Girls’ Cross-Country Preview: Led by Flintridge Prep, successful squads return for another big year

Perhaps there isn’t a fall sport that the city of La Cañada Flintridge’s high school teams thrive in more than girls’ cross-country.

Flintridge Prep is coming off a season in which it won CIF Southern Section and CIF State titles, while La Cañada High captured a Rio Hondo League crown and Flintridge Sacred Heart found a way to survive in a tough league.

There was so much that Flintridge Prep accomplished in 2015. The squad destroyed Pacifica Christian, 24-123, at the CIF Southern Section Division V Championship before romping to a 67-143 victory over St. Joseph Notre Dame at the CIF State Division V Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

While such success has been discussed during the summer in the lead-up to the season, the Rebels have also focused on the one missing trophy from last season.

“Yes, winning the Prep League has been a topic of conversation,” said Flintridge Prep co-Coach Mike Roffina, who will be splitting duties again this season with Jill Riehl. “That’s what this team is fixated on and it’s a major topic of conversation.”

Flintridge Prep’s lone defeat last year came at the Prep League finals at Los Angeles Pierce College when Southern Section Division IV champion Mayfield nipped the Rebels, 23-37.

Arguably the city’s top one-two punch is back in senior Natalie O’Brien and junior Sophie Gitlin. O’Brien was second (18 minutes 18 seconds) in league, fifth (19:07.1) at the Division V finals and eighth (18:54.6) at state, while Gitlin took fifth (18:35), third (18:49) and seventh (18:41.7), respectively.

“Natalie and Sophie are looking unbelievable this year,” Roffina said. “Plus, we have some solid sophomores that I would loved to have had 15 years ago. I really believe this team has more potential than last year.”

From the state title team, Roffina returns everyone, including sophomores Sasha Codiga, Jenna Mijares and Haley Allen, junior Gabriella Bennett and senior Maia Cohen.

“We have about 15 runners that are pretty darn good, but we can only take 10 to state, so it’s going to be a battle,” Roffina said.

Flintridge Prep will commence its season Sept. 3 at the Cool Breeze Invitational at the Rose Bowl.

Change is certainly in the air at La Cañada High, where the Spartans waved good bye to their acclaimed co-coaching duo of Jenn Mora and Jenn Loya. The pair helped the Spartans to a league championship and a 10th-place finish at the Southern Section Division IV Championship.

La Cañada boys’ Coach Nick LaCapria will be tasked with double duty as he takes over a girls’ program that boasts the city’s top runner, whether by times or titles, in junior Katie Scoville.

The La Cañada Valley Sun’s Girls’ Athlete of the Year won her second straight Rio Hondo League individual crown last year in 18:49.61 at Lacy Park. She then became her school’s first Southern Section champion since 1998 when she won the Division IV title in 17:53.6. She capped her season by taking 10th in Division IV at state in 18:39.9.

“She’s going to have another fantastic year,” said LaCapria, who coached Scoville during the track and field season. “She’s at an exciting time of her life where she’s getting letters from colleges and she’s getting better and better running. I really expect her to repeat as a Southern Section champion and she’ll get top five in state, I believe.”

LaCapria is convinced that Scoville has a solid corps of runners backing her up, although he’s not exactly certain on how the order will play out.

Sophomores Adena DiPaolo and Zoe Hale, junior Kallie Rushing and senior Morgan Bowman figure to round out the squad although freshmen Sarah Arthur, Simone Baddruddin and Makenna Burnham will challenge for a spot.

La Cañada will open its season at the Fastback Shootout at Bonelli Park on Sept. 3.

That slight grumbling emanating down the hill is likely coming from Flintridge Sacred Heart Coach Kirk Nishiyama.

The Tologs coach’s job became even more difficult in the offseason as the Mission League and Sunshine League swapped teams. The Mission League shipped down its two weakest squads in Bishop Alemany and Chaminade in favor of the Sunshine League’s two strongest teams of Marymount and Immaculate Heart.

“Our goal is to get to CIF and that just got a little tougher,” said Nishiyama, whose team finished third in league and earned the league’s final automatic postseason berth. “We have a challenge ahead of us and we have a good core running up. We are going to need those young runners to step up.”

The good news for Nishiyama is that he only lost one senior and returns his top runner, junior Bobbie Byrne, who finished sixth at league finals in 20:14.50.

“You’ll be able to tell how well we’ll do this year based on the gap between Bobbie and our No. 2 runner,” Nishiyama said. “If she’s out way ahead, then we’re going to have problems. But, if we can close the gap and get our sophomores to develop, we could have a good year.”

Sophomores Kylie Wilson, Samantha Covey and Megan Koehler will be key to the Tologs’ success as will the health of senior Monica Collins, who’s missed parts of different seasons with injuries.

Nishiyama’s big coup in the offseason came when track and field and soccer standout Sophie Saldivar decided to come out for her senior season.

Flintridge Sacred Heart’s first meet of the year takes place Sept. 3 at the Cool Breeze Invitational at the Rose Bowl.