La Cañada girls’ cross-country wins first Rio Hondo League meet

LA CRESCENTA – While expectations and circumstances were different for the La Cañada High girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams, both still enjoyed success at Wednesday afternoon’s first Rio Hondo League meet.

The reigning champion girls flexed their muscles and showed off their depth in cruising to a victory, while the boys showed themselves to be a postseason contender by finishing third at Crescenta Valley Park.

“I thought we had a pretty good race and I liked what I saw from the girls, not too many complaints,” said Spartans girls’ co-Coach Jenn Mora, who is sharing the duties with Jennifer Loya. “We have a very good team this year and a lot of good runners. You’ll likely see different runners in different races.”

There was no surprise up front, as super sophomore Katie Scoville, an All-Area selection last season, took a 30-second lead midway through the race and romped to victory in 18 minutes, 49.61 seconds. Scoville’s time was so quick that she was more than a minute ahead of league runner-up Olivia Harrigian (19:54.67) of San Marino.

“It was a little tough out there because I was hoping and expecting to get some competition,” said Scoville, last year’s league individual champion. “When you’re out by yourself, it’s harder to push. I guess I have to get better at that.”

Scoville was so far ahead that the sophomore actually veered off course and added anywhere from an extra five to 10 seconds to her final time.

“I guess when you’re that good and you’re that far ahead, it doesn’t really matter,” Loya said.

The team competition wasn’t that much closer, as La Cañada defeated South Pasadena, 27-46. San Marino was third with 57 points, while Temple City was a distant fourth with 114 points.

Freshman Adena Dipaolo took second for the Spartans and fourth overall in 20:36.21, while the Spartans’ last three scorers consisted of Kallie Rushing (fifth, 20:39.89), Morgan Bowman (eighth, 20:59.08) and Lynette Aslanian (ninth, 21:02.86). Overall, La Cañada’s seven runners finished in the top 15.

The Spartans’ depth was evident early when La Cañada’s No. 4 runner from last season, Jenny Callan, won the junior varsity race in 21:53.08.

“This is a competitive team and we want to push the girls to get the best out of them,” Loya said. “You’re going to see some girls up and down on varsity and junior varsity. That competition makes us a stronger team.”

On the boys’ side, La Cañada Coach Nick LaCapria had visions of topping last season’s third-place finish in league and perhaps advancing beyond the CIF Southern Section preliminaries.

LaCapria had mixed feelings as his Spartans finished third with 64 points. South Pasadena, last season’s runner-up, won with 34 points, while San Marino was second with 59 points, Temple City was fourth with 72 points and Blair was fifth with 155 points.

“I thought we’d finish somewhere between second and fourth and we took third, so I guess I can’t be disappointed,” LaCapria said. “The thing is I really think this team can do better. It’s still early and we’re coming off some injuries, so we’ll see. I think we can move up to second.”

Sophomore Ethan Crane guided the Spartans by placing third in 17:09.39. South Pasadena’s Kieran Press-Reynolds won the event in 16:27.72.

“I actually like running in the heat better than this,” said Crane of the race start time of 4:45 p.m. “I think I do better when my opponents are struggling rather than when we’re all comfortable.”

Ryan Van Slooten finished second for the Spartans and took ninth overall in 17:55.66, while the Spartans scoring squad rounded out with Christos Menemenlis (12thg, 18:05.19), Seve Rodriguez (14th, 18:25.79) and Shaan Sandhu (27th, 19:36.23).

Maybe the race’s biggest surprise came from Rodriguez, who led at the one-mile mark before fading midway through. Rodriguez was competing in his first event in six weeks after straining his quad.

“That’s what’s so exciting,” LaCapria said. “With a healthy Seve, I think we take second place. Our only problem is at No. 5. We’ve got to get closer to the pack with our fifth runner. But, hey, this was our first league race, so we have time.”