The Brea Olinda boys prepare for their heat Friday in the CIF-Southern Section Prelims at the Riverside Championship Course. Brea was the No. 2 qualifier in Division 3. (All photos by Zoe Medranda)
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The majority of the squads slated to easily advance forward to next week's CIF-Southern Section Finals held back, for the most part Friday morning on the first day of the Southern Section Prelims.
Some rested top runners, opting to save it for next week while it was evident all throughout that many of the top squads stayed in packs in this morning's performances.
With 24 teams advancing onto next week's Southern Section Finals, Divisions 1 and 3 were determined on Friday with the remaining divisions taking to the flat 3-mile Riverside Championship Course on Saturday beginning at 7:45 a.m. We expect much warmer temperatures for Saturday's affair.
MORE SOUTHERN SECTION PRELIMINARIES CONTENT
As for Friday morning, this may have been the coolest temperature that most of the athletes had raced in all season! Never getting over 65 degrees with an offshore fog that never relented until the finalsteams were packing up to go home, the conditions were near perfect.
On the boys side, the top time of the morning was turned in by Palmdale Highland junior Daniel Rodriguez, blitzing the course in 15 minutes, 4 seconds.
For the girls, Foot Locker National Finalist from a year ago, Hana Catsimanes of San Clemente crossed in 17:33. She was partnered up with Santa Ana's Maria Hernandez (17:42) up until the last 800 meters of their qualifying heat.
With the horrific tragedy that took place at Saugus High School on Thursday, both cross country teams were not required to compete in their scheduled Division 1 heats and were waived through to next week's CIF-SS Finals. With their girls currently ranked third in California for Division 1, their boys were also projected to advance on their own. Saugus will join the other 24 qualifying squads at next week's divisional finals.
Here's a closer look at qualifiers from Friday:
Division 3 Girls Qualifiers
Yorba Linda - 76 (96:36)
Brea Olinda - 102 (96:59)
Torrance - 112 (97:32)
Granite Hills - 113 (97:48)
Moorpark - 115 (99:00)
Arroyo - 124 (98:49)
Agoura - 174 (99:58)
Buena - 244 (103:17)
Chino - 246 (102:31)
San Marcos - 273 (104:20)
Hillcrest - 320 (106:16)
Rancho Alamitos - 334 (106:31)
Heat 1 Individuals -- Clarissa Hong (Temple City), Tamara Hirschman (Santa Margarita), Kaylee Hernandez (Garden Grove Santiago), Gabriela Rangel (San Bernardino).
Noteworthy -- Brea Olinda, currently ranked No. 1 in the state in this division, had its top two runners, seniors Whitney Valenti (18:07.0) and Mia Douge (18:45.5) place third and 10th, respectively.
Heat 2 Teams (12 advance)
Corona del Mar - 78 (97:23)
Palos Verdes - 98 (98:06)
Portola - 110 (97:35)
Oak Park - 136 (99:02)
South Torrance - 139 (98:08)
Dos Pueblos - 161 (99:35)
La Mirada - 183 (100:02)
North Torrance - 217 (101:10)
Pacifica - 229 (101:23)
Bonita - 280 (102:53)
Gabrielino - 329 (103:50)
Esperanza - 353 (104:37)
Heat 2 Individuals -- Kendall Saeger (Santa Margarita), Aariana Amezcua (Don Lugo), Arissa Hatcher (South Hills), Annika Anderson (Pasadena), Alayna Peters (Monrovia).
Noteworthy -- Defending section champ Palos Verdes cruised to qualify, placing 2nd to Corona del Mar with its top two runners Savannah Scriven (19:49.1) and Samantha Steman (19:49.2) in 34th and 35th respectively. Juniors Claire Hardesty (19:21.2) and Emma Nelson (19:23.4) were the top two finishers for PV, crossing in 13th and 17th, respectively.
Division 3 Boys Qualifiers
Agoura - 132 (80:32)
St. John Bosco - 147 (80:44)
Palos Verdes - 161 (81:03)
Moorpark - 168 (80:36)
Arroyo - 170 (80:49)
Rowland - 195 (81:32)
Torrance - 196 (81:35)
Servite - 247 (82:21)
Rancho Alamitos - 247 (82:26)
South Torrance - 295 (83:08)
Los Altos - 297 (83:12)
Yorba Linda - 307 (83:22)
Heat 1 Individuals -- Eduardo De Paz (Baldwin Park), Kishan Patel (Gahr), Felix Diaz (Norwalk), Joshua Lewis (Vista del Lago).
