The St. Francis boys, CIF-SS and California State Div. IV champs, and the La Cañada girls, 3rd D4 at CIF and State, are the San Gabriel Valley’s best teams for 2022.
The Golden Knights narrowly edged out Arcadia, 5th in Div. I, with a considerable gap to Glendora (10th/Div. II) in 3rd. The girls had even greater strength at the top, with LCHS joined in the top 16 in the Southern Section by South Pasadena (5th/Div IV), Bishop Amat (6th/Div IV) and Claremont (5th/Div II), with an even bigger back to the SGV’s 5th-10th teams.
Lacking a single regional championship meet, and with the 75 schools of the SGV divided across five CIF divisions, we arrived at these results using each team’s final race at Mt.SAC. We made the SGV final “race” ten teams, 12.5% of the 80 teams that make CIF Finals, because the SGV’s population is about 12% of the area covered by the Southern Section.
We arrived at the final 10 by first doing a merge of the top 15 SGV teams on time, then removing teams 11-15 from that ranking, and then doing another merge with the remaining ten teams
So, here is the SGV’s Boy Cross Country Best for 2022…
The St Francis boys followed up their first CIF Championship with their first ever State Championship, winning the Div. IV race on the rolling 5000m course at Woodward Park in Fresno.
The Golden Knights were the first SGV boys team to reach the podium since Claremont were 3rd in 2019, and the first SGV Championship since Claremont in 2016.
St. Francis were led by senior Hayden Owen who was 14th/15:41 and big performances by juniors Luke Metcaff – 17th/15:46 and Samuel Franco 22nd/15:55
San Marino senior Benjamin Hughes, after a rough day at the CIF-SS meet, moved up to 4th to take All-State honors in the D4 race, and his 15:26 ranks =30th among SGV athletes on this course. Owen ran 15:29 at the Clovis Invite in October, and ranks =37th AT SGV
On the girls side, La Cañada returned to the podium for the second year in a row and for the sixth time ever with a third place finish in the tough Div. IV.
Spartan Soph Maya DeBrouwer was 5th/17:50 to earn All-State honors. Her course best 17:48 from the Clovis Invite ranks her 12th All-Time SGV
Three other SGV girls recorded All-Time Woodward Park performances at the state meet
Emma Arredondo (Sr, Bishop Amat) – 18:08/=24th All-Time SGV
Sophia Ebiner (Jr, Bishop Amat) – 18:13/=31st
Abigail Errington (So, South Pasadena) – 18:20/40th
You can view the updated SGV All-Time lists for the Woodward Park Course and SGV Team performances at the State Meet here:
Maya DeBrouwer broke the San Gabriel Valley’s record on the storied Mt. SAC course at the CIF-SS Championship Finals, while St Francis won the Boys Div. IV Championship – their first in school history.
Maya, a soph at La Cañada, ran 17:09 to finish second in the Div IV race. The previous regional best was 17:16, first achieved by Ally Palomino of Bishop Amat in 2014, and equalled by Chloe Arriaga (Walnut) in 2016.
Maya was one of five girls to join the SGV All-Time list on the hilly 2.93 mile course that is once again the site of the CIF Championships as well as the Mt.Sac Invitational. The others…
Emma Arredondo (Sr, Bishop Amat) – 17th, 17:43
Sophia Ebiner (Jr, Bishop Amat) – 19th, 17:50
Reena Hsieh (So, Arcadia) – 30th, 18:00
Abigail Errington (So, South Pasadena) – =39th, 18:08
Two boys joined the SGV’s Fifty Best – Hayden Owen (Sr, St. Francis) is now =42nd at 15:10 and Joshua Razo (Sr. Walnut) is =45th at 15:12 – both times coming first at the Mt. SAC Invitational
St. Francis were joined by the La Cañada girls (3rd, Div. IV) as the only other team to make the podium among the 12 boys and 11 girls teams from the SGV that made Finals
Seven SGV athletes earned 1st Team All-CIF Honors (Top 7)
Two boys and three girls have recorded their first San Gabriel Valley All-Time performances on the two classic championship courses – Mt. SAC and Woodward Park.
