Hoover’s Lopez on a Higher Plane

It didn’t take long for Hoover High’s David Lopez to realize the significance of his victory Saturday in the team sweepstakes race of the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational cross-country meet.

Minutes after running away from a high-quality field and setting a school record of 15 minutes 1 second over the three-mile course, the 5-foot-2 1/2, 98-pound senior already was thinking about how his reputation had grown.

“I feel positive about the way I ran,” he said. “But now I know that there is going to be some pressure the rest of the season because everyone is going to be shooting for me.”

Lopez lowered his personal-best time at Mt. SAC by 20 seconds, broke Eliazar Herrera’s school record of 15:07 set in 1989 and left a good field gasping in his wake.

Mark Gleason of Mission Viejo, who won the Orange County championships the previous week, was second in 15:22, followed by Corey Creasy of Grass Valley Nevada Union (15:23), Michael Murray of Santa Margarita (15:25) and Mike Prindiville of Concord De La Salle (15:31).

Prindiville, who finished fifth in the West regional as a junior last year, was favored by many, including Lopez.

“He was the one I was focused on,” Lopez said.

Prindiville led through the first mile in 4:47, with Lopez in 10th at 4:49, but Gleason and Lopez were running 1-2 by the time they approached aptly named Poop-Out Hill just short of two miles.

Gleason had a three- to four-meter lead on Lopez after cresting the hill, but Lopez surged into the lead on a downhill portion of the course shortly thereafter and quickly pulled away.

“I took it easy on the uphills but I ran the downhills hard,” Lopez said. “And the flats were mine.”

Lopez’s victory was his sixth in seven races this season and avenged a third-place finish behind Murray and Chino Hills Ayala’ Steve Smith (eighth in 15:43) in the St. John Bosco Invitational last month.

“I was totally focused,” Lopez said. “I knew there were a lot of fast guys here and I just wanted to run well against them.”

Paced by Lopez, Hoover finished seventh in the team standings with 239 points.

Nevada Union, the 17th-ranked team in Harrier magazine’s national poll, placed first with 157 points, followed by three-time defending State Division II champion Carmichael Jesuit (163) and De La Salle (164).

In other races, senior Andrea Neipp of Highland placed second in the girls’ individual sweepstakes, sophomore Lauren Fleshman of Canyon led the Cowboys to an eighth-place finish in the girls’ team sweepstakes and senior Tim Leahy of Burbank paced the Bulldogs to third in the boys’ individual sweepstakes.

Neipp had won five of six races this season entering Mt. SAC but she couldn’t keep pace with Jen Schindler of Shingle Springs Ponderosa in the last mile.

After trailing Schindler by two seconds at the mile mark (5:17 to 5:19), Neipp drew even with her approaching Poop-Out Hill. Schindler put her away after that, however, to record a 17:29 to 17:40 victory.

Fleshman cut 16 seconds off her personal best at Mt. SAC to finish third in 18:14 in the team sweepstakes race.

Paced by Fleshman and senior Julie Harris, 11th in 18:52, Canyon totaled 188 points. The defending State Division I champion Cowboys had the same total as seventh-place Ayala but placed eighth because the Bulldogs had a higher-finishing sixth runner.

Leahy placed third with a personal best of 15:25 in the boys’ individual sweepstakes and Burbank totaled 176 points to finish behind Temecula Valley (110) and Santa Maria Righetti (117).