Kinney Race Serves as 1st Meeting for Casillas, Wilson

The wait is over.

After winning 27 races between them this season--including two state titles--seniors Margarito Casillas of Hoover High and Ryan Wilson of Agoura will finally meet, running today in the Kinney West regional at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Casillas, who won the state Division I title at Woodward Park last week, is undefeated in 16 races; Wilson, the state Division II champion, is 11-0.

The race serves as a qualifier for next week’s national championships at San Diego’s Morley Field. The top eight finishers in each of the boys’ and girls’ races advance. However, the eagerly anticipated Casillas-Wilson clash will take center stage today.

The two were expected to race in the Kenny Staub invitational at Crescenta Valley Park in October but Wilson pulled out at the last minute because of tender hamstrings.

Five times this year, Wilson and Casillas have competed on the same course in the same meet but in different divisions.

Casillas had a faster time (15 minutes 3 seconds) than Wilson (15:13) over Woodward Park’s 5,000-meter course last week, but Wilson (14:54) was quicker than Casillas (15:09) on Mt. San Antonio College’s three-mile course in the Southern Section championships the previous week.

Casillas, the defending West regional champion, has tried to downplay the significance of today’s meet, noting it is only a qualifying race for the national championships. However, Hoover Coach Greg Switzer expects an exciting battle.

“I don’t think either one of them is just going to sit back and let the other one win,” Switzer said. “It’s going to be very hard for either one of them to do that. They’re both very competitive.”

In the girls’ race, Fallbrook senior Milena Glusac, the defending West regional champion, is the prohibitive favorite. She won her second consecutive state Division I title last week and is undefeated this season.

Agoura sophomore Amy Skieresz is expected to be Glusac’s toughest challenger, although she finished 28 seconds behind her in the state meet.

The girls’ race will start at 12:15 p.m., followed by the boys’ race at 1.