Saturday a success for many
While the goal at the CIF Southern Section divisional cross-country preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College is to advance to the divisional championships, there were also several interesting sidebars Saturday.
Perhaps the most prominent local race was the girls’ Division IV second heat, where 11th-ranked Flintridge Sacred Heart upset second-ranked Mayfield, 51-55.
“I’m pretty sure Mayfield was hiding some runners, but that didn’t take away from the fact we ran well,” Tologs Coach Kirk Nishiyama said. “This is really big for our confidence heading into next week.”
Tologs’ senior Stephanie Vargas clinched third in 18 minutes, 7 seconds, pacing teammates Paulina Antaplyan (eighth, 18:50), Riley Gilmartin (12th, 19:06) and Hanna Armendariz (19:21) and Maddie Peterson (19:21), who tied for 16th.
Alyssa Rivas finished sixth for Mayfield in 18:31, ahead of Christina Cordano (seventh, 18:39), Lauren Joseph (11th, 18:58), Karina Alvarez (13th, 19:10) and Annie Peacock (24th, 19:37).
“We were just racing to advance,” Cubs Coach Eric Sun said. “We look forward to seeing FSHA next week.”
The Flintridge Prep boys tied Xavier Prep at 52 points for a co-victory in the Division V third heat with a scoring five of Aaron Sugimoto (ninth, 15:34), Jake Johnson (10th, 15:56), Casey Thompson (11th, 15:57), Alan Yoho (12th, 16:01) and Eli Weinstein (20th, 16:26).
La Salle’s Daniel De La Torre, an individual runner, cruised to a win in the Division IV first heat in 14:52.
“At the halfway point, Daniel looked relaxed,” La Salle Coach Fred Riley said. “He wasn’t running hard and then he turned it on.”
Maranatha’s Kyle Bueckert won the Division IV second heat in 14:58, while Maranatha qualified in eighth (196 points).
The San Marino girls also advanced in the Division IV second heat, taking fourth (98 points), as sophomore Alissa Barraza (fourth, 18:15) led a pack that included Sarah Linton (19th, 19:31), Caitlin Hittner (22nd, 19:36) and Veronica Mejia (25th, 19:41).
Alex “Peaky” Yuter (ninth, 15:22) propelled the San Marino boys to sixth with 154 points in the Division IV first heat with teammates Andrew Jack (17th, 15:47) and Robbie Moreton (24th, 15:58) keeping pace.
The South Pasadena boys took third (104 points) in the Division III second heat as Alex Tranquada (ninth, 14:57), Josh Wilson (11th, 14:58) and Paul Messana (16th, 15:09) led the way.
The La Cañada girls topped South Pasadena in the Division III third heat for fourth place, 115-126, as both teams advanced.
South Pasadena’s Helena Van Loan placed third (17:21) with the area’s fastest time, while teammate Anika Renken (14th, 18:05) wasn’t far off.
Junior Sonja Cwik (18th, 18:15) was one of four top-25 Spartans, including Anna Frederich (20th, 18:17), Coleen Mispagel (22nd, 18:22) and Meghan Fuelling (25th, 18:37).
Maranatha’s girls also advanced, taking fifth (142 points), led by Hannah Rae Finchamp (14th, 19:35), Amanda Shankwiler (23rd, 20:04) and Annelise Trujillo (24th, 20:16).
The Flintridge Prep girls were runner-up (96 points) in the Division V first heat, as Sarah Yoho (fifth, 18:13) and Kate Evans (eighth, 18:24) placed in the top 25.
Evan Gancedo (fourth, 19:07) led the Poly girls (59 points) to silver in the Division V second heat with help from Emily Gifford (ninth, 19:44) and Brooke Edwards and Kelli Liu, who tied for 17th (20:27).