In Long Run, Belmont Again Appears Strong

The Belmont High boys’ cross-country team has won 12 of the last 15 City Section championships. And based on their performance so far this season, the Sentinels are heading toward another.

Last Saturday, Belmont won the Kenny Staub Invitational at Crescenta Valley Park in La Crescenta. Belmont sophomore Humberto Vargas won the three-mile race in 16 minutes 8 seconds, senior Jorge Lopez finished second (16:11) and junior Henry Briseno third (16:11) as Belmont became only the second City team to win the event in its 30-year history. Palisades won in 1994.

Belmont sophomore Henok Mulugeta and junior Alejandro Lemos finished seventh and eighth, respectively, as Belmont finished an impressive 64 points ahead of second-place Peninsula.

Belmont Coach Everardo Silva said he is instructing his runners to run as a pack and at 80% effort in dual meets, in hopes of saving their legs for invitationals.

“In the past, we did well at the City level and then got to State and didn’t do well for some reason,” Silva said. “I think we were racing too hard early in the season. When it got to November, we were wiped out. I want them to be prepared for certain meets.”

Belmont races today at Griffith Park against Wilson and Hollywood, but the Sentinels are focusing on the Oct. 24 Mt. San Antonio College Invitational, where they will compete in the Sweepstakes race against several regional powers.

“The kids are confident because of how they did last weekend,” Silva said. “I think we have a legitimate chance to beat those guys.”

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Several City Section football games are being played tonight rather than Friday because of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur.

“The decision was made on a school-to-school basis,” City Section Commissioner Barbara Fiege said. “We gave them the information ahead of time when they were setting up their schedules.”

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KLCS, the Los Angeles Unified School District’s cable television channel, will broadcast the City 4-A and 3-A finals live from the Coliseum on Dec. 12. The station will also broadcast the Oct. 24 game between Garfield and Roosevelt live at 8 p.m.