Belmont to State Case With a Pack Mentality

The Belmont boys’ cross-country team has won 13 City Section championships in 16 years.

The Sentinels, however, have not fared as well at the state level.

On Saturday, second-year Coach Everardo Silva expects a change in Belmont’s fortunes when his team competes in the state meet at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Belmont, which finished eighth at last year’s state meet, is ranked third in Division I, behind two-time Southern Section Division I-champion Long Beach Poly and Grass Valley Nevada Union.

Silva--who competed for Belmont from 1983 to ’85 on the three teams that started the school’s dominant run--said a top-three finish in state is a reasonable expectation.

“What I have emphasized, even for [the City Section championships], is not who takes the lead,” Silva said, “but the pack.”

In the City finals, Silva’s goal was for his team to finish with no more than 20 seconds separating each runner.

The Sentinels exceeded that goal, placing their scoring runners first, second, fifth, sixth and eighth, with 39 seconds separating individual champion Humberto Vargas and eighth-place finisher Alejandro Lemus.

Silva said that Vargas, a sophomore, “is going to contend for the state title for the next two years.”

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The Palisades girls’ volleyball team, which won its 19th City title last weekend, lost to Manhattan Beach Mira Costa, 15-0, 15-5, 15-2, in the first round of the state volleyball tournament.

Palisades finished 16-3.

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Qualifying for the girls’ individual tennis championships begins Tuesday at the Racquet Centre in Studio City.

Ilona Kordonskaya of Palisades, who led the Dolphins to the 4-A Division team title, is the defending singles champion. Kordonskaya and Kristina Olshanskaya are the defending champions in doubles.

The section finals will be played Dec. 15 at MountainGate Country Club.