Loyola Able to Surpass Goal, Win First Title

Los Angeles Loyola, a cross-country team that began the season with a goal of advancing to the state championships for the first time, won the Division I title Saturday at Woodward Park.

The Cubs, led by third-place Mark Matusak and eighth-place David Torrence, totaled 80 points to win the Division I race by a comfortable margin on a cool and overcast day. Chino Don Lugo was second with 103 points and Dana Point Dana Hills was third with 104 in a race in which the top six teams were from the Southern Section.

“Finishing second [in the team sweepstakes race of the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational] was a turning point for us,” Matusak said. “That race made us think we had a chance to win a section title.”

Loyola finished second to Long Beach Poly in the Mt. SAC Invitational on Oct. 26, but the Cubs defeated top-ranked Poly and four other teams ranked among the top six in the state in winning the Southern Section title at Mt. SAC on Nov. 23.

Southern Section runners won seven of a possible 10 titles in the boys’ meet as Barstow won its second consecutive Division III championship, Oak Park won its first Division IV title and La Canada Flintridge Prep won its third Division V championship in five years.

Runners from the Southern Section won three individual titles as senior Michael Poe of Etiwanda ran 15:06 in the Division I race, senior Phillip Reid of Oxnard Rio Mesa clocked 15:01 in the Division II race and junior Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte timed 15:13 in the Division IV final.

Poe’s time gave him a victory margin of 16 seconds, which equaled the largest recorded in the Division I race of the state meet, which began in 1987. Reid’s time was the fastest of the meet, broke the Division II record of 15:06 set by Matt Farley of Carmichael Jesuit in 1993 and gave him a victory against the strongest field of the meet.

Trafeh’s time gave him a 43-second margin of victory, the largest in meet history at any level.