzGerald finished second in the Division I championships, this in 14:39.9, which beat his time last year of 14:44.5.
Senior Artin Allahverdian (36th, 15:13.8), junior Manan Vats (39th, 15:16.6) and senior Zach Johnson (41st, 15:17.6) also finished in the top 50 for the Falcons.
While there was joy on one side, there was finality on another as the Crescenta Valley girls finished 16th in Division I with 386 points and missed the state cut.
Senior Caitlyn Couch’s at-large bid also came up short as she finished 16th in 17:32.4, which was seven spots outside of qualifying as an individual.
Her teammate, Naila Ortiz, was Crescenta Valley’s next finisher in 52nd place (18:22.5).
“They went out, did their best and it was a good effort,” Crescenta Valley coach Mark Evans said. “There’s a lot of youth, so we’re going to learn from this experience.”
Flintridge Sacred Heart also bid farewell to a season in which the program recaptured the Mission League title a year after finishing in last place.
The Tologs earned 15th with 418 points in the Division IV championships, which was won by Foothill Technology (70).
Junior Samantha Covey led the charge for Flintridge Sacred Heart and finished 57th (19:48.8).
“There’s no disappointment here,” Tologs coach Kirk Nishiyama said. “We knew to qualify to state we were going to have to run our best race and then some. We didn’t run our best race today, but it’s been a great season and we have a lot of girls coming back.”
