Rohatinsky, Bei Win First Titles

Junior Joshua Rohatinsky of Provo (Utah) High and sophomore Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery won their first individual titles in the West regional cross-country championships at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

Rohatinsky, who finished fourth in the 1997 West regional and 11th in ‘96, broke away from co-leader Adam Tenforde of Hanford (Wash.) in the final kilometer of the race to clock 15:30 over the 5,000-meter course.

Bei, eighth in the West regional last year, ran 17:51 to defeat second-place Lauren Fleshman of Canyon Country Canyon by 11 seconds and remain undefeated this season.

The top eight finishers in each race qualified for the national championships in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Dec. 12.

Junior Josh Spiker of Ventura, who won the Southern Section Division I title at Mt. SAC two weeks ago, was the highest-finishing Californian in the boys’ race with a third-place time of 15:45.

Senior Jeff Tomlinson of Santa Monica Crossroads was the No. 6 Californian in 19th at 16:19.

Fleshman placed second in the girls’ race for the second consecutive year and senior Allyson Marquand of Irvine University ran 18:32 to place seventh for the second year in a row.