There were only seven seniors on last year’s final ESGV Top Ten Lists, but (at least) six have gone on to compete in college – four at NCAA Div 1 schools, one at Cal Poly Pomona (Div. 2) and one at Azusa Pacific, which competes in the NAIA.
Jayson Perez
2008 Area Athlete of the Year Jayson Perez (South El Monte) has joined South Hills’ Ashley Holguin at D1 Cal State Fullerton. State Finalist Brittnie Munoz (Rosemead) moved on to Loyola Marymount in Westchester, CA, and Glendora’s Austin Goodheart is at UC Santa Barbara. Jessica Mendez (West Covina) has made the trip down the 10 to Cal Poly Pomona, while Paul Balderas (Diamond Ranch) is now an APU Cougar.
All of the athletes except Balderas (who started the week before) competed in last weekend’s UC Riverside Invitational (Men’s results, Women’s results) with the best performance coming from Perez, who was Fullerton’s number 2 on the day. Jayson went under 25:00 in his first 8k, running 24:59 for 27th place, and finishing just behind LMU’s Thomas Finnigan (Glendora ’08), the 2007 Area Athlete of the Year.
Our local athletes will have a chance to step up this weekend as several travel to Stanford and Oklahoma State – the two top early-season college XC meets. We’ll keep you posted on their progress.
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