Eastlake High School sophomore Jaelyn Williams and Olympian High School senior Angel Cordero may be the Metro Conference’s best hopes of qualifying for this year’s state cross country championship meet.
Both runners are coming off an appearance at last spring’s elite state track and field meet. Williams competed in the girls 3200-meter run, placing fourth to stun the veteran field, while Cordero competed in the boys 800 run.
Both were back on the cross country course last Friday at Rohr Park to compete in this year’s conference championship meet. Both repeated as individual champions, perhaps to no one’s surprise.
Williams easily topped the 77-deep girls varsity field with the top time of 14:20.5 on the 2.5-mile course. She won by one minute, 42 seconds over Otay Ranch junior Aviva Devore.
Cordero’s 5K race was much closer. He successfully defended his title with a two-second win over Bonita Vista senior Ian Ridge with a time of 16:50.4 to best the 86-deep field.
“He’s becoming more of a leader on the team, he’s grown so much since he was a freshman,” Olympian head coach Brandon Velasquez said in regard to Cordero’s continued development.
All 13 Metro Conference schools participated. League championships were based on regular season dual meet records and finish at the conference finals.
Olympian charted at the top of the Metro-Mesa League boys finals race while Eastlake was the top girls team finisher in the Metro-Mesa League.
Southwest was the top Metro-Pacific League boys team while Sweetwater was the top Metro-South Bay League boys team.
San Ysidro out-dueled Hilltop by one point in the girls varsity race to set up a Metro-South Bay League co-championship.
Local runners will test their luck on Saturday at the section championships, starting at 8:30 a.m. at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.
Metro Conference Cross Country Champions
Metro-Mesa League
Girls: Eastlake
Boys: Olympian
Metro-South Bay League
Girls: Hilltop, San Ysidro
Boys: Sweetwater
Metro-Pacific League
Girls: Mar Vista
Boys: Southwest
Boys Varsity Team Scoring
1. Olympian 48, 2. Bonita Vista 78, 3. Otay Ranch 94, 4. Southwest 104, 5. Eastlake 111, 6. Sweetwater 122, 7. Hilltop 171, 8. San Ysidro 177, 9. Mater Dei Catholic 234, 10. Chula Vista 278, 11. Castle Park 333, 12. Montgomery 339, 13. Mar Vista 346
Top Varsity Boys Individuals
1. Angel Cordero (Olympian) 16:50.4, 2. Ian Ridge (Bonita Vista) 16:52.8, 3. Sebastian Aranda (Bonita Vista) 16:59.6, 4. Brady Albright (Eastlake) 17:05.0, 5. Diego Navarrete Ocampo (Eastlake) 17:08.4, 6. David Castellon (Otay Ranch) 17:12.0, 7. Memphis Gensler (Olympian) 17:12.9, 8. Kai Charles (Otay Ranch) 17:15.3, 9. Joaquin Gutierrez (Olympian) 17:19.5, 10. Domenico Kelley (Sweetwater) 17:19.8, 11. Andrew Lopez (Southwest) 17:20.7, 12. Carlos Martinez (Southwest) 17:28.2, 13. Nathan Lopez (Southwest) 17:35.2, 14. Anthony Estrella (Olympian) 17:39.6, 15. Javier Lopez (San Ysidro) 17:44.5
16. Brian Ibarra (Southwest) 17:47.2, 17. Kenko Sho (Olympian) 17:52.3, 18. Aiden Sparks (Otay Ranch) 17:58.1, 19. Brady Sutherland (Hilltop) 17:58.5, 20. Matteo Garcia (Sweetwater) 18:01.2, 21. Dilan Gonzalez (Sweetwater) 18:02.8, 22. Joshua Hoffman (Bonita Vista) 18:04.9, 23. Isaac Martinez (San Ysidro) 18:08.9, 24. Ramon Ramirez (Otay Ranch) 18:09.4, 25. Jose Godinez (Bonita Vista) 18:15.6, 26. Adan Hurtado (Bonita Vista) 18:16.0, 27. Leonardo Gonzalez Sandoval (Hilltop) 18:22.5, 28. Caleb Kipp (Eastlake) 18:26.6, 29. Dylan Peraza (Eastlake) 18:28.8, 30. Oswaldo Pina (Chula Vista) 18:29.0
