Marina’s Rodriguez Continues Run From Obscurity

Raemon Rodriguez accomplished Saturday what no other Marina boys’ cross-country runner had done in 11 years.

Rodriguez, a virtual unknown at the start of the season, won the Sunset League individual title at Central Park in Huntington Beach, covering the 2.97-mile alternate course in 14 minutes 51 seconds.

Rodriguez pulled away from Edison’s Scott Brandos at the midway point and won by 15 seconds. It was Marina’s first individual league title since Brian McCaffery won in 1989.

“I didn’t think I was going to be running these times this year,” said Rodriguez, a junior. “I thought I was going to be running in the low 16s, high 15s. To come out and run in the 14s, I’m very surprised.”

Rodriguez, who finished third at the Orange County Championships two weeks ago, has been a surprise to just about everyone this season.

When Rodriguez was a freshman, Dave Sanford coached him at Cerritos High before leaving to take the job at Marina. Rodriguez also left Cerritos after his freshman year, transferring to Norwalk Glenn, but its cross-country program wasn’t as developed.

“He hated it,” Sanford said. “He was running on his own most days, only training three days a week and he was about to drop out. But the family decided it was time to make a move and he has thrived ever since.”

Rodriguez made his first appearance at the Sunny Hills Invitational on Sept. 16, winning the individual competition on the three-mile course at Clark Park. Rodriguez finished second the following weekend in the Division II race at the Dana Hills Invitational, posting the top time among county runners.

Rodriguez finished 52nd in the large schools race at the Clovis Invitational on Oct. 7, but he looks back at the race as a springboard.

“I got trashed there,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve been training hard ever since because I don’t want that to happen again.”

Sanford said the disappointing finish at Clovis wasn’t from a lack of training, but with whom Rodriguez was training. Rodriguez would hang back with the rest of the Marina team during long-distance runs and shorter intervals, rather than train at his own pace.

“You can’t do that,” Sanford said. “I told him, ‘You’re not going to make it up front if you’re running with those guys in practice.’ Since then, it has been a whole different world. He’s taking off and running at the pace he needs to run.”

Rodriguez was back near the front the following weekend at the Orange County Championships, then he finished first in a dual meet last week against Edison.

“He’s peaking,” said Sanford, who hopes to follow Rodriguez to the national championships in Florida in December. “He has run three awesome races in a row and he gets stronger every time.”

Behind the second-place finish from Brandos and four other top-12 finishes, Edison won the team title by 13 points over Fountain Valley. The Barons were led by Nick Arciniaga, who finished third in 15:15.7.

In the girls’ finals:

Allen leads Barons--Fountain Valley won its first league finals meet behind the first-place finish of Julie Allen, the 1999 Times’ Orange County runner of the year.

Allen won the race in 16:55.8, followed by Esperanza’s Alison Costello in second (17:37.7) and Marina’s Vanessa Kelly in third (18:03.4).

Fountain Valley scored 41 points, followed by Esperanza with 46 and Marina with 75.

The Barons had five runners in the top eight midway through the race, but finished with five in the top 16.

Esperanza, the four-time defending champion, had five runners in the top 17, but were less than 100%. Nicole Distefano, a first-team all-country selection two years ago, has been suffering from bronchitis and finished 23rd.

“I can’t seem to get all five girls on at the same time,” Esperanza Coach Rich Medellin said.