Metro runners step off cross country season on winning note

The high school cross country season stepped off locally with last Friday’s Mustang Invitational at Rohr Park. Ten of the Metro Conference’s 13 schools participated, offering a preview of things to come this season.

There appears much to look forward to in 2016. Take note:

•Chula Vista High School captured team titles in both the boys varsity and junior varsity Silver Division races.

•Bonita Vista won the team title in the boys junior varsity Blue Division race and secured a second-place finish in the boys varsity Blue Division race.

Top individuals

•Southwest High School posted the top individual place-finishers in both the boys and girls varsity Silver Division races: senior Fabiola Gonzalez won the 2.3-mile girls race in 14:20 while junior Jacob Fiero won the 5K boys race in 17:12.

•Chula Vista sophomore Mya Thomas won the 1.65-mile girls junior varsity Silver Division race in 10:31.

•Bonita Vista juniors Isaiah Labra and Ethan Lamprecht finished second and third, respectively, in the boys varsity Blue Division race, followed by Olympian senior Diego Arriola in fourth place. The three Metro runners were separated by 14 seconds.

•Olympian junior Alexandra Martinez finished second in the girls varsity Blue Division race with a time of 13:28.

•Otay Ranch junior Jordan Vargas finished second in the 2.3-mile boys JV Blue Division race in 12:29.

•Chula Vista sophomore Kenneth Perez finished second in the boys JV Silver Division race in 12:58.

Varsity Blue Division

Labra and Lamprecht are the top two returning runners from last year’s Mesa League finals and the pair of juniors certainly didn’t disappoint last Friday. In fact, Lamprecht led the race for the opening 2.5 miles before ceding the lead to winner Alex Barr, a senior from Scripps Ranch.

Barr finished first in 15:59 — a scant second ahead of Labra (16:00). Lamprecht was third in 16:11, followed by Arriola in fourth in 16:14.

Overall, five Metro runners finished among the top 10 placers. Otay Ranch senior Cale Parise was sixth in 16:19, followed by classmate Jeremiah Suzara (eighth, 16:30).

Bonita Vista finished second as a team to Scripps Ranch while Otay Ranch placed third and Olympian placed fourth.
Bonita Vista, with 87 points, finished nine points behind Scripps while Otay Ranch (92 points) and Olympian (95 points) both were hot on the tail of the Barons.

Lamprecht, who finished 17 seconds behind Labra at last year’s league finals, looked comfortable leading the pack.
“I wanted to see a fast time (compared to last year),” Lamprecht said. “I also wanted to tire out the competitors so that Isaiah and I could go one-two.”

Labra returns as a state qualifier from last year after placing fourth in the Division I championship race at the CIF finals.

“I knew the guys were going to start out hard —I wanted to stay up front,” Labra said. “We’re still early in the season, so it’s a good indicator.”

Bonita Vista coach Matt Seat said the team’s goal is to win this year’s Division I team championship.

“We’re dealing with some injuries right now, but the ones who are healthy right now are very fit,” Seat explained. “The ones who aren’t healthy right now are really working to get back, which is going to make us stronger. It’s going to be a fun season.”

Otay Ranch won last year’s league title, followed by Bonita Vista and Olympian.

Also recording top-third finishes in the 93-deep field were Otay Ranch sophomore Justin Mulvany (12th, 16:38), Olympian junior Nicholas Albro (14th, 16:49), Bonita Vista junior Armando Campos (16th, 17:02), Olympian senior Jorge Tejeda (21st, 17:23), Olympian senior Sergio Renteria (26th, 17:30), Otay Ranch senior Harold Thomas (28th, 17:32), Bonita Vista senior Anthony Sanchez (29th, 17:32) and Olympian senior Marlon Cortez (30th, 17:38).

In the girls varsity race, Olympian’s Martinez also experienced a late burst to pass a pair of Eastlake runners to secure her runner-up finish.

Martinez passed Eastlake freshman Patricia Miessner (third, 13:38) and Lady Titan junior Leyla McFarland (fourth, 13:44) but could not catch race winner Gwendalyn Gibson, a senior from Ramona, who topped the field with a time of 13:22.

Olympian sophomore Mariana Beltran finished fifth in the field in 13:46 while Bonita Vista senor Natalie Medina was 10th in 13:57 to give the Metro Conference five finishers among the top 10 place-winners.

Eastlake, with 83 points, finished in third place behind team champion Steele Canyon (65 points) and runner-up Scripps Ranch (69 points) while Olympian placed fourth with 104 points. Otay Ranch was seventh with 161 points, followed by Bonita Vista in eighth with 180 points.

Placing in the top third of the 92-deep field were Otay Ranch sophomore Yilana Casim (12th, 14:06), Otay Ranch junior Emelie Jones (15th, 14:12), Eastlake freshman Pia Davila (16th, 14:17), Eastlake senior Emily Bonilla (19th, 14:25), Olympian freshman Aylette Cisneros (27th, 14:45), Olympian senior Zuri Smith (28th, 14:45), Bonita Vista junior Milla Padilla (29th, 14:46), Bonita Vista junior Sarah Suarez (30th, 14:47) and Otay Ranch sophomore Adriana Horne (31st, 14:50).