Note: 86 entrants
Top Junior Varsity Boys Individuals
1. Grady Stephens (Otay Ranch) 18:16.4, 2. Jesus Ortiz (Olympian) 18:28.6, 3. Ian Edquer Rosas (Olympian) 18:45.0, 4. Gabriel Valdes (Otay Ranch) 18:45.2, 5. Meo Wenzl (Otay Ranch) 18:46.7, 6. Cuellar Isaac (Olymian) 18:48.5, 7. Caleb Camarena (Otay Ranch) 18:50.5, 8. Tristan Hastings (Olympian) 18:54.5, 9. Giovanny Espinoza (Otay Ranch) 18:54.8, 10. Kalni Patel (Otay Ranch) 18:56.1, 11. Austin Cornelius (Otay Ranch) 18:56.5, 12. Calrence Reasonda (Sweetwater) 19:00.7, 13. Sarabia Alejandro (Olympian) 19:17.8, 14. Lukas Brown (Bonita Vista) 19:20.9, 15. Joaquin Ramos (Bonita Vista) 19:23.5
Note: 218 entrants
Top JV boys teams: 1. Otay Ranch 26, 2. Olympian 32, 3. Bonita Vista 100, 4. Sweetwater 103, 5. Hilltop 161, 6. Eastlake 161, 7. Southwest 166, 8. Mater Dei Catholic 241, 9. Chula Viata 277
Girls Varsity Team Scoring
1. Eastlake 43, 2. Otay Ranch 71, 3. Bonita Vista 105, 4. San Ysidro 109, 5. Hilltop 110, 6. Olympian 152, 7. Mater Dei Catholic 218, 8. Chula Vista 232, 9. Sweetwater 240, 10. Mar Vista 247, 11. Southwest 287, 12. Montgomery 312
Top Varsity Girls Individuals
1. Jaelyn Williams (Eastlake) 14:20.5, 2. Aviva DeVore (Otay Ranch) 16:02.3, 3. Vanessa Vuong (Eastlake) 16:14.9. 4. Isabel Lara (Olympian) 16:42.5, 5. Diana Loredo (Southwest) 17:01.5, 6. Viviana Villalpando (Hilltop) 17:02.9, 7. Emma Martinez (San Ysidro) 17:04.0, 8. Solana Kitamura (Eastlake) 17:05.1; 9. Miah Bermudez (San Ysidro) 17:07.7. 10. Valeria Jimenez (San Ysidro) 17:08.7, 11. Charlize Cruz (Eastake) 17:10.9, 12. Renee Khuong (Bonita Vista) 17:13.8, 13. Melanie Arzola (Sweetwater) 17:19.9, 14. Briana Rangel (Otay Ranch) 17:22.5, 15. Zaira Padilla (Otay Ranch) 17:22.5
16.Olympia Jara (Bonita Vista) 17:28.3, 17. Leilani Wilson (Bonita Vista) 17:33.5, 18. Kamilah Cone (Hilltop) 17:45.5, 19. Alicia Parise (Otay Ranch) 17:52.5, 20. Greysen Mains (Eastlake) 18:01.6, 21. Celeste Espinoza (Otay Ranch) 18:04.8, 22. Sophia Ambriz (Bonita Vista) 18:04.8, 23. Andrea Prado-Tamayo (Eastlake) 18:26.8, 24. Rae Ball (Eastlake) 18:34.1, 25. Sofia Carrillo (Otay Ranch) 18:34.8, 26. Melanie Cisneros (Hilltop) 18:35.6, 27. Izabella Vargas (Chula Vista) 18:37.5, 28. Carolina Villalpando (Hilltop) 18:48.3, 29. Greyson Rich (Olympian) 18:51.7, 30. Alexi Montoya (Sweetwater) 18:53.8
Note: 77 entrants
Top Junior Varsity Girls Individuals
1.Dalila Quedraogo (Eastlake) 18:24.1, 2. Sienna Blanco (Eastlake) 19:05.1, 3. Eunji Kwak (Otay Ranch) 19:10.8, 4. Navi Ball (Eastlake) 19:39.8, 5. Savanna Weatherspoon (Otay Ranch) 19:43.3, 6. Giselle Ornelas (Hilltop) 19:57.7, 7. Sophia Quirino (Hilltop) 19:57.8, 8. Samantha Calvillo (Otay Ranch) 20:05.3, 9. Shilah Coco (Otay Ranch) 20:10.2, 10. Alexandra Orona (Otay Ranch) 20:16.8
Note: 97 entrants
Top JV girls teams: 1. Eastlake 34, 2. Otay Ranch 35, 3. Hilltop 53, 4. Bonita Vista 126, 5. Sweetwater 148, 6. Olympian 176, 7. Mater Dei Catholic 187
San Diego Section Championships
Saturday, Nov. 11 at Morley Field, Balboa Park
| 8:30 AM | 2.96 Miles Division V Boys | |
| 9:00 AM | 2.96 Miles Division 1 Boys | |
| 9:30 AM | 2.96 Miles Division V Girls | |
| 10:05 AM | 2.96 Miles Division 1 Girls | |
| 10:40 AM | 2.96 Miles Division II Boys | |
| 11:10 AM | 2.96 Miles Division III Girls | |
| 11:45 AM | 2.96 Miles Division IV Boys | |
| 12:15 PM | 2.96 Miles Division II Girls | |
| 12:50 PM | 2.96 Miles Division III Boys | |
| 1:20 PM | 2.96 Miles Division IV Girls |
