HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY : QUALIFYING : Villarreal Free to Boast After La Jolla’s Victory

Patty Villarreal, La Jolla High’s top cross-country runner now that Mailee Ferguson is out with asthma and a heart condition, was throwing around words like “powerful” and “depth” rather liberally after the Division II race in Saturday’s state qualifying meet at Morley Field.

An odd occurence, considering that just last week La Jolla was both surprised and blown away by what was supposed to be a weaker San Pasqual team in the San Diego Section finals.

But Saturday, Villarreal had cause to boast. She had just led a pack of La Jolla runners who monopolized six of the top seven spots, including one through four, thereby becoming the top Division II qualifier for the state meet with 16 points.

El Camino was second with 65 points.

Villarreal finished the 2.45-mile course in 15:41. She was followed by teammates Stephanie Bache (15:50), Julie Schoene (16:03 and Emily Beardsley (16:19) before a non-La Jolla runner snuck in.

“We have a really powerful team,” Villarreal said after catching her breath. “All the teams we run against are good, but we just have so much more depth.”

Yet without Ferguson, La Jolla’s depth may be suspect going into Saturday’s state finals in Fresno. Even Villarreal could not dispute that.

“I’m not exactly certain what our chances will be without Mailee,” she said. “Right now, we’re just praying for her and hoping she gets better.”

Perhaps the top event of the day was the girls’ Division I race, in which three champions from the last week’s section finals were pitted against each other (the section and state use different formulas in making up their divisions).

Deanna Hadley of San Pasqual, who placed first in the section 1-A division, outpaced Fallbrook’s Milena Glusac (last week’s 3-A champ). Kelly Young of Grossmont, (the 2-A champ), fell behind the leaders and eventually came in fifth at 15:11.