There is no swine flu forecast for this Fall, and that may be all the Claremont boys need to contend for CIF and State titles, while their young girls team should make big strides this year. Full preview after the jumpThe Claremont boys finished 4th in the State Div. II race, but can’t help but think of what might have been after their team was decimated by the swine flu last year. Almost every member of their varsity team fell ill sometime in October, making their podium near miss a great achievement and giving them big hopes for this year.
The guys will be led by All-CIF runner Paul Ross (15:18 at Mt.SAC, Sr), who added a strong track season to his excellent XC effort. The Wolfpack returns their top five from ’09, so Ross will be joined by Henry Falotico (15:43), AK Metoyer (16:00), Colin Domonoske (16:02), Aric Crowell (16:31) as they battle to move up and put their stamp on the Sierra League.
The large (118 athletes!) and deep CHS program has a full cast of candidates for the final varsity spots: Nick Luber (18:13), Jimmy Baeskins (18:14), Stephen Schein (18:19), Thomas Chen (19:00), Walton Wu (19:29), along with newcomers Kelley Collins and Hyrum Miller (2:04 in track).
The relatively young Claremont girls are looking to turn their big numbers into victories this year. They also return five from ’09: Bailey Sanin (20:30 and 2:14 on the track!), Ashley Riggle (20:45), Quinn Alkonis (20:45), Charlotte Selters (20:57) and Ali Boos (21:28), and a decent improvement should make them league and CIF contenders.
As with the boys, there are plenty of girls who can fill out the varsity spots, including returners Kim Chen (22:38) and Allison Spivack (23:19) and newcomers Megan Renken, Merin Arft, Danielle Heperle, and Monique Larrett.
Claremont opens on September 11th at the Laguna Hills Invite
Their team website is: http://www.claremontcrosscountrypeople.org/
Thanks to coach Rob Lander for providing the data for this preview
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