ROUNDUP : Hart Boys Roll to 11th Consecutive Foothill League Cross-Country Title

The Hart High boys’ cross-country team rolled to its 11th consecutive title in the Foothill League finals at Griffith Park on Thursday, but the Indian girls’ streak was snapped at 10 by Santa Clarita Valley rival Saugus.

Brett Strahan, Gavin Klinger and Jose Erazo placed first, second and third to lead Hart to a 23-point total in the boys’ race. Canyon placed second with 41 points and Burbank was third with 74.

Strahan, a junior, ran a course record of 15 minutes 29 seconds over the three-mile distance.

Joel Givens (fifth in 16:16) and Cody Patterson (12th in 16:55) were the fourth and fifth runners for Hart, the three-time defending state Division I champion.

Hart’s Jessica De La Cerda set a course record of 18:52 in the girls’ race, but Saugus placed five runners among the top 10 finishers for a 29-point total. Hart placed second with 45 points and Canyon was third with 50.

Shelly Berkert and Jessie Thomas placed second (19:22) and fourth (19:55) for the Centurions.

In other high school cross-country meets:

Channel League finals--The Buena girls won their 11th consecutive title and the Bulldog boys took their third in a row at College Park.

Amy Van Atta, who placed second with a time of 18:17 over the three-mile course, paced Buena’s 80th consecutive victory in league competition as the Bulldogs placed five runners among the top nine finishers for a 28-point total. Santa Barbara (58) and Rio Mesa (93) finished second and third.

Gabriela Rodriguez of Oxnard ran 17:38 to easily win her third consecutive girls’ title.

Dennis Sweningson and Brett Butolph placed second (15:12) and third (15:20) in the boys’ race to lead Buena to a 32-point total, followed by Dos Pueblos (44) and Rio Mesa (89).

Frontier League finals--Javier Ramirez, Micah Robles and Omar Vega placed first, second and third to lead Nordhoff to its third consecutive title at Lake Casitas.

Teammates Will Bernaldo and Will Johnson added fifth- and sixth-place finishes as the Rangers totaled 17 points, well ahead of Santa Paula (51) and Moorpark (62).

Nordhoff only had a 45-second gap between its first and fifth runner.

Ramirez, a junior, won his second consecutive title with a time of 16:01 over the three-mile course. He was followed by teammates Robles (16:16), Vega (16:24), Bernaldo (16:38) and Johnson (16:46).

Moorpark freshman Kerri Moran won the girls’ individual title, but Nordhoff runners took the next five places as the Rangers won their third title in the last four years with a 20-point total.

Moran timed 19:56 over the three-mile course with freshman Bridie Hatch and junior Monica Berlin finishing second (20:04) and third (20:28) for Nordhoff.

Pacific League finals--Hoover freshman David Lopez won the individual title, but Crescenta Valley edged the Tornadoes, 39-43, at Crescenta Valley Park.

Lopez timed 16:29 over the three-mile course, but Crescenta Valley placed four runners among the top nine finishers, led by Adam Loo’s second-place time of 16:31.

Rheina Echols placed second in the girls’ meet to lead Glendale to a 46-55 victory over Crescenta Valley. Echols timed 20:04 over the three-mile course.

MEN’S WATER POLO

Valley 21, Pierce 9--Chad Conrad, Erin Fish and Jeff Bissell each had three goals to pace the Monarchs (7-12, 2-5) in a Western State Conference match at Pierce.

Pierce’s Mark Rathsaw scored a match-high five goals, but the Brahmas could not recover from a 9-1 halftime deficit.

BOYS’ WATER POLO

Nordhoff 19, West Covina 8--Dave Ford scored five goals and teammate James Boston added four to lead the host Rangers (16-8) in a nonleague match.

Nordhoff, which clinched the Frontier League title Wednesday with a 23-7 victory over Calabasas, held an 11-2 lead at halftime.

GIRLS’ TENNIS

Harvard-Westlake 15, Notre Dame 3--Melanie Schornberg and Jackie Gortman swept their singles matches to lead Harvard to a Mission League victory. It capped a perfect league record for Harvard.

The doubles tandem of Gloria Abramson and Natalie Rice swept its matches for Harvard, losing only one game.

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

L.A. Baptist d. Western Christian, 15-2, 15-5, 15-1--Darcie Frazier had 15 kills to lead the Knights (10-5, 6-2) past Western Christian in an Alpha League match.

Frazier was 15 of 16 in kill attempts. Vicki Sawin had five aces.

Royal d. Thousand Oaks 15-11, 15-7, 17-15--The Highlanders came back from a 13-4 deficit in the third game to complete the sweep over host Thousand Oaks in each team’s final Marmonte League match.

Royal (11-5, 10-4) was led by Teri Enright with 16 kills and Jenny Treglown with 14 kills. Heidi Ferguson added 31 assists.