Kubler Can Take the Heat

Call him greedy.

Call him ambitious.

Call him confident.

But junior Tom Kubler of Viewpoint High wasn’t content to win his qualifying heat with a respectable time in the Southern Section cross-country preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

He wanted a career-best time over the hilly 2.95-mile course and he got it with a 15:17 clocking that won the second Division V heat by 40 seconds and was the second fastest runner of the meet in any division.

Junior Ryan Hall of Lake Arrowhead Big Bear led all qualifiers with a stunning 14:58 clocking in a Division IV race Saturday after Kubler turned in the most noteworthy performance during the morning session.

“I knew after the first mile that I’d get a good time,” said Kubler, who had a previous best of 15:32 at Mt. SAC. “I came through the mile [in 4:48] and it felt pretty comfortable.”

Kubler, runner-up in the Division V state final last year, was one of five runners from the region to win qualifying heats.

The others were senior Jon Facer of La Canada and juniors Mark Nevers of Oak Park, Anita Siraki of Hoover and Laura Jakosky of Agoura.

Siraki registered the fastest girls’ time of the meet with a 17:44 in a Division I heat.

Seven teams from the region posted heat victories, with Nordhoff winning boys’ and girls’ heats in Division IV and Lancaster Desert Christian sweeping in Division V.