Olivares Running Out of Vacuum at Hoover

It isn’t easy getting noticed for your running exploits when you attend the same school as Anita Siraki, but Efrain Olivares of Hoover High is starting to make a name for himself.

The undefeated Siraki has stamped herself as a national-title contender by breaking a slew of course records this season, but Olivares emerged from her shadow Saturday when he placed fifth in the Division I race of the Southern Section cross-country championships at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

Olivares, a senior, clocked 15:14 over the 2.95-mile course to cut 18 seconds off his previous best at Mt. SAC and earn a berth in the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday.

“It was perfect. It was perfect,” Coach Greg Switzer of Hoover said about Olivares’ race. “He was ideally positioned after the first mile and he just kept moving up after that.”

Olivares’ race was a thing of pacing beauty as he moved from roughly 35th place at the mile to 12th at two miles to seventh at 2 1/2 miles.

“That’s just something that [Switzer has] ingrained in us from day one,” Olivares said. “To not kill yourself in the first mile. To save yourself for later in the race. We’ve all gone out too fast in the first mile of this course, but after doing that a few times, you learn that there’s a more efficient way to run.”

Switzer was particularly pleased with Olivares’ performance because it wasn’t long ago that Olivares questioned whether he belonged in high-caliber races.

“I remember that he was surprised when he found out he was going to run [at the Stanford Invitational],” Switzer said. “He didn’t think he was good enough to go up there. But I said, ‘Look, you ran 9:38 [in the 3,200 meters] in track. You deserve to run in this type of meet.’ ”

Olivares, whom Switzer describes as intelligent and well-spoken, placed 23rd in the Division I race at Stanford on Sept. 29 before finishing second behind senior Nick Zoetewey of Canyon in the Division I race of the Kenny Staub Invitational at Crescenta Valley Park a week later.

He ran 15:34 to place 11th in the individual sweepstakes race of the Mt. SAC Invitational on Oct. 21 and won his second consecutive Pacific League title on Nov. 2 before clocking 15:32 to finish second in a Division I qualifying heat of the section preliminaries at Mt. SAC on Nov. 11.

Then came Saturday’s performance.

“I wasn’t prepared for 15:14,” Switzer said. “I would have been really happy with 15:25 and I would have been delirious with 15:24. So that was a real shockeroo.”

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Olivares’ 15:14 clocking at Mt. SAC would be a school record in many programs, but ranks him only fourth on Hoover’s all-time list.

David Lopez set the Hoover record of 15:01 in 1996, Eleazar Herrera ran 15:07 in 1989 and Margarito Casillas clocked 15:09 in 1992.

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Jeff Nelson had mixed emotions at the Southern Section championships as he watched Ryan Hall of Big Bear break the course record Nelson set as a Burbank High senior in 1978.

Nelson, who ran 14:32 at Mt. SAC, never expected his record to last for more than two decades. But he had grown accustomed to being the course record-holder.

“You’ve got to remember that the year I set that record was only the second year the boys had been running three miles,” Nelson said. “I just figured that it wouldn’t take long for someone else to come along and figure out a way to run faster.”

Eric Reynolds of Camarillo, who ran 14:39 at Mt. SAC in 1982, Eric Mastalir of Carmichael Jesuit, 14:38 in 1985, and Bryan Dameworth of Agoura, 14:36 in 1989, all took shots at Nelson’s record. But no one broke it until Hall ran 14:28 to win his second consecutive Division IV title.

“I kind of knew my days were numbered after I saw his [14:35 time] in the prelims,” Nelson said. “I kind of thought then, ‘Oh man. Oh no. He’s coming back next week.’ ”

Hall, a senior, tightened up a little bit in the last mile of the preliminaries, but he went out a second or two slower for the first mile Saturday before running the second half of the race faster.

“I saw him going up [Poop-out Hill just before two miles] and he was just floating,” Nelson said. “I turned to my wife and said, ‘This is it. He’s got it.’ ”

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Coach Kevin Smith of Oak Park has another talented freshman on his hands, only this time the runner is a girl.

Smith, in his 16th season at Oak Park, has had several freshmen play prominent roles in the success of his varsity boys’ teams in recent years. But he has never had a runner like Lauren Morales in the girls’ program.

Morales placed second in the Division IV final of the Southern Section championships in 18:48.

Although the time was two seconds off the school record Morales set in the section preliminaries, it was the second fastest among freshmen from the region at any level in the finals.

“I had heard about [Lauren] from the P.E. coaches at [Medea Creek Middle School],” Smith said. “But I had no idea she’d be this good.”

Smith got a glimpse of Morales’ potential when she placed second--albeit nearly a minute behind--Laura Meyers of Maranatha in the opener.

Then she finished fourth--11 seconds behind third-place Jennifer Turk of Newbury Park--in the small schools race of the Ojai Invitational eight days later.

“That was the confirmation,” Smith said. “After the first meet, I said, ‘This looks pretty good.’ After Ojai, I said, ‘Oh my God.’ To finish that close to someone as talented as Miss Turk was saying something.”

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Phillip Reid of Rio Mesa and Johnny Zendejas of Camarillo, 1-2 finishers in the Pacific View League final earlier this month, are among the fastest sophomores ever at Mt. SAC.

In the Southern Section championships, Reid, moved to second on the all-time sophomore list in a school-record 15:18 to place fourth in the Division II final, and Zendejas moved into a three-way tie for fourth with a 15:21 clocking to place eighth in the Division I final.

Erick Maldonado of Don Lugo lowered his sophomore course record to 15:12 when he finished third in the Division I race.