Crescenta Valley, Burbank, Burroughs highs cross-country teams enjoy standout day at Pacific League finals

LA CRESCENTA — A Pacific League cross-country season full of surprises included one last shocker at Thursday afternoon’s league finals at Crescenta Valley Park.

While Burbank High’s Candela Fernandez won a rare individual championship and the Burroughs boys rolled to an equally uncommon team victory, the stunner came in the girls’ team competition as both Crescenta Valley and Burbank upset league-leading Arcadia to force a three-way tie for the crown.

“I think it’s fair to say no one expected that,” Crescenta Valley Coach Mark Evans said. “It’s been a while since we last won a league championship and, wow, I wasn’t ready today for another.”

Crescenta Valley helped force the tri-league championship by winning with 40 points, while Burbank finished with 57 points and Arcadia totaled 60 points.

PHOTOS: Pacific League cross-country finals

While Crescenta Valley entered with 10-4 mark in league, the league finals win total of seven points was doubled, thus giving the Falcons a 24-4 mark. Burbank, which had been 12-2, had a 6-1 mark doubled to give it a 24-4 record. Arcadia, which entered 14-0, had a 5-2 record and finished 24-4 as well.

“I don’t know the last time we had a girls’ individual champion if ever,” said Burbank Coach Darin Wolf, whose squad won its first league title since 1978. “As for the team, same thing, this was just unbelievable.”

Heading into Thursday, the question revolving around the Burbank girls was if Fernandez would add a new course record to her resume. While the junior fell short of the course mark of 17 minutes, 18 seconds set by Anita Siraki of Hoover in 2000, Fernandez had no competition Thursday in winning in 17:57.53.

“Sometimes it gets a little lonely out there, but that’s when you have to remind yourself that you’re not racing against any one person, but the clock,” said Fernandez, who was also battling flu-like symptoms.

The girls’ varsity race was practically over at the mile mark as Fernandez took a 22-second lead over the Crescenta Valley twosome of Haley Witzeman and Megan Melnyk.

Despite missing a runner because of illness, Burbank received strong efforts from sophomore Kira Bochard (19:20.09) and Caroline Adams (19:24.41), who were fifth and sixth, respectively.

As for the Falcons, the team clinched the title in part because of Witzeman (18:41.09) and Melnyk (18:52.88), who finished second and third.

“All I tried to do out there was just my best,” said Witzeman, whose best finish in a Pacific League race was accomplished by blitzing her previous personal-best of 19:07. “I tried to stay with Candela for a mile and realized I couldn’t, so I just stuck to my own race.”

Witzeman’s time was the fifth-fastest for a Falcon in CV Park history.

Crescenta Valley crossed its top five first, as junior Rebecca Mencia was ninth (19:48.15), sophomore Annie Myers was 12th (20:06.81) and junior Elizabeth Hart was 14th (20:16.50).

As for fourth, Burroughs clinched the position with 88 points and will accompany Crescenta Valley, Burbank and Arcadia to the CIF Southern Section divisional preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College on Nov. 15.

Burroughs boasted three top-20 runners in freshman Emily Virtue (eighth, 19:47.62), sophomore Heidi Eligio (10th, 19:53.25) and sophomore Molly Stapelfeldt (16th, 20:26.53).

Glendale finished fifth with 126 points and was led by Leana Setian (seventh, 19:38.28), who fell one spot short of claiming an individual at-large berth to CIF.

Sixth-place Hoover tallied 181 points and received its top effort from senior Megan Mirkhanian (28th, 22:28.78).

On the boys’ side, Burroughs didn’t have a let up as the squad won its third straight league race and first-ever Pacific League title.

“Our last championship was back in 2005 when we were a member of the Foothill League and tied with Hart,” Burroughs Coach John Peebles said. “This is a special group of runners and this was their goal since the beginning.”

Burroughs was flat out impressive in finishing in the second through sixth spots behind race-winner Phillip Rocha (15:22.88) of Arcadia.

Senior Elias Hoxsie was the league’s runner-up and leader of the pack, as he took silver in 15:44.72. He was followed by teammates Garrett Boulais (third, 15:44.93), Shane Thompson (fourth, 15:49.22), Andrew Barrondo (fifth, 15:50.21) and Alexander Hirsch (sixth, 15:50.56).

“We’re the giant killers,” Boulais said in reference to knocking off traditional power Arcadia.

Hoxsie added: “This was a team effort from the beginning and it feels awesome to win.”

Burroughs finished with 20 points, while Crescenta Valley totaled 57 points and Arcadia tallied 62 points. The Falcons and Apaches both tied for second in the final team standings, while Burbank grabbed the last playoff spot with a fourth-place point total of 110.

Crescenta Valley was led by senior Manav Vats, who eighth in 16:03.31 and posted an additional solid scoring foursome of Colin Fitzgerald (ninth, 16:06.69), Jason Crosthwaite (12th, 16:17.06), Phillip Thomas (13th, 16:19.75) and Silas Fitzgerald (15th, 16:25.69).

Burbank’s Enrique Vizcaino guided the Bulldogs by taking seventh in 15:59.09 and was his squad’s lone top-20 placer.

Glendale was fifth with 146 points and received a 14th-place effort from Paulo Vazquez (16:21.97), while seventh-place Hoover (208 points) was paced for a final time by senior Vladimir Climasevschii (36th, 18:24.72).