Prep cross country season steps off with plenty of South County intrigue

HILLTOP, OTAY RANCH CLAIM DIVISION TITLES AT VAQUERO STAMPEDE

Bonita Vista runners put their best feet forward during a practice run this week. Photo by Phillip Brents

The high school cross country season has stepped off for San Diego Section teams. In particular, South County teams have enjoyed a banner start.

Hilltop (Division II boys frosh/soph) and Otay Ranch (Division II junior/seinor) won the team titles at Saturday’s Vaquero Stampede at Lindo Lake in Lakeside.

For good measure, Bonita Vista finished runner-up in the Division II boys frosh/soph team standings while Eastlake finished second in the Division I girls frosh/soph team standings.

Sweetwater finished runner-up in the Division II boys junior/senior race.

Two Metro Conference runners won their individual races:

  • Sweetwater senior Jose Galvan, last year’s South Bay League finals runner-up, captured first place in the Division II boys junior/senior race with a time of 10:32 for 2.15 miles. He finished two seconds ahead of Grossmont senior Devin Provence and a commanding eight seconds ahead of El Capitan senior Andrew Sager, the race’s third-place finisher.
  • Hilltop sophomore Jimmy Byland won the Division II boys frosh/soph race by timing 8:26 on the 1.65-mile course, winning by three seconds over Valhalla sophomore Manuel Campos and five seconds over Bonita Vista sophomore Samuel Hernandez.

Hilltop out-pointed Bonita Vista, 83-103, to win the Division II boys frosh/soph race.

The Lancers placed their top four runners among the top 26 finishers in the 164-deep race: Byland (first, 8:26), sophomore Miguel Tisnado (seventh, 8:41), sophomore Eddie Castaneda (11th, 8:52) and sophomore Noah Rosenberg (26th, 9:25).

Bonita Vista placed three runners among the top 10 finishers: Hernandez (third, 8:31), sophomore Enrique Aranda (eighth, 8:43) and sophomore Pierce Manson (10th, 8:52).

Otay Ranch, which finished in a tie with Bonita Vista for last year’s Mesa League championship, bested defending South Bay League champion Sweetwater, 61-88, to finish on top of the 147-deep Division II boys junior/senior race.

The race champion Mustangs placed their five scorers among the top 16 place-finishers: senior Colby Parise (seventh, 11:13), junior Dominic Garcia (10th, 11:19), junior Grant Bice (13th, 11:21) and seniors Andre Sison (15th, 11:23) and Angelo Javier (16th, 11:32).

Otay Ranch’s five-man spread was just 19 seconds.

Sweetwater had two runners place among the top 20 finishers and four among the top 31 finishers.

Senior Angel Rodriguez followed teammate Galvan’s lead by finishing 20th in 11:40, followed by junior Luis Moreno (27th, 11:53) and senior Hector Alva (31st, 12:03).

Eastlake won a tiebreaker with Cathedral Catholic for second place in the Division I girls frosh/soph team standings. Sophomore Melissa Mekitarian (11th, 10:11) was the highest place-finisher for the Titans in the 1.65-mile race, followed by freshman Amanda Challburg (13th, 10:14).

Eastlake senior Patricia Miessner, a qualifier two years ago for the Foot Locker national cross country championship meet, finished fifth among Division I junior/senior girls runners with a time of 9:52 for 1.65 miles.

Notables:

