A Little Knowledge is Fuel for Bousquet

Villa Park’s Augie Escobar has never shied away from sharing his race strategy with fellow competitors, especially a good friend like Esperanza’s Ryan Bousquet.

So when Escobar told Bousquet he was planning to start out fast in the boys’ varsity sweepstakes race at the Orange County Championships Saturday, Bousquet knew the Villa Park senior wasn’t joking.

“We went 4:50 the first mile and I stayed on his shoulder,” Bousquet said. “But when we came up on the 1 1/2-mile mark, I started running my race, the way I want to run, push it and don’t look back.”

It was Bousquet’s strategy that worked best on the 3.05-mile Irvine Park Course. The Esperanza senior maintained his lead over Escobar after the midway point and finished 12 seconds ahead in 15:06.

“If it wasn’t for Augie I wouldn’t be doing this, honestly,” Bousquet said. “The papers put Augie as the hands-down winner for this, but my coach said ‘prove them wrong’ and that’s what I came out to do today.”

Escobar, who was also runner-up at the county championships last season, wasn’t feeling blue about his performance. Earlier in the season Escobar indicated that he would maintain his rigid training schedule and not taper off for this meet.

“I went out on the lead and I just felt tired,” Escobar said. “But that’s OK, I don’t want to peak until CIF.”

In the team competition, Katella defended its title in dominating fashion by placing four runners in the top 10 and finishing 40 points ahead of Santa Ana Valley. Danny Mejia finished third in 15:21, Juan Casas was fourth (15:34), Tony Lozano eighth (15:44) and Albert Rosel 10th (15:46). Ramiro Guerrero, who underwent an appendectomy last month, finished 22nd in 15:53.

“I thought we could put five in the top 20, but I didn’t know we would get four in the top 10,” Katella Coach Mike Cochrane said. “Our No. 5 guy, Albert Rosel, ran an outstanding race and filled the gap that I didn’t think we would fill.”

In the Division II varsity race, Santa Margarita’s Steven Murray finished first in 15:20, the third-fastest time of the meet.