CROSS-COUNTRY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA JC CHAMPIONSHIPS : After 1 1/2 Miles, It’s All Downhill for Antelope Valley’s Harvey

Jean Harvey of Antelope Valley College won round two of her scheduled three-round battle with Glendale’s Grace Padilla on Saturday in the Southern California junior college cross-country championships at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.

Yet her convincing victory, in 17 minutes 48 seconds over the 5,000-meter course, will not mean much to either her or Antelope Valley Coach Mark Covert unless she can repeat it in the state championships at Sierra College in Rocklin next Saturday.

“Jean ran well today. It was a good race for her,” Covert said. “But the state meet is the race that counts. (Padilla) is obviously the most talented runner out here. She’s the one we have to fear the most next week.”

Padilla, who entered Saturday’s race as a co-favorite with Harvey, finished a disappointing fourth in 18:36. She and Harvey traded leads for the first 1 1/2 miles before Harvey blew open the race after descending the first of two steep hills on the course.

“I tried to run the downhills hard because that’s one of my strengths,” Harvey said. “I was surprised I broke away that early in the race.”

Harvey held a 17-second lead over her nearest pursuer at the two-mile mark (11:25) and she defeated runner-up Marisol Cossio (18:18.9) of L. A. City by nearly 31 seconds. It was her fifth victory in six races this season.

Harvey’s only loss was to Tracy Rose of Long Beach City College in the season-opening San Diego Mesa invitational at Morley Field in September, a race in which Padilla placed fourth.

Defending champion Suzanne Castruita of Mt. San Antonio placed third in 18:29.2 Saturday to lead the Mounties to the team title with 61 points. Irvine Valley (69), Moorpark (107), El Camino (114) and Glendale (116) rounded out the top five.

Deana Fuess led Moorpark with a 10th-place finish in 19:22.5.

The top five teams in the men’s and women’s races qualified for this week’s state meet. Ten men and 14 women--in addition to those runners on qualifying teams--who placed among the first 35 finishers advanced.

Riverside dominated the men’s race, taking the first four places and totaling 28 points. Long Beach City, the defending state champion, was second with 79 points, followed by El Camino (92) and Glendale and San Diego Mesa (100 each).

Robert Nelson timed 20:03.6 over the four-mile course to finish eighth for Glendale, and teammates Obed Aguirre and Hugo Allan Garcia placed ninth (20:04.2) and 13th (20:09.4).

Riverside’s Zimbabwean foursome of Passmore Furusa, Muchaipwa Mazano, Gray Mavhera and Melford Homela was content to let others such as Nelson (4:44 at the mile mark) and Long Beach City’s Oscar Gonzalez (9:42 at two miles) set the pace for the first half of the race, but shortly after the three-mile mark (14:37), the quartet had settled the issue.

Furusa won in 19:23.1, followed by Mazano (19:26.2), Mavhera (19:26.7) and Homela (19:29.0). Ventura’s Jorge Barajas placed 15th in 20:12.2 and advanced to the state meet.