NOTEBOOK : Salesian Runners Third in State Meet

Earning the right to run in the State cross-country championships in Fresno was the hardest part for Salesian High. The rest came easily for the Mustangs, who raced to a third-place finish in Division IV at Woodward Park on Nov. 27.

The previous week, Salesian had qualified for the State meet as the fourth and final team at the Southern Section finals. That was long-forgotten the day of the State meet.

“All the pressure was at the (section) finals to qualify; we needed a little luck and a couple of guys to come forward,” senior co-captain Robert Moreno said. “To be here was exciting, the rest was icing on the cake. Everything came together, from our first man to the seventh.”

Eduardo Santillan was the top finisher for Salesian, placing 24th in 16 minutes, 34 seconds, for the 5,000-meter course. But it was Salesian’s No. 6 runner, David Moreno in 76th, who secured the Mustangs’ highest finish.

McFarland edged Morro Bay by two points to win its third State title with 61 points. Salesian and Piedmont finished tied with 150 points. But the Mustangs were awarded third by virtue of a faster sixth runner.

Alex Chacon (16:53) and Billy Encinas (17:10) were 34th and 48th, respectively, for Salesian. Robert Moreno (17:17) and Moises Flores (17:23) rounded out the Mustangs’ top five in 53rd and 59th, respectively.

Salesian has won three Southern Section titles and finished second four times over the last 20 years. Making it to the State meet, though, has been a sore spot for the Mustangs, who placed fourth in their only other appearance, in 1987.

“Our main goal was just to make it to the State meet,” Chacon said. “We envisioned that at the beginning of the season. We fulfilled our dream and pushed it over the limit.”

Belmont also reached a new height in Division I, becoming the first City Section school to place its boys’ and girls’ teams among the top 10 in the same year.

Paced by a 25th-place finish by Ricardo Valenzuela (15:58), the Sentinel boys finished eighth. Yolanda Gomez and Imelda Flores helped the Belmont girls to ninth place, finishing 53rd and 55th in 20:01 and 20:02, respectively.

Southeastern Conference rivals Humberto Sanchez of South Gate and Miguel Ramirez of Roosevelt finished 11th and 37th in 15:38 and 16:07, respectively.

*

New coach--The bell has tolled for Ray Galarze.

Last week, Galarze, 43, announced that he would not continue as Bell High School’s varsity football co-head coach.

Henry Santiago, 33, who was Galarze’s counterpart for the past two years, will take over the position.

“We are going to miss (Galarze) a lot,” Santiago said. “He just wanted to step down and move on to other things.”

For Santiago, the announcement fills a long-time aspiration: “For 15 years, I have wanted to be varsity football coach. I have been looking forward to this since I was 18.”

Santiago is also the boys’ varsity baseball coach, but he feels confident in his ability to coach both teams. “It will be the biggest challenge of my life,” he said. “But I will handle it.”

During Galarze’s nine-year tenure, the Eagles had an overall record of 25-23-1. Bell reached the playoffs four of those years. Last year’s appearance in the City Section 4-A Division quarterfinals was the furthest the Eagles had ever advanced.

“Working with Ray has really helped me with this position,” Santiago said. “I have big shoes to fill because he was the best coach I have ever been associated with.”

*

Soccer--The East Los Angeles College soccer team was eliminated from the state community college championships over Thanksgiving weekend by Irvine Valley during a quarterfinal match at Weingart Stadium.

The 4-3 score didn’t reflect Irvine Valley’s (17-3-4) domination of Southern California’s No. 2 seed. The Huskies (20-2-2), who never had a lead, were down, 4-2, late in the second half.

“We lacked in aggressiveness in the first half and let them dictate the tempo of the game,” said Coach Orlando Brenes, who led the Huskies to a state championship in 1990.

“But they didn’t walk the dog on us; they had to work to hold on to their lead.”

*

Charles Smith and Enrique Lavin contributed to this report.