CROSS COUNTRY ROUNDUP: 10-04-08

SULTANA GIRLS TAKE ASICS SWEEPSTAKES RACE: At Malibu, the Sultana girls won the Pepperdine Invitational girls Asics Sweepstakes race.

The Sultans scored 31 points as a team to beat Westwick Valley (New York) by 13 points for the team title. Westwick was the defending champion of the sweepstakes race and is ranked in the top 10 on the East Coast. Edison/Huntington Beach, which took third, has been a Division I state-ranked team.

Freshman Hannah Munyan finished second with a time of 18 minutes, 40 seconds. Munyan was four seconds behind Edison’s Hillary Haynes, who won the race in 18:36.

Sophomore Jane Higuchi (19:23) was third; sophomore Shayna Robinson (19:37) took fifth; senior Lainie Bird (20:01) was ninth; and freshman Cassie Bird (20:10) was 12th to round out the Sultans’ top five.

“Our girls went out very tentatively, but began to take charge at the two-thirds mark in the race and finished very strongly to bring home a big win for this program,” Sultana coach John Mahr said.

The Sultana boys finished 15th out of 23 teams with 444 points. Jesse Lopez (17:13) and Eric Carrell (17:54) led the way.

AZTECS TAKE THIRD: At Malibu, Isaac Chavez finished second in the boys sweepstakes varsity race with a time of 15:25.73 to lift Barstow to third place at the Pepperdine Invitational.

Andrew Romano ran a time of 15:52.68 for eighth place.

Barstow scored 78 points, behind Thousand Oaks’ 41 and Arcadia’s 53.

BARSTOW BOYS
2. Chavez 15:25.73; 8. Romano 15:52.68; 11. Barba 16:06.20; 26. Gomez 16:36.76; 33. Kanczel 16;50.81.

D’BACKS GIRLS SHINE AT PEPPERDINE: At Malibu, Serrano won the 15-team large school division girls varsity race at the Pepperdine Invitational.

Freshman Danie Foxvog finished fifth overall with a time of 19:49; Skyler Tarver was 10th at 20:11; Lauren Minnick took 12th with a time of 20:16; Jackie Quarton was 13th at 20:17; and Megan Hamlin finished 19th at 20:29.

The Serrano boys took 19th out of 23 teams; coach Ken Quinn said two runners missed the race for academic testing. John Demel led the Diamondbacks with a time of 17:46.

A.V. BOYS, GIRLS EXCEL AT YUCAIPA: At Yucaipa, the Sun Devils boys finished in third place in the Division II race, and the girls took second in the Division III race at the Yucaipa Invitational.

Hannah Valenzuela won the girls race in 18:10 and beat the second-place runner by more than a minute. Valenzuela’s sister, Miranda Valenzuela (20:08), took sixth and Magali Espinoza (21:32) finished 18th.

Estancia beat Apple Valley for the girls title.

On the boys side, Daniel Rosales (15:49) finished second to Rim of the World’s Dustin Fay (15:20). Sam Nunes (16:27) was eighth, Chris Reeves (17:10) was 21st and Ashton Stine (17:12) took 22nd.

Woodbridge won the boys race, while Rim of the World was fifth.

SCORPS RUN AT CENTRAL PARK INVITE: At Huntington Beach, Daniel Gonzales led the Hesperia boys at the Central Park Invitational in 16:54.

Gonzales was followed by Jacob Otto (17:18) and Joe Martinez (17:30).

The girls were led by Monica Casillas (21:27) and Joanna Flores (21:53).

EAGLES COMPETITIVE AT PEPPERDINE: At Malibu, Keith Carlson led the Excelsior boys to 13th place in the Pepperdine Invitational small-school division.

Carlson ran the 3-mile race in 19:13, and was followed by Malcolm Leon (20:27) and Cody Fisher (20:30).

PATRIOTS BOYS FINISH 11TH: At Malibu, Chris Maerzluft finished 31st in the small schools race to lift the Hesperia Christian boys to 11th place out of 17 schools at Pepperdine Invitational.

The girls team, led by Kassie Martinez’s 22:38, had only two runners in the race.

HCS BOYS
31. Maerzluft 18:15; 63. Mendonca 19:16; 76. Lombardo 19:48; 81. Ellis 20:01; 89. Wingerd 20:18.
HCS GIRLS
53. Martinez 22:38; 78. Bennett 23:57.

HAWKS FINISH 13TH: At Hunnington Beach, the Silverado girls placed 13th out of 26 Division I varsity teams at the Central Park Invitational.

Sara Taylor led the Hawks as she finished 13th out of 168 runners.

Reggie Rubio led the Silverado boys with a time of 17:03.

“I was pretty happy because most runners had their personal best,” Silveardo coach Janice Frye said. “The times are starting to drop.”

BOYS
53. Rubio 17:03; 73. Rico 17:26; 159. Vaughan 19:54; 177. Wilson 22:29.
GIRLS
13. Taylor 19:20; 38. Cervantes 20:01; 70. Gutierrez 21:02; 95. Hadloc 21:56; 116. Jimenez 22:34.