ROAD TO SUCCESS

Don’t try to tell members of the Glendale College men’s cross-country team that the light rains at the start of this week were the result of any combination of atmospheric conditions.

They will tell you that Vaquero teammate Julio Serratos was to blame.

When Serratos shows up for a 14-mile run in Griffith Park at 7 on a Sunday morning, they say, it is such a surprise that something has to give.

“You see what happens?” Serratos recalls his teammates saying earlier this week. “Julio shows up for a Sunday workout and it rains for two days.”

The good-natured ribbing goes back to the summer of 1996, when Serratos was one of Glendale’s more talented incoming freshmen runners--and also among its least dedicated.

“Last summer, if I put in 30 miles a week, it was a lot,” Serratos said. “I was lucky if I ran more than two times a week. But this summer, I ran nearly every day. I didn’t run a ton of miles, but I was consistent. I was running 8-10 miles a day and 60-65 miles every week.”

That consistency has paid big dividends.

Serratos, a San Gabriel High graduate, is undefeated after five races and is favored to win the second Western State Conference meet of the season at Kenneth Hahn Park at 3 this afternoon.

That’s quite a difference from last year, when Serratos finished 75th in the state junior college cross-country championships, nearly two minutes behind winner Eleazar Hernandez of Moorpark and a minute out of 10th place.

“Taking 75th in state was pretty disappointing,” Serratos said. “But it also made me say, ‘I can’t wait until next year. There is no way I’m going to finish 75th again.’ ”

In an effort to improve, Serratos began to train diligently after the state meet. He quickly saw results.

He ran 9:45 in his first 3,000-meter steeplechase of the track season and later won that event and the 10,000 and finished third in the 5,000 in the WSC championships in April.

He placed third in the steeplechase and sixth in the 5,000 in the Southern California finals two weeks later before finishing second and sixth in those events in the state championships.

“Track gave me a lot of confidence for cross-country,” Serratos said. “At first, I thought making [the state championships] was a long shot. But then I made it there and placed in both.”

Serratos now has his sights set on leading Glendale to its second state title in three years.

Ramon Serratos, Julio’s older brother, placed 11th in the 1995 state championships for Glendale and is now a member of NAIA power Lubbock (Texas) Christian.

Julio respects what Ramon has accomplished, but he is very competitive with him.

Whether they are guarding each other in a pickup basketball game or comparing times that they’ve run during different points in their careers, Julio wants to one-up his brother.

Therefore, Julio not only wants Glendale to win the state title Nov. 22, but he wants the Vaqueros to top the times that their 1995 brethren turned in at Fresno’s Woodward Park, the annual site of the state championships.

“I respect what they did, but . . . I want to be able to say to Ramon, ‘We were better than you guys,’ ” Julio said.

Julio Serratos is more concerned about Glendale winning the state team title than contending for the individual championship.

While he is enjoying his winning streak and the attention it has drawn, it won’t mean as much to him if Glendale gets beat.

“If I won state, but we lost the team title,” he said, “it’d be like throwing a no-hitter, but losing.”