About half of the SGV schools ran in their first league cluster meets last week, the other half gets going this week. These are some of the most exciting meets of the year, because unlike the big invites, almost every team is competitive at their league level.
The most competitive meet of the week will probably be the boys side of the Del Rio League, which is very strong this year. California and Whittier were both ranked last week, El Rancho has been very strong, and both La Serna and Santa Fe feature strong front runners. The Sierra league, featuring five ranked teams, should also be very strong.
Here’s the schedule:
Tuesday – 9/26:Â Sierra #1 at Bonelli Park in San Dimas.
Wednesday – 9/27:Â Almont #1 at Legg Lake in South El Monte; Mission Valley League & Valle Vista at Bonelli Park in San Dimas
Thursday – 9/29:Â Montview #1 at Schabarum Park in Rowland Heights.
Friday – 9/30:Â Del Rio #1 @ Legg Lake in South El Monte
We’ll offer as much coverage as we can, as soon as we can.
Coaches and parents, please send short recaps, complete results and photos to info@sgvtrackandfield.net
Short previews after the jump
Sierra: Div. III ranked South Hills will face off with higher ranked Div. II Ayala on both the boys and girls sides, while Damien, Div. III #4, is looking for their first league title in a number of years. The Claremont boys, 3rd at State and last year’s champs, graduated their first four, so they’re looking to reestablish themselves, while the young girls team, CIF finalists last year, wants to keep moving up. . St. Lucy’s has a very young team and Charter Oak is a bit over-matched in this tough XC league
Almont: The teams in this league improve a lot during the year, so the league meets are needed to sort things out. On early form, Montebello looks best on both sides.
Mission Valley: Rosemead looks like the class of the league on the girls side from their strong showing in their own meet. The Arroyo girls appear a bit down this year, but the now junior dominated boys look ready for another step. The other teams usually have surprises at the first meet, making things exciting.
Valle Vista: (from Covina Coach Erik Starkey): For the boys, Covina is looking to 3-peat and were a solid, 79:37 at Don Bosco with Kevin Mejia, Paul Gonzalez, and Chris Maldonado between 15:37 and 15:49. Nogales has a solid group with Jorge Hernandez under 16:00 and Edwin Partida at 16:25. Baldwin Park (led by Gabriel Gamez and Freddy Trujillo) has also looked strong in their first two outings and are always in contention. For the girls, expect Anna Barcelo (Nogales) to be in front, then a very close dual meet between Covina and Northview. Emily Smith and Alyssa Martinez of San Dimas will likely be up front as well. The Covina have 3 girls (Alondra Elizalde, Ashli Baddorf, and Ruby Medina) who have run under 19:03. Northview had 4 (Devenie Elizondo, Johnnie Zambrano, Elizabeth Esparza, and Diana Favela) between 19:10 and 19:16 at Woodbridge. Should be a very good race.
Montview: This is another league in which the teams make big improvements during the season and several don’t run on Saturdays. Off of early results, Azusa, Bassett and Ganesha have shown talent up front but without depth, which could open the door again for Sierra Vista.
Del Rio: As mentioned above, the boys race should be a barn burner. Whittier and El Rancho seem the strongest on the girls side, but none of the teams go very deep, so the meet should turn on unexpected performances from the 3-4-5 runners.
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