The Sierra League got the second round of cluster meets rolling at Bonelli Park Tuesday, running under much cooler conditions over the new 3 mile Invite course.
Damien's Tom Ebiner
The Claremont boys and girls kept their spots from the first meet, with the CIF & State #1 guys posting a 1-2-3-4 finish and 26 points for an easy win over ranked Ayala. Their senior quartet of Paul Ross, Henry Falotico, & Colin Domonoske (all at 16:00) and A.K. Metoyer (16:03) broke away and ran as a pack over the last half of the race in a controlled effort. The young Wolfpack girls continued to improve and were again solidly second behind CIF ranked Ayala. Putting their five scorers in the top 17, and nice 12-13-14 grouping, they were led again by rapidly improving frosh Merin Arft (6th/19:43).
In the battle for the CIF qualifying 3rd place spot, the Damien boys, behind Top 10 efforts from juniors Tom Ebiner (6th/16:19) and Moses Baiden (9th/16:29), enjoyed a wider margin this time over 4th placed South Hills. The Huskies, missing Gilbert Mundo, their #1 from the first meet, were led by senior Johnny Flores (7th/16:23). So with league finals counting double in the standings, and assuming the other league teams hold their spots, the winner between South Hills and Damien at that meet will advance to CIF.
In the girls battle for the third spot, St. Lucy’s and South Hills flipped places from the first meet, with the Regents finishing third and the Huskies fifth. Running at full strength, St. Lucy’s were again led by senior Taylor Hebb (7th/19:48). South Hills enjoyed strong performances from junior Alex Borunda (5th/19:42) & especially senior Monica Arteaga (10th/20:11), but two of their usual top five had rough days, knocking the team back. This result creates a three way tie for third between the Regents, Huskies, and Chino Hills, so the winner among them at finals will take the final post-season spot.
Charter Oak were sixth in both races, led on the boys side by their excellent soph William Knoth (20th/17:05), while the girls, missing usual front runner Carly Lake, were paced by soph Zaira Covarrubias (33rd/21:51).
Complete results are here
And here’s excellent video coverage (with a Creed-free soundtrack!) from the Trib Newspaper Group’s Tom Kiss
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