At the Clovis Invitational on the Woodward Park course, La Cañada soph Maya DeBrouwer enters the girls list at 17th with her 17:48 for 12th in the Championship race over the rolling 5000m course. For the boys Hayden Owen (Sr, St. Francis) ran 15:29 to finish 3rd in the Small Schools race. He’s 37th AT SGV, and the only runner from his school on the list.
Joshua Razo – Walnut
Owen also entered the AT list at the Mt. SAC Invitational, running 15:10 on the notoriously hilly 2.93 mile course. He now ranks =42nd, just ahead of Walnut senior Joshua Razo – his 15:12 is =45th All-Time SGV.
Emma Arredondo (Sr, Bishop Amat) ran 17:43 at Mt.SAC, a 47 second course PR (and a minute improvement from last year’s meet) and now ranks 16th AT-SGV. South Pasadena soph Abigail Errington ran 18:08 and enters the SGV list at =36th.
All of these runners will be on the Mt.SAC course this weekend for the CIF Southern Section Divisional Championships, and will likely return to Woodward Park for the California State Meet the following week.
With San Gabriel Valley Cross Country heading into the big meet season, it’s well past time to update our All-Time lists. Below you’ll find updated San Gabriel Valley lists for our two championship courses – the 2.93 mile route at Mount San Antonio College, and the 5000 meter track at Woodward Park in Fresno.
And as our athletes head to Clovis this weekend, here’s a bit about the all-time performers from last season
Claremont senior Maddie Coles set a new San Gabriel Valley record for the 5000m Woodward Park XC course when she ran 17:28 at the Clovis Invite. The previous SGV best 17:30 by Bishop Amat’s Kathey Ebiner at the Kinney West Invite way back in 1982.
These lists include all performances on these courses. For Mt.SAC, that means results from league meets, the Invitational and CIF meets, but not from the rain course(s) or the longer Footlocker course. At Woodward Park, and casinos that accept payid most marks are from the State Meet or the Clovis Invite. The lists include the event at which the mark was achieved at Woodward, but we weren’t able to keep track of that for Mt.SAC.
The LA 84 sponsors free coaches training seminars every year for track and XC, and the next two are here in the SGV.
The Beginning/Intermediate Level Clinic will be held on Sunday, January 12 at San Dimas HS.
The Advanced Clinic will be at Mt.SAC on Sunday, January 26
These clinics feature long-time, successful high school coaches like Brian Fitzgerald of perennial sprint power Rio Mesa and Kent Reaves who has built State level XC programs at multiple schools.
You can also hear great former athletes who’ve become coaches like US triple jump great Willie Banks, and Harry Mara, who was Ashton Eaton’s coach.
Claremont are once again the San Gabriel Valley’s top boys cross country team for 2019.
Claremont with their State Meet Trophy
The Wolfpack ended their season with a strong, third-place performance at the State Meet, moving up from fourth at CIF Finals in a year when the Southern Section dominated Div. II
These rankings were determined by doing an actual merge of each team’s final Southern Section performance – either CIF Finals, Prelims or League Finals. The top 15 teams by time were merged, five were taken out, and then the top 10 were merged again.
Four of the ten best were new this year (see 2018’s rankings here) with one huge surprise. Wilson followed their Valle Vista League championship with their first ever trip to CIF Finals, where they were fourth, and to the State Meet, where they ended up 12th. They finished 2019 ranked 8th among the seventy-seven schools of the SGV
Walnut (#3), Flintridge Prep (#9) and Damien (#10) were also new to the Top 10 in 2019, after finishing just outside the top group last year. The Mustangs were Hacienda League Champs and advanced to CIF Div. II Finals for the first time since 2013, where they finished 16th.
Flintridge Prep had a huge day to defend the Div V CIF Championship, their eighth in the five division era. Damien, stuck in the big school Baseline League used their at-large entry to finish a solid 11th in Div. III in the first trip to CIF Finals since 2011.
The Claremont boys earned the SGV’s only podium place in Saturday’s California State Cross Country Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno, while the Covina girls had the top girls performance with their fourth place finish in Div IV.
It was a bit of a rough day for our local teams, with only three of the nine, the above two plus the La Serna boys performing ahead of the average for Southern Section teams in their race.