  • San Ysidro junior Missael Felix tied Brawley senior Albert Rodriguez for the top time in the Division III boys junior/senior race. Both runners finished the 2.15-mile course in 11:13. San Ysidro finished fourth in the team standings.
  • Bonita Vista sophomore Lauren Salt finished second in the Division II girls frosh/soph race with a time of 10:10 to place 12 seconds behind race winner Amber Chase, a freshman from El Capitan.
  • Castle Park senior Estela Bustillos finished fourth in the Division III girls junior/senior race in 10:10, placing seven seconds ahead of High Tech High Chula Vista senior NaLiyah Bailey (fifth, 10:17).
  • High Tech High Chula Vista senior Drake Prince timed 11:20 to place sixth in the Division III boys junior/senior race. The Bruins finished sixth overall in the team standings.
  • Hilltop sophomore Nicole Byland finished fifth among 123 runners in the Division II girls frosh/soph race with a time of 10:35. Hilltop finished fourth as a team.
  • Otay Ranch junior Autumn Filson (10:07) and Bonita Vista junior Sequoia Kriss (10:08) were the highest-place Metro runners in the 100-deep Division II girls junior/senior race, finishing eighth and ninth, respectively. Otay Ranch senior McKenzie Kelly finished 11th in 10:11.
  • Hilltop senior Antonio Quintana (11:20) was 11th in the 147-deep Division II boys junior/senior race.

Among other South County teams:

  • Hilltop was fourth among teams in the Division II girls frosh/soph race while Bonita Vista was seventh.
  • Castle Park finished fifth in the Division III girls junior/senior race while San Ysidro was sixth.
  • Bonita Vista finished sixth in the Division II girls junior/senior division team standings.
  • Mar Vista was sixth in the Division II boys junior/senior race while Eastlake finished eighth in the Division I boys frosh/soph team standings.

Cross country remains a popular high school sport. The Division I boys frosh/soph race featured 201 finishers while the Division I boys junior/senior race had 151 finishers.

The inaugural Ian Cumming/Tim Latham Invitational is scheduled to step off Sept. 6 at Rohr Park, starting at 2 p.m. It will be the only local South County high school invitational this year.

The race schedule features the girls JV race at 2 p.m., followed by the boys JV race at 2:50 p.m., the boys varsity race at 3:50 p.m., the boys frosh/soph race at 4:40 p.m. and the girls varsity race at 5:40 p.m.

 

Rebuilding Bonita Vista cross country team aims to be competitive in 2019

Bonita Vista High School’s cross country team had four outstanding boys graduate: Jonathan Kelly, Mario Barone, Christian Salt and Christian Mason.

All four runners earned all-league accolades for the Mesa League co-champion Barons in 2018: Kelly finished second at the league finals while Barone was third, Salt was fourth and Mason was sixth in a power-packed showing.

Bonita Vista went on to finish third in the ensuing San Diego Section Division I finals behind state qualifiers El Camino and San Marcos.

BVHS head coach Dan Kettlehake believes this year’s team will once again be highly representative of the school.

“With some strong returning upperclassmen and a solid core of younger runners, the boys should again be competitive in the Mesa League this year,” Kettlehake said.

Top returners include sophomores Samuel Hernandez and Enrique Aranda along with seniors Gustavo Vazquez, Noah Nafarrete, Abraham Zepeda and Alberto Rosas.

Hernandez finished seventh at the varsity league finals while Vazquez was 12th and Nafarrete was 26th.

Zepeda, Aranda and Rosas are all highly decorated runners coming up from last year’s junior varsity team. Zepeda placed second at the Mesa League JV finals while Aranda was third and Rosas was ninth.

Kettlehake said there are some younger runners and a few seniors new to the program tht will definitely help the team. They include sophomores Pierce Manson, Maxwell Anderson, Jonathan Siegel and senior Omar Flores.

Flores is new to the program and should be a solid contributor to the team. Manson, Anderson and Siegel are returning runners.

Bonita Vista’s girls team finished fourth at last year’s Mesa League finals and 12th at the Division I CIF meet.

The 2019 BVHS girls team is led by a core of good young runners: junior Sequoia Kriss and sophomores Lauren Salt, Savanna Sierra and Bellah Marquez-Silva.

Kettlehake said Gloria Ing will be the team’s top senior.

Kriss finished sixth at last year’s league finals while Salt was 11th, Ing was 23rd and Sierra 25th in the varsity race.

“There are some older runners new to the program — Andrea Garcia and Isabelle Bernal — who should help the team and a strong crop of ninth grade runners who could develop into good runners over the next few years,” Kettlehake said. “The girls will be competitive in the Mesa League.”