Flintridge Sacred Heart, St. Francis cross-country have room to grow

LOS ANGELES — For once, the goals and aspirations of the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy and St. Francis High cross-country programs are aligned.

After Wednesday afternoon’s first Mission League meet at Griffith Park’s flat and nearly straight Crystal Springs Course, both are hoping for improvement and to avoid a steep learning curve.

The Tologs suffered their worst finish in years, taking fifth with 113 points, while the young Golden Knights placed sixth in their race with 161 points.

One of the constants over the years has been the success and postseason inclusion of Flintridge Sacred Heart, which took third at last season’s league finals.

This year, however, the Mission League shipped its two lowest finishers in recent seasons — Bishop Alemany and Chaminade — to the Sunshine League. In return, the Sunshine League moved its two top squads from a year ago — Marymount and Immaculate Heart — up to the Mission League.

It appears that the move affected the Tologs the most, as Marymount (second, 47 points) and Immaculate Heart (fourth, 70) posted better scores than fifth-place Flintridge Sacred Heart in a race won by Harvard-Westlake (41).

“It’s going to be really tough this year and it’s kind of funny because, as a team, we’re better this year than we were last year,” said Flintridge Sacred Heart Coach Kirk Nishiyama, whose squad needs to finish in the top three in league to automatically advance to the CIF Southern Section postseason. “Now, though, with Marymount and Immaculate Heart in the league, it’s just a much tougher league.”

The odds were certainly stacked against the Tologs, who missed injured top runner Bobbie Byrne, who finished sixth at last year’s league finals.

Without the junior, Flintridge Sacred Heart had a familiar, albeit, new face leading the charge in senior Sophia Saldivar. The three-sport (soccer and track and field) athlete is taking part in her first season in cross-country and finished 15th in 20 minutes, 32.17 seconds.

“I came into cross-country really hesitant because three miles is a really long distance and I had never run that much before,” said Saldivar, an 800-meter runner in track and field. “But coach Nish really believed in me and so did my teammates, so I just kept running.”

Saldivar was one of three Tologs to finish in the top 20, joined by sophomores Megan Koehler (19th, 20:41.41) and Samantha Covey (20th, 20:55.87).

Reigning league champion Mariah Moro of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame won her sixth league meet in seven tries in 18:19.12. The junior’s only league setback came in 2014 when Flintridge Sacred Heart’s Kayla Grahn topped her for the league title.

On the boys’ side, Loyola was sublime.

The Cubs incredibly finished first through seventh to win with 15 points, while senior Charlie Sherman took home the victory in 15:59.27.

With a field that includes CIF Southern Section Division II top-ranked Loyola and Division IV No. 4 Harvard-Westlake, Golden Knights Coach Pat Donovan acknowledged the challenge in getting his squad to focus on its own goals.

“That’s a really tough thing and unfortunately it’s something you can mention to your team before and everybody knows just how strong Loyola is,” Donovan said, “but it’s something to see them go seven across the line in sub-16 times, that’s just a tribute to them.

“And as great as that is, you have to go out and run your own race. The good thing for us is we’re not doing it alone. Each guy has six teammates out there and we’re all helping each other and trying to get better.”

St. Francis entered the race green after the squad graduated its top three competitors from last year, including senior Christian Rodriguez.

Wednesday’s results marked a true changing of the guard as freshman Stuart Serventi became his team’s first ninth-grader to lead his squad in a league race since Rodriguez did so four years ago.

Serventi finished 18th in 17:29.77.

“This was really challenging, especially because it was hot, but it was fun,” Serventi said. “So far, I’ve been one of the fastest kids on the team and I’m happy to have this finish. I wanted to get 17:30 today.”

Senior Charles T. Mayne was St. Francis’ only other top-30 placer and took 29th in 18:08.62.