Don Lugo Boys Race to Title

The waiting was worth it for the Chino Don Lugo High boys’ team in the state cross-country championships at Woodward Park on Saturday.

The Conquistadores appeared to have won their first Division I title in the final race of the meet, but it took more than an hour before the official results confirmed that.

Don Lugo defeated Clovis Buchanan by a comfortable 67-96 margin, but Coach Don Salyers was plenty anxious from the time the race ended until the time the official results were released.

“I thought we had won,” Salyers said. “But I wasn’t assuming anything. I knew that they were looking at the videotape to make sure the places corresponded with the right schools and you worry that they’re going to discover that some Buchanan kid was overlooked in 20th. And suddenly, their score is 40 points lower.”

When nothing of the sort happened, Don Lugo became the 12th team from the Southern Section to win the Division I boys’ title in the 13-year history of the state championships.

Fair Oaks Del Campo, in 1995, is the only school from outside the Southern Section to win a boys’ Division I title since the state championships began in 1987.

Southern Section entries won seven of the 10 team titles and six of the 10 individual championships contested Saturday.

Don Lugo, which won its first section title at Mt. San Antonio College on Nov. 20, appeared to have the race well in hand at the two-mile mark, but No. 5 runner Israel Gonzales faded from 36th to 52nd after that.

“I saw him just after the two-mile mark--his lips were purple,” Salyers said. “He had to back off for a while and then hold on at the end.”

Senior Nick Branen of Don Lugo finished 11th with a time of 15:45 over the 5,000-meter course and senior teammate Mike Serratos was 12th in 15:48, but they were fourth and fifth in the all-important team scoring.

Junior Arturo Garcia was 22nd in 15:55 for Don Lugo, with senior Josh Gonzales, Israel’s twin, 25th in 16:00.

Israel Gonzales timed 16:19 in 52nd to give the Conquistadores a team time of 79:47, the fastest of the meet.

City Section boys’ champion Belmont finished ninth.

Southern Section Division I boys’ champion Ozzie Pina of Lakewood finished ninth in 15:42 and City Section champion Humberto Vargas finished 20th in 15:53 in the boys’ Division I race won by Travis Laird of San Diego San Marcos in 15:21.

Irvine Woodbridge, the No. 15-ranked girls’ team in Harrier magazine’s national poll, defeated San Diego Rancho Bernardo, 56-90, for the Division I title.

The Warriors had five runners among the top 37 finishers, topped by freshman Kristen Berglas, who finished 12th in 18:52.

Junior Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover won the Division I individual title in 17:35 to defeat sophomore Julie Allen of Fountain Valley by seven seconds. City Section champion Valerie Flores finished fifth in 18:16.

In other races, junior Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery became the third runner to win three consecutive state titles, McFarland became the first team to win seven championships since the meet began and Felton San Lorenzo Valley won its first girls’ title.

Bei, the Division III girls’ winner in 1997 and ‘98, won the Division II race in 17:25 to break the division record of 17:28 set by Shelley Taylor of Huntington Beach Edison in 1991 and post the fastest time of the meet.

McFarland defeated two-time defending champion Ojai Nordhoff, 68-102, for the Division IV boys’ title and its sixth state championship of the decade.

San Lorenzo Valley, the No. 7-ranked team in nation, defeated Livermore Granada, 43-66, for the Division III girls’ title.