Burgess Wins After Newman’s Bad Turn

A showdown between the 1995 and ’96 City Section girls’ cross-country champions fizzled on two fronts Wednesday in a West Valley League meet between Birmingham and El Camino Real highs at Pierce College.

First, 1995 City champion Jamie Newman of El Camino Real dropped out of the race shortly after the first mile with an injured right ankle.

Then 1996 City champion Tiffany Burgess of Birmingham said winning the race wasn’t paramount after placing first with a season best of 18:50 over the three-mile course.

“I was thinking about the team more than I was about myself,” Burgess said after leading Birmingham to a 15-50 victory and its second consecutive league title. “One of our runners hadn’t been feeling that well, so I was just praying that she was going to have a good race.”

Burgess finished 23 seconds behind Newman in the Northwest Valley Conference Classic at Pierce on Oct. 8, but her time was 30 seconds faster in the rematch.

The juniors ran stride for stride for the first mile before Burgess quickly pulled away. Her lead grew to 30 meters over the next 300 yards before a frustrated Newman stepped off the course.

“I could sense she wasn’t there anymore,” Burgess said. “And after that, I said, ‘Now it’s time to get going.’ Actually, I could focus totally on myself after that. I was able to work on some things.”

Watching Burgess eat up ground with her long, loping stride was quite a contrast in comparison to Newman, who limped to the finish line.

Newman entered Wednesday’s meet with a 4-0 record and a best of 18:54 at Pierce, but she twisted her right ankle last Friday after being accidentally pushed from behind by one of her teammates during a workout.

“It hurt a little when I was warming up,” Newman said. “But I thought, ‘It’s no problem. It will be OK.’ But it just got worse as the race went on.”

With Newman out of the race, Birmingham (10-0, 3-0 in league meets) swept the top seven places against the defending City champion Conquistadores (6-4, 1-2).

Junior Erika Dolezal placed second in 19:24 and freshman Melissa Astete was third in 19:46. Junior Nuria Vanegas timed 20:06 and junior Dina Melendez clocked 20:10.

Sophomore Mateo Gonzalez finished first in a season best of 16:37 and junior Ray Warren placed second in 16:46 to help Birmingham to an 18-45 victory in the boys’ meet.

The Braves (10-0, 3-0) clinched the league title for the second consecutive year.

In another meet at Pierce, freshman Natalie Stein of North Hollywood ran 18:17 to win her fourth consecutive race, helping the Huskies (10-0, 3-0) to a 22-36 victory over Grant that clinched the East Valley League title.