Mt. San Antonio Relays : The Pack at Arroyo Is Back : Corona del Mar Meets Distance Rival on Track This Time

Last September, the boys’ cross-country team from El Monte Arroyo High School made a serious first impression at its season debut, the Woodbridge Invitational.

Arroyo, running in a tight pack, swept past the leading challenger--Corona del Mar--by placing five runners in the top 15 with only 41 seconds between its first and fifth finisher.

After the race, Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner said: “I think they were hooked together with handcuffs or something.”

Arroyo, which went on to an undefeated cross-country season, winning both the Southern Section and state championships, continues to amaze its opponents with teamwork--although now it’s on the track.

Tonight at 6:30, Arroyo, Corona del Mar and 18 other top boys’ distance squads, including Dana Hills, Valencia, Mater Dei and Mission Viejo, will meet in the 4 x 1,600-meter relay in the Mt. San Antonio Relays at Walnut.

Corona del Mar won the race last year in a meet-record time of 17 minutes 38.9 seconds--the fourth-fastest time for the event in the nation last year. Arroyo was second at 17:43, the nation’s sixth-fastest time.

Breaking the national record--17:06.6, set in 1976 by South Eugene (Oregon)--may be beyond reach for tonight’s entrants, as each team would have to average 4:16.5 per runner.

But because Arroyo and Corona del Mar have the same four runners back who ran the race last year, the meet record is certainly within reach.

“Our kids are excited about it,” Arroyo Coach Tim O’Rourke said.

Jeff Gilkey, a 4:21 miler, according to O’Rourke, will lead off for Arroyo. Gilkey will be followed by Jaime Ortega (4:20), Derek Powers (4:22) and Gerardo Puentes (4:16). All four ran on the cross-country team last fall.

Eddie Lavelle will lead off for Corona del Mar. He ran a personal best 4:16 last Saturday, but he may be tired after he competes in a 3,000-meter race today at 2:50 p.m.

Lavelle will be followed by Greg Shryock (4:21), Paul Scott (4:31) and Jim Robbins (4:13).

Together, the Arroyo times combine for a 17:19 clocking. Corona del Mar’s combine for a 17:21. On paper, Arroyo wins by two seconds, but . . .

“(The fact that) they can’t all run together at the same time could go against them,” Lavelle said. “That is usually a weapon they have. With that aspect gone, though, it might help us.”

Notes

Jim Geerlings, the 1987 Southern Section 3-A 1,600-meter champion from Newport Harbor, will compete in the invitational boys’ 1,500-meter race Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Geerlings will face top competition from Jeff Smith, a 3:53 1,500-meter runner from Edmonton, Canada; Agoura’s Bryan Dameworth; Corona del Mar’s Greg Shryock and Jim Robbins; Mission Viejo’s Greg Lamb, and Marina’s Shanon Winkelman. . . . Edison will be well-represented in the field events. Kaleaph Carter, the nation’s leading shotputter this season at 63-feet 2 3/4-inches, will compete Saturday at 10:15 a.m. David Noel, who pole vaulted a state-leading 16-4 for Edison two weeks ago, will vault Saturday at noon. And teammate Charlie Tyler, who long jumped his personal best of 23-2 last season, is one of the top entrants in that event Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

Other Orange County entrants include Western’s Greg Lobpreis (high jump); Garden Grove’s Anthony Hale (300-meter hurdles) and Newport Harbor’s R.W. Henson (pole vault).