While Tuning Up, Hoover Manages to Clean Up

Hoover High took the first step toward winning its second consecutive Pacific League boys’ cross-country title Thursday, but it was obvious from the ease with which the Tornadoes ran that their minds were on Saturday’s Bell-Jeff Invitational at Griffith Park.

That’s where Hoover, the state’s top-ranked Division I team, will take on McFarland, the No. 1 Division IV squad and the three-time defending state champion.

“We would have run harder today, but we found out that McFarland is coming to Bell-Jeff,” Hoover Coach Greg Switzer said. “We’re the top-ranked Division I team. They’re the top-ranked Division IV team. So it should be a good race and we want to be ready for it.”

It’s not like the Tornadoes didn’t dominate the first Pacific League meet of the season at Arcadia County Park. They swept the first four places and took five of the top six to total 16 points, yet it was obvious that they exerted as little energy as possible to win.

Hoover junior David Lopez and senior teammates Felipe Montoro and Wilson Aquino led the field through the first mile in a mild 5 minutes 18 seconds and passed two miles in 10:20. They slowed to 5:28 in their final mile after virtually jogging the last 200 yards when it was obvious that they would not be caught.

They were credited with identical times of 15:48, although Montoro was awarded the victory ahead of Aquino and Lopez. Sophomore Isabel Casillas (15:57) and senior Stephen Sotomayor (16:08) rounded out the scoring for the Tornadoes (8-0, 5-0 in league meets) in fourth and sixth.

“We wanted to save as much energy as possible for Saturday,” said Lopez, eighth in last year’s Southern Section Division I championships. “McFarland is supposed to be stronger than they were a year ago so it should be a good race.”

Crescenta Valley, led by fifth-place Chris Evans (15:58), finished second with 58 points, followed by Glendale (67), Arcadia (107), Muir (128) and Pasadena (no score).

Cheryl Ramos of Glendale won the girls’ race in 19:25, but Crescenta Valley had five of the top nine finishers to place first with a 29-point total. Arcadia was second with 52 points, followed by Hoover (65) and Glendale (77).