Mejia a Valedictorian of Sorts in Cross-Country

For Alvaro Mejia, the first seven weeks of the cross-country season could be regarded as study time for the final exam.

Long training runs and interval workouts between easy wins in Birmingham High’s dual meets were the weekly norm. During Saturday invitationals Mejia, through trial and error, tested himself on various race strategies.

A slow start in the Bell-Jeff invitational in September was a failed experiment. Mejia had to claw his way back in the final two miles to finish sixth. Grade: C+.

Starting fast in the Kenny Staub meet brought a slight improvement. Mejia ran with two of the state’s veteran runners for the first mile, then dropped off to 11th place, a respectable showing in the prestigious event. Grade: B.

Mejia finally settled on a tactic in time for the City Section championships Saturday, and the strategy earned him an A.

Mejia used a quick start to get out of traffic within the first 200 yards of the three-mile race at Pierce College, then settled into his own pace and won the individual title in 15 minutes 29 seconds.

The championship was the first by a Birmingham runner since Kim Ellison won back-to-back titles in 1963 and ’64.

It was also the perfect gift for Mejia, a junior who celebrated his 17th birthday the day of the meet. “I think he’s learned through the invitationals that he can get out fast at the start and hold it,” Birmingham Coach Scott King said.

The Bell-Jeff invitational Sept. 28 played a major role in teaching Mejia how to avoid traffic. At the one-mile mark, he was about 50th in a field of nearly 200 runners. “At the end, I got so tired trying to pass people,” Mejia said. “That’s when I learned to go out quick.”

He started too quickly in the Kenny Staub invitational Oct. 5, however. Mejia led Hoover’s Margarito Casillas and Agoura’s Ryan Wilson by one second at the mile mark (5:06) before quickly losing ground.

The season wore on and Mejia’s conditioning and race tactics improved. He stayed close to Casillas, a favorite to win the state Division I title Nov. 30 in Fresno, for 2 1/2 miles in the Santa Clarita invitational before Casillas surged away to win in course-record time. Mejia finished third.

Knowing that he can run with Casillas for 2 1/2 miles, Mejia wants to go the distance with the Hoover junior in the state meet. Birmingham qualified for the state Division I meet with a second-place team finish in the City finals, and Casillas is expected to advance after the Southern Section finals Saturday.

“In the invitationals I just wanted to see how I could do against the bigger runners,” Mejia said. “I want to stay with Margarito a little longer at state.”

Mejia’s win Saturday was his second consecutive City cross-country title and a moral victory as well.

As a sophomore, he ran 16:03 to win the frosh-soph championship, but his 1991 track campaign was a flop because of family problems and academic ineligibility.

He trained minimally in the spring and regained eligibility with only a few weeks remaining in the track season.

Basically starting from scratch last summer, Mejia maintained a rigid cross-country training regimen and worked up to 65-70 miles a week in late August and early September.

The mileage paid off.

In the first meet of the season, Mejia clocked 14:55 over a treacherous 2.9-mile course in Griffith Park and placed first in a four-way meet with Bell, Taft and defending City champ Belmont. “That was really a boost to his confidence,” King said.

However, the heat wave that gripped the area from late September to mid-October forced the postponement of numerous dual meets. The revised schedule squeezed four races--including an extracurricular half-marathon--into one week, a pace that zapped Mejia.

Mejia timed 1 hour 13 minutes to finish ninth overall and first in his age bracket in the half-marathon in Santa Clarita on Oct. 13. The following week Birmingham competed in Mid-Valley League meets against Van Nuys and Canoga Park and also ran in the prestigious Mt. San Antonio College invitational. Mejia ran 16:38 to finish third in a race for seeded runners. “My legs couldn’t do anything,” Mejia said of his Mt. SAC performance. “I was tired.”

Two weeks later, after a brief recuperation, he ran a personal-best 15:27 at Pierce to win the Valley Pac-8 Conference title.

Mejia is looking forward to the state meet for another reason: Birmingham will get another shot at Bell, which beat the Braves, 56-59, to win the City team title.