Three SGV athlete’s made the State Meet’s ten person podium. Audrey Suarez (Jr, Mayfield) was the only girl, finishing 3rd/17:53 in Div. IV, 9 seconds off of her winning time in 2018. On the boys side, Claremont junior Jack Keough-Lansford led his team’s strong Div II effort with a 7th/15:14 finish, while Eduardo De Paz (Sr, Baldwin Park) was 3rd/15:31 and the top CIF-SS athlete in Div III. Jack and Eduardo’s times rank them =17th and =48th, respectively, among the SGV All-Time Top 50 Performers on this storied 5000m course.
Audrey Suarez – last year’s State Champ, this year’s CIF Champ!
After two second place finishes her first two years of high school XC, Mayfield soph Audrey Suarez made it to the top of the podium with her 17:24 win in the Div IV race as Saturday’s CIF Divisional Championship Finals in Riverside. Audrey’s time was short of her course PR and #2 All-Time SGV 16:54 from last year, but it was a solid three second win.
Audrey was the SGV’s only podium athlete this year, but she led a group eight girls to All-CIF (Top 15) Honors in the biggest & strongest regional meet in the world. This was Suarez’s third All-CIF award, and she is joined in that honor by Lily Miller (Jr, Vivian Webb) who was 5th/18:49 in Div V – her third straight fifth-place finish!  Here’s the full list…
Three other SGV girls earned their second All-CIF honor - Maddie Coles (So, Claremont) – 7th/17:16 in Div II, Azalea Seguara-Mora (Sr, Claremont) 9th/17:21 and Ellaney Matarese (Jr, La Canada) – 15th/18:30 in Div IV
Div II – 17:16 – Maddie Coles (So, Claremont) – 7th
Div II – 17:21 - Azalea Segura-Mora (Sr, Claremont) – 9th
Div II – 17:24 - Angie Gushue (Jr, Claremont) – 11th
Div IV – 17:24 - Audrey Suarez (Jr, Mayfield) – 1st
Div IV – 18:09 - Sydney Morrow (So, South Pasadena) – 6th
Div IV – 18:30 - Ellaney Matarese (Jr, La Canada) – 15th
Div V – 18:49 - Lily Miller (Jr, Vivian Webb) – 5th
Div V – 19:22 - Alessia Checcone (Jr, Poly) – 10th
All eight girls advanced to the California State Meet, Morrow, Matarese, Miller and Checcone as individuals and the rest with their teams.
Performances were slower overall this year, so there were few additions to the SGV All-Time Performers list on the Riverside Course. Here the athletes who joined or moved up the list at Finals or Prelims.
  6th/17:21 - Azalea Segura-Mora – Sr, Claremont
Arroyo Advanced to the State Meet for the First Time Ever!
Claremont’s streak of CIF Championships ended with their second place finish in the loaded Div II at Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Divisional Championships, but they remain the SGV’s dominant team, and their finish was the highest for our area’s 23 teams that advanced to Finals.
Four teams will move on to this weekend’s California State Championships in Fresno, led by Claremont and Div IV perennials Mayfield, who were 4th in their division. The Cubs have advanced to state in every year of this decade save 2013, while the Wolfpack have moved on seven straight years.
Covina who finished 3rd in Div IV, returns to the State Meet for the first time since their three-year streak that ended in 2016. The fourth SGV team in Fresno is newcomer Arroyo. This was their fourth straight year making Finals, but they will move on to State for the first time ever after a 4th place finish in Div III.
And one notable streak ended, as many-time Div V champ Flintridge Prep finished 9th and did not advance to State for the first time this decade, and I believe the streak is much longer.
Twenty-Three SGV girls teams advanced to this year’s Finals, the most ever for our area in this era of expanded Finals at the Riverside XC Course. The decade’s best for the years with 16 team Finals was 12 in 2011.
Bonita (19th in Div. III)Â Claremont, Flintridge Prep, Mayfield & Poly (10th in Div V)Â advanced to the Final every year of this decade, a strong achievement for those programs.
Among the twenty-three, Gabrielino (22nd/Div III) Wilson (15th/Div IV) and St Paul (21st/Div V) advanced to the Final for the first time in the decade -and maybe ever! San Dimas (14th Div. IV) and Ramona Convent (17th Div V) made it again after advancing to the Final for the first time last year.
This site is maintained by Bob Ramsey – a SGV T&F athlete (Arroyo ’80), and former coach at Glendora HS and Meet Director of the SGV Champs. Bob is currently Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Whittier College