Noteworthy -- This heat included four of the state's top 10 ranked teams in this division, including No. 1 Agoura, No. 5 Palos Verdes and No. 6 St. John Bosco. Nos. 4 and 7, Royal and Brea Olinda, went 1-2 in the other heat. No. 10 Arroyo had a 40-runner gap between runners No. 2 and 3 but still managed just a 70-second 1-5 gap. Palos Verdes had a 20 second 1-5, Agoura was 47 seconds and SJB was 57 seconds. Agroua cruised in a tight pack with its top four placing 18-19-20-21 as senior Ryan Koepnick (15:56.8), senior Seth Hardy (15:56.9), sophomore Ethan Godsey (15:57.0) and junior Ben Klepper (15:57.2).
Heat 2 Teams (12 advance)
Royal - 109 (80:17)
Brea Olinda - 111 (80:32)
San Marcos - 164 (81:31)
Oak Park - 169 (81:20)
Dos Pueblos - 177 (81:24)
Esperanza - 179 (81:54)
Damien - 193 (82:20)
Bonita - 194 (82:07)
Buena - 208 (82:19)
Mayfair - 235 (82:34)
Indian Springs - 264 (83:25)
Citrus Hill - 294 (83:17)
Heat 2 Individuals -- Isaiah Givens (Pasadena), Conner Parker (Diamond Ranch), Shea Smith (Pacifica, G.G.), Nico Pence (Corona del Mar), Louis Torres (El Monte)
Division 1 Girls Qualifiers
San Clemente - 65 (91:26)
Great Oak - 73 (92:26)
Tesoro - 107 (93:20)
Ayala - 145 (94:24)
Crescenta Valley - 151 (94:25)
Upland - 208 (96:06)
Santa Ana - 240 (96:23)
Redondo Union - 259 (97:29)
Heat 1 Individuals -- Hailey Kirsch (Valencia, V.), Abigail Welch (West Ranch)
Heat 2 Teams (8 advance)
Trabuco Hills - 95 (92:59)
Quartz Hill - 100 (93:35)
Aliso Niguel - 112 (92:45)
Chino Hills - 118 (94:28)
Burbank - 131 (94:10)
Los Alamitos - 151 (95:05)
Etiwanda - 225 (97:09)
ML King - 240 (97:11)
Heat 2 Individuals -- Alejandra Ayala (Paramount), Michelle Barajas (Fontana).
Noteworthy -- Persevering through the season-ending injury to junior star Jacqueline Duarte, the Chino Hills girls still qualified for the Nov. 23 section finals. The Huskies were led by Lauren Jauregui, Jenna Gallegos and Karis Brown. Duarte is the defending State Meet track champion for 1600 meters who injured her knee this fall playing soccer.
Heat 3 Teams (8 advance)
Yucaipa - 73 (92:17)
Vista Murrieta - 81 (92:49)
Beckman - 113 (93:33)
Fountain Valley - 116 (93:27)
Mira Costa - 125 (93:46)
Santiago - 173 (94:32)
Warren - 200 (95:49)
La Serna - 209 (95:31)
Heat 3 Individuals -- Akemi Von Scherr (La Quinta), Ari Long (Valley View), Brooke Beaucaire (Beaumont).
Division 1 Boys Qualifiers
Great Oak - 62 (78:22)
Arcadia - 93 (78:49)
Quartz Hill - 125 (78:57)
Trabuco Hills - 140 (79:30)
Channel Islands - 171 (80:17)
Upland - 189 (80:08)
Long Beach Wilson - 193 (80:42)
California - 193 (80:40)
Heat 1 Individuals -- Adam Sorenson (Etiwanda), Enrique Mendoza (Patriot).
Noteworthy -- Great Oak, one of the nation's elites, ran essentially its C Team and still posted the lowest score in the division. Sophomore Carson Smith had the best time for the Wolfpack, 15:26.40, placing sixth in the heat.
Heat 2 Teams
Long Beach Poly - 84 (78:50)
Crescenta Valley - 96 (79:00)
Martin Luther King - 112 (79:12)
Vista Murrieta - 125 (79:28)
Rancho Cucamonga - 156 (80:08)
Chaparral - 167 (80:12)
Highland - 193 (80:22)
Valencia, Pl. - 219 (81:07)
Heat 2 Individuals -- Christoph Waligorski (Redondo Union), Lukas Amare (Diamond Bar), Logan Hernandez (Beaumont), Tristan Amell (Santa Monica).
Heat 3 Teams
San Clemente - 92 (78:57)
Beckman - 102 (79:11)
Burbank - 102 (79:06)
La Serna - 109 (79:19)
Mira Costa - 130 (79:44)
West Ranch - 148 (79:51)
Roosevelt - 154 (79:52)
Valley View - 192 (81:02)
Qualifying Individuals -- Alex Kalmar (Temecula Valley), Evan Hild (Corona Santiago).
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MileSplitCA Editor Jeffrey Parenti contributed to this report.