La Cañada, Flintridge Prep cross-country look for titles, advancement
Expectations are sky high for the La Cañada High and Flintridge Prep cross-country programs as both head to the CIF Southern Section Division Championships at Riverside City Cross-Country Course on Saturday morning.
The Spartan girls are fifth-ranked in Division IV, while the boys are making their first appearance at the finals since 2009.
As for Flintridge Prep, the second-ranked boys and top-ranked girls are hoping for a second consecutive championship sweep.
To qualify to the CIF State Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park on Nov. 26, a team needs to finish in the top seven of its division or an individual needs to finish as one of the top five runners not on a qualifying team, but within the top 20 individually.
La Cañada’s boys will have their sleep most compromised when they begin in the day’s first race, the Division IV finals at 7:45 a.m.
“On the boys’ side, honestly, I don’t think there’s a lot of pressure,” La Cañada Coach Nick LaCapria said. “We’re all about improving. If you look at last week, we were right on the outside looking in in terms of teams advancing, but we did better than a couple of teams because of our preparation.”
Saturday’s final will mark the third time La Cañada has raced at Riverside City Cross-Country course this season and LaCapria is convinced that extra preparation paid dividends.
At the preliminaries, the Spartans claimed the 12th and final postseason spot in the second heat with 316 points. Junior Ryan Van Slooten led the way by taking 25th in 16 minutes, 46.5 seconds.
As for the girls, they’ll compete at 8:25 a.m.
La Cañada finished fourth in its prelims heat with 143 points and received a top-10 effort from Rio Hondo League champion Adena DiPaolo (ninth, 19:06.6.)
The Spartans are hoping to improve upon their 10th-place effort from 2015 and advance to the program’s first CIF State Championship appearance since 2012.
“For the girls, it’s all about qualifying,” LaCapria said. “We’re tapering down and everything is in place to qualify. That’s the No. 1 goal.”
Mayfield Senior School sophomore McKenna Smith, a La Cañada Flintridge resident and the Prep League runner-up, is also set to go in Division IV.
Smith will be crossing the finish line when the archrival Flintridge Prep girls commence their quest for another championship in the Division V finals at 8:45.
“They look great and the practices have been real sharp,” Flintridge Prep girls’ co-Coach Jill Riehl said. “It’s a fast course because it’s flat and I’m really looking forward to seeing what times they can pull off.”
Flintridge rolled to a victory in its heat at the preliminaries with 31 points as Sasha Codiga was her team’s top placer, taking fourth in 18:54.3.
If it’s not Codiga, the Prep League champion, pacing the squad, the Rebels have a very deep squad with leaders like Sophie Gitlin, Jenna Mijares, Natalie O’Brien and Maia Cohen ready to step up.
Flintridge Prep enters having won three straight Division V titles.
The Flintridge Prep boys were the only area team in 2015 to win a league, CIF Southern Section and CIF State title.
The Rebels wrapped up the first part of the triple crown earlier this year and look for another title Saturday in their Division V race at 8:05.
“It’s been an interesting year and I think it’s fair to say that we definitely thought this would be a lot more of a rebuilding year than it has been,” Flintridge Prep boys’ Coach Ingrid Herskind said. “The biggest thing that we’ve had to deal with this year is injuries, so it’s nice to be healthy.”
For the first time since September, Herskind will have her healthy starting seven ready for Saturday, with the biggest challenge in the finals likely coming from top-ranked Desert Christian.
“I think Desert has to be perceived as the favorite, but we’re excited about our chances,” Herskind said. “We even had practice [Tuesday] as a way to calm down the nerves and not overwhelm everyone on Friday and Saturday.”
At the prelims, the Rebels finished first in their heat with 52 points with Prep League champion Evan Pattinelli (third, 16:21.7) out in front.
