City Cross-Country Championships : It’s a Big Day for Tradition as Belmont, University Win

Tradition held form Saturday in the City cross-country championships at Pierce College as Belmont won its fourth straight boys’ title and the University girls’ team won its second straight title.

Both were favored to win, which Belmont did easily, by 15 points. University had to survive a scare from South Gate, which finished only four points behind.

“It was a lot closer than I expected,” University Coach Ralf Latham said. “South Gate just really came on strong.”

The race for the boys’ individual championship, however, was a different story as Manuel Gomez’s attempt to keep the title in the family failed in the midst of a downhill kick by University’s Darren Sand. Manuel’s brother, Ramon, now at USC, won in 1983 and 1984.

“I just paced with him,” Sand said. “I had to pick certain points to surge, like the top of the (last) hill. He usually gets me at the top.”

Manuel Gomez won last week’s preliminary race by 18 seconds over Sand, but Sand ran a personal record of 15:03.78 Saturday to win by more than 10 seconds.

“He caught me by surprise going downhill (on the last hill),” Gomez said. “The last 200 meters I was running by myself (in second place).”

Caitlin Gabor of Palisades won the girls’ individual title with a time of 18:18.67.