Runners Make Up Ground

The ability to keep their competitive cool on a hot day helped seniors David Lopez of Hoover High and Julie Harris of Canyon to Division I victories Saturday in the Kenny Staub Invitational cross-country meet at Crescenta Valley Park.

Lopez trailed Manuel Lopez of Belmont by nine seconds after the first mile of the boys’ race, but won by 33 seconds with a time of 15 minutes 54 seconds over the three-mile course.

Harris was in eighth place after the first mile of the girls’ race, partly due to her briefly running the wrong way on the course, but she still won in 19:40.

Last year, David Lopez and Manuel Lopez had a thrilling homestretch battle that ended in a dead heat. But when David came through the first mile in 5:29 on Saturday, he was more than 50 yards behind Manuel.

“I was a little concerned because I had gone out too fast [in a meet Thursday] and I could still feel some lactic acid in my legs,” David Lopez said. “But then I could also tell that [Manuel Lopez] was starting to get tired after the mile.”

David Lopez quickly took advantage of Manuel’s fatigue, surging into the lead at 1 1/2 miles and steadily pulling away from his rival.

“I didn’t expect to race him again because I had heard that he might be too old to compete this year,” David Lopez said of Manuel. “But I’m glad he was able to run. He made me run hard.”

Paced by the 1-3-4 finish of Lopez, Isabel Casillas (16:43) and Jamal Balouch (16:48), Hoover edged Belmont, 46-50, for the boys’ team title.

Canyon dominated the girls’ race by placing six runners among the top 10 finishers to total 28 points. Foothill League rival Saugus was second with 44, followed by Crescenta Valley with 64.

Harris, who placed 10th in the State Division I championships last year, teammate Lauren Fleshman and Saugus’ Breanne Schweitzer took the lead shortly after the start of the race. But when they made a wrong turn after the first half-mile, they found themselves behind.

“We went right past a bunch of our teammates who didn’t say a thing,” Harris said. “And then some of Breanne’s teammates yelled to her and she said, ‘Oh, oh, you guys, I think we went the wrong way.’ ”

Although the trio trailed the leaders by 50 yards after the first mile, they were running 1-2-3 after 1 1/2 miles and Harris had a 17-second lead on Schweitzer after two miles.

“I got a big adrenaline rush after [going the wrong way], but I didn’t try to make up the distance all at once,” Harris said. “I heard some people yelling to Breanne to take your time and that’s what we did.”

Schweitzer, a senior, placed second in 20:04, but sophomore Fleshman finished fourth in 20:48 after asthma attack and a side cramp caused her to fade in the final mile.

With Harris’ mistake costing her about 45 seconds, Bree Akesson of Kennedy had the fastest girls’ time of the meet.

Akesson was making her first competitive appearance for the Golden Cougars after recently transferring from Alemany, where she had run 5:12.85 in the 1,600 meters and 11:34.41 in the 3,200.

Her time of 19:22 won the Division II race by nearly 80 seconds over Glendale’s Cheryl Ramos, who clocked 20:40.