Burroughs boys, Virtue run to cross-country league titles

ARCADIA — There was a winner-take-all scenario in the boys’ cross-country race at Thursday’s Pacific League finals at Arcadia County Park.

Heading into the meet, defending champion Burroughs High was tied with Crescenta Valley and Arcadia for the league’s top spot. The winner of Thursday’s meet would determine the league champion.

Despite one of its top runners missing the race, Burroughs placed its top five runners among the top 11 finishers to win the race and claim its second straight league crown.

PHOTOS: Pacific League cross country finals at Arcadia Park

In the girls’ race, Burroughs’ Emily Virtue finished first, as Arcadia claimed the team title ahead of the Indians.

The Indians won the boys’ race with 37 points, besting Acadia, which finished second with 45. Crescenta Valley was third (54) and Burbank placed fourth (119). The top four teams in each race qualify for the CIF Southern Section prelims Nov. 14.

It was the second straight first-place league finish for the Indians, who finished third in the first Pacific League competition of the season.

“After that first meet, the guys have worked hard to improve,” said Burroughs Coach John Peebles, whose squad won the Division I championship in 2014. “We also made some minor changes. Our second guy today, who’s a sophomore, ran in the soph-frosh race the first league meet and our third or fourth guy is a sophomore and he ran soph-frosh the first time as well. So we were being a little more conservative in the early meet, with the plan of when it’s time to run, we just have to make sure we’re ready to go. But it really showed what we could do with those guys who came up.”

Burroughs competed without Alexander Hirsch, who was nursing an injury.

“We could have run him if we had to, but we didn’t want to take the chance,” Peebles said.

Justin Villagran paced the Indians, placing fourth in 14 minutes 50.25 seconds. He was followed by Jagdeep Chahal (sixth, 15:04.85), Andrew Barrondo (seventh, 15:05.86), Jacob Calderon (ninth, 15:11.13) and Timothy Wells (11th, 15:21.47).

As expected, the boys’ race was won by Arcadia’s Phillip Rocha, who turned in a monumental effort. The senior set a new course record with a blistering effort of 13:57.96 on the fast, flat three-mile course, bettering his previous record of 14:02 set last season.

Although Rocha was able to run away with the race, Crescenta Valley secured the next two spots, with Phillip Thomas taking second in 14:37.99 and Colin Fitzgerald coming in third in 14:44.55.

“I really don’t like flat courses like this. I would much rather race on a course with hills like Mt. SAC or CV park,” Thomas said. “The only thing I do like about a flat course is that I can get a PR.

“For this race, we didn’t worry about [Rocha] and we just kind of went out and did our own thing and let him kind of do his thing. We went out with him for the first mile, but we knew he was going to pull away.”

The first seven runners in each race earn all-league first-team accolades, while Nos. 8-14 earn second-team status.

The only other area runners to crack the top 10 was Crescenta Valley’s Armin Cardenas, who placed ninth in 15:05.99. Glendale’s Paulo Vasquez was 12th in 15:23.70. Burbank’s top finisher was Jonas Macromallis (17th, 15:32.73) and Hoover’s first runner over the line was Cory Ellis (27th, 16:20.29).

Things were more competitive in the girls’ race. Virtue had to hold off a pair of Arcadia runners with a late flourish to win the race. The Indians sophomore came across the line in 16:42.22, ahead of Apaches Holly Lung (second, 16:45.87) and Jasmine He (third, 16:48.35).

“The Arcadia girls went out fast and I was just kind of trying to stay with them so I could get a good time and make my move when I had to,” Virtue said. “At the end, I really didn’t think I was going to have enough to pass them, but I was thinking to myself that I might as well try it now because I might not have anything left later.

“I think there was a little less than a 400 left when I passed them. I thought they might pass me on the last straightaway, but I just pushed and I guess they were tired.”

Arcadia, which placed its top five runners among the top 10, won the race with 26 points to secure the league title. It was followed by Burroughs (52), Burbank (57) and Crescenta Valley (93).

Placing fourth was last year’s league champion Candela Fernandez of Burbank, who ran a 16:57.55.

“I thought her time was competitive,” Burbank Coach Darin Wolf said. “Coming from being a league champion, you’re not happy with getting fourth, but if your time is good, really the placement doesn’t mean as much.”

The only other area runner to earn first-team all-league honors was Bulldog Caroline Adams, who finished seventh in 17:48.63, while teammate Kira Bochard placed 10th in 18:00.47. The Falcons’ top finisher was Grace McAuley (12th, 18:39.88), while Hoover received a 26th-place effort from Leah Saunders (20:47.17) and Glendale’s Alie Pelegrini was 31st (21:22.03).

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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com

Twitter: @jefftsports