Top-Ranked Hart Runs Off With Bell-Jeff Invitational Title

Gene Blankenship apparently does not take Southern Section rankings lightly.

Although his Hart High cross-country team is ranked No. 1 in the 3-A Division, the Indian coach left nothing to chance Saturday in the Bell-Jeff Invitational at Griffith Park.

Blankenship tinkered with his lineup and came up with a winning combination as Hart placed five runners among the top 19 to handily outdistance the field in the seeded large-schools division.

“We weren’t taking any chances,” Blankenship said. “I moved everybody up. We wanted to win today.”

Senior Steve Lepkin timed 15 minutes, 9.4 seconds to finish third overall as Hart totaled 55 points to outclass a talented field. Hoover (104 points), ranked fifth in the 4-A, finished second, edging seven-time defending City Section champion Belmont (107).

Senior Eliazar Herrera of Hoover posted the fastest time of the day to win the seeded large-schools race. Herrera timed 14:22 to outdistance runner-up Juan Gutierrez (15:05.0) of Rosemead.

But Hart’s depth carried it to the title. Junior Billy Dixon placed fifth in 15:13.7 and freshman Keith Grossman, promoted from the frosh/soph ranks last week, finished 19th in 16:05.0.

In the seeded small-schools division, Bell-Jeff totaled 55 points to claim the title ahead of Orange Lutheran.

In the girls’ division, seventh-ranked Hart finished third in the seeded large-schools race with 75 points. Top-ranked Hesperia (51) and Mountain View (69) placed first and second.

L. A. Baptist, ranked fourth in the 1-A, totaled 94 points to win the seeded small-schools division. Bell-Jeff (115) and Brentwood (117), finished second and third.

Runners from top-ranked Maranatha, the two-time defending 1-A champion, placed sixth, seventh and eighth individually but the Minutemen wound up fourth in the team standings with 121 points. Second-ranked Paraclete (129) was fifth.