Arcadia still tops in league
For the rest of the boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams in the Pacific League, the 2010 season has been spent chasing down Arcadia.
Neither Burroughs nor Burbank was able to make much progress in that regard in the second league meet of the year at Arcadia Park on Wednesday afternoon, although the Indians’ Anthony Monroy and the Bulldogs’ McKenzie Paul provided some individual highlights with third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.
Arcadia, which also won the first league meet on Sept. 23 at Grifffith Park, won easily on both sides Wednesday to clinch at least a share of the league title, although with the league final counting double there’s still an opportunity for another team to force a co-championship.
“[Arcadia’s] a really good team to compete with,” said Monroy, who finished in 14 minutes 42.12 seconds behind defending-champion Arcadia’s Amar Moussa (14:40.31) and Sergio Gonzalez (14:40.91).
And, in the enduring intracity rivalry, it was Burroughs coming out on top overall, taking second on the boys’ side to Burbank’s third and third in girls’ competition, where Burbank was fourth.
“We just tried to stay relaxed in that first mile and not go out too fast so we can finish the last two miles stronger,” Monroy said. “The weather was a little bit warm today. If you get too excited you won’t be able to finish.”
Sergio Fraire was the top overall finisher for Burbank in ninth place in 15:26.94.
Alex Quispe (13th; 15:53.72), Charlie Camacho (14th; 15:57.72) and Kamal Chahal (15th; 15:58.06) rounded out the Indians’ scoring five along with Kyle Freudenberg (18th; 16:11.88).
“We’re just training a lot harder,” Monroy said. “We’ re constantly trying to improve every single day.”
Burbank’s Jacob Jun (15:58.78) and Andrew Wernstrum (16:05.88) finished 16th and 17th and Zach Solomon (16:16.91) and Isaiah Amos-Nshhimba (16:18.44) were 20th and 21st for the Bulldogs.
Crescenta Valley’ s boys’ team finished fourth, led by an eighth-place finish from Mike Duncan in 15:17.72.
The gap between the defending-champion Falcons and the Apaches girls widened a little bit more at Arcadia Park on Wednesday afternoon Arcadia beat out Crescenta Valley, 22-34.
“We came out and looked pretty flat,” said Crescenta Valley Coach Mark Evans, whose team was coming off an appearance on Saturday in the Clovis Invitational in Fresno, where the Apaches also competed. “They gave it a good effort and we just didn’t have it today and theyire disappointed.
“We really wanted to get them on their course, it just wasn’t going to happen today. We’ll try to get them next time and try to beat them the rest of the way through the season. I still think we’re a better team than we showed today.”
Arcadia’s Catrina McAlister, who was absent from the Staub Invitational on Oct. 2, where the Falcons notched their only win over the Apaches in four tries this season, finished first overall in 17 minutes 48.28 seconds.
Glindyll Mancia of Arcadia was second in 17:52.12, followed by teammate Alejandra Quintero in 17:57.84.
Paul, who finished second at the first league meet, was fourth in 18:10.05.
Burroughs’ top finishers were Kristen Burroughs (13th; 19:14.62) and Gracia Innocentia (14th; 19:19.59), followed by Giovanna Carrasco (16th; 19:21.96) and Brice Edrington (17th; 19:49.28).
Kristen Fregoso (20:10.31) and CJ Chua (20:20.81) were 20th and 21st for Burbank.