Serratos Falls Short in Long Run

“Julio has gotta win.”

Joseph Lopez, 11-year-old nephew of Glendale College men’s cross-country Coach Eddie Lopez, said that about Vaquero sophomore Julio Serratos midway through the men’s race of the Santa Barbara Invitational at Shoreline Park on Saturday.

But no matter how fervently Joseph Lopez cheered, Serratos lost his first race of the season when he placed third behind Julio Guevara of Los Angeles Trade Tech and Michael Kasahun of Fresno City.

Serratos defeated Guevara by 20 seconds to win the Golden Coast Invitational in Costa Mesa three weeks ago, but Guevara powered away from him in the final 400 yards this time to clock 20:48 over the four-mile course.

Kasahun and Serratos were credited with identical times of 20:51, with Miguel Galindo of Ventura fourth in 20:55.

“Julio just came by me,” Serratos said. “He opened it up and I couldn’t go with him. I gave up on first at that point. I just didn’t want anyone else to come by me.”

Serratos, a San Gabriel High graduate who won his first six races of the season, held second place until the last 10 meters of the race when Kasahun sped past him.

“He got me, Coach,” Serratos said to Eddie Lopez after the race.

Lopez didn’t seem too disappointed because Glendale won its third team title in four years with a 46-point total.

Saddleback was second with 72 points, followed by American River of Sacramento with 130, Fresno with 136 and Ventura with 176.

“We ran well,” Lopez said. “I told the other guys to go out a little bit slower than usual because I thought we had been going out too fast.

“The other guys need to run off the pace during the first part of the race instead of going out with Julio.”

The other guys included Rafael Ramos, Arbi Nazarian, Jose Merino and Omar Orendain, and they implemented Lopez’ plan perfectly, running conservatively for the first 1 1/2 miles before moving up through the pack.

None of them were among the top 30 runners after the first mile, but Ramos finished 10th in 21:45 with Nazarian 13th in 22:04 and Merino 14th in 22:06.

Orendain rounded out the Vaqueros’ scoring in 18th at 22:13, with teammates Juan Fernandez and Ilmar Rodriguez 23rd and 27th in 22:23 and 22:27.

Galindo, a sophomore from Oxnard High, is starting to regain the form that saw him place second to Moorpark’s Eleazar Hernandez in last year’s state championships.

“My goal today was to get closer to Serratos,” Galindo said. “He had beaten me by [37 seconds] in the last [Western State Conference] meet and I was right on him today.”

Galindo’s performance was doubly impressive because he has been running only for a month after missing three weeks with an assortment of knee injuries.

“I’m only at about 80-85%,” Galindo said. “But I should be above 100 by the time of the state championships.”

Glendale, with Cheryl Ramos running ninth, placed fourth in the women’s race with 139 points.

Orange Coast, powered by the 2-3-4 finish of Donna Harris, Christine Riel and Araceli Martinez, won with 31 points. West Valley of Saratoga was second with 59 points, followed by American River with 129.

Ramos clocked 19:36 over the three-mile course, despite being slowed by a cramp in her side, and teammate Kelly Sill placed 22nd in 20:21.

Jen Schindler of American River won in 18:17.

Schindler missed the early part of the 1997 track season while battling anorexia, but she is starting to resemble the runner who finished eighth in the 1996 national high school cross-country championships while at Shingle Springs Ponderosa.