Varsity Silver Division
Gonzalez and Fiero were tested in both races before pulling away toward the end. Chula Vista senior Cristian Alcantar finished second in the boys race in 17:23 while Castle Park senior Liliana Hakim placed runner-up in the girls race in 14:39.

Not to be outdone, San Ysidro junior Victor Raygoza posted the third-place time of 17:59 among individuals in the boys race.

Fiero finished as last year’s South Bay League finals champion while Gonzalez placed second behind league individual champion Hakim.

Fiero said hard work was the key to his victory last Friday.

“I knew I had more training than anyone else — the summer, the weekends, twice in the morning,” explained Fiero, who took the lead 200 meters into the race and maintained it.

“I just wanted to lead,” he said. “My goals are to go under 15:00 and finish the season at the state championship meet.”

Gonzalez got the upper hand on Hakim after finishing 37 seconds behind last season.

“I just wanted to stay with her the whole time,” Gonzalez explained. “But downhill, I got the lead.”

Gonzalez said goals this season are to repeat as league team champions, do well at the section championship meet and advance to the state meet.

Chula Vista, Castle Park and Sweetwater shared last year’s South Bay League boys title as tri-champions while Southwest and Chula Vista shared the league girls championship as co-champions.

Chula Vista ran to last Friday’s invitational boys team title with a low score of 35 points to speed past runner-up Southwest (76 points) and third-place finisher San Ysidro (84 points).

Besides Alcantar, Chula Vista’s five scorers also included junior Jose Jaques Payan (sixth, 18:25), senior Gabriel Crosthwaite (seventh, 18:28), senior Moses Medina (ninth, 18:29) and senior Felix Torres (11th, 18:33). The Spartans’ five-man spread totaled 1:10.

Also finishing in the top third of the 72-deep field were Southwest senior Santiago Diaz-Reyes (10th, 18:31), High Tech Chula Vista senior Emilio Lopez-Gallo (12th, 18:37), Chula Vista junior Eduardo Flores (13th, 18:43), Chula Vista senior Alexis Llamas (14th, 18:46), San Ysidro senior Andres Zamudio (15th, 18:47), High Tech Chula Vista junior Sebastian Paredes (18th, 18:50), San Ysidro senior Oswaldo Felix (19th, 18:51), Southwest senior Emiliano Arevalo (20th, 18:51), Chula Vista senior Alexander Zavala (21st, 18:54), Southwest sophomore Juan Carlos Zurita (23rd, 18:54) and San Ysidro sophomore Alex Gomez (24th, 18:56).

High Tech Chula Vista finished sixth in the boys varsity race with 135 points, followed by Mar Vista in seventh place with 233 points and Castle Park in eighth place with 248 points.

In the girls varsity race, Southwest placed third with 82 points while Chula Vista was fourth with 97 points and Castle Park was fifth with 98 points. HTH-CV finished sixth with 123 points, followed by Mar Vista in seventh place with 169 points.

Runners finishing in the top third of the 53-deep field included Chula Vista junior Aletse Sarabia (seventh, 15:16), Southwest junior Michelle Mendias (eighth, 15:23), High Tech Chula Vista sophomore Anna Nicole Barreiro (13th, 16:06) and HTH-CV freshman NaLiyah Bailey (15th, 16:19).

Junior Varsity
Bonita Vista edged league rival Olympian 59-63 to win the boys Blue Division team title while Otay Ranch (102 points) was fifth and Eastlake (199 points) was eighth.

Scripps Ranch junior Gavin Dawson won the race in 12:17 but was followed by five Mesa League runners in tight formation: Otay Ranch’s Vargas (12:29), Bonita Vista junior Gustavo Perez (12:29), Olympian senior Kristian Perez Tejeda (12:30), Bonita Vista sophomore Christian Mason (12:30) and Olympian sophomore Kerris Stambaugh (12:39).

Chula Vista edged San Ysidro, 39-44, to win the Silver Division team title, followed by St. Augustine (65 points) and Southwest (85 points).

Eight of the top 10 finishers in the race were from South Bay League schools, including four from Chula Vista and three from San Ysidro.

Chula Vista’s winning five-some also included sophomore Christian Sustaita (seventh, 13:38), senior Andrew Sanchez (eighth, 13:38), freshman David Landeros (10th, 13:40) and junior Daniel Labelle (17th, 13:54).

Southwest freshman Frankie Lemus (13:17) finished third in the 111-deep field while San Ysidro freshman Paul Downey (13:18) was fourth. Two more San Ysidro runners followed: seniors Andres De la O (fifth, 13:28) and Fausto Lopez (13:32).

Olympian freshman Kaley Lopez was the top Metro female finisher in the Blue Division race with a time of 11:02 on he 1.65-mile course.

The boys JV Blue Division race featured 234 finishers while the girls JV Blue Division race featured 221 finishers. A total of 967 finishers competed in all eight divisional races at this year’s Mustang Invitational.

Next up is Saturday’s (Sept. 17) Mt. Carmel/Movin’ Shoes Invitational at San Diego’s Morley Field. The first of 16 races during the day starts at 8:30 a.m.