SGV Champs at Mt. Sac: St. Lucy’s wins, Perez leads again, Jackson and Scott strong on their first visit.

Cross Country in Southern California is measured by Mt. Sac.  The course in Walnut, featuring three huge hills, is the home of the biggest XC invite in the West, but more importantly, it is the site of CIF Prelims and Finals, along with several local leagues Championship Finals Meets.  This past Saturday, a number of the local schools got their first look at the entire 2.92 mile course on Saturday in the San Gabriel Valley 1 v. 1 Challenge.

Making the most of their debut were the Bonita frosh duo of Lexie Jackson and Marissa Scott, who scorched the tough course in 18:35 and 18:47, while finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively.  For some perspective, Lexie’s time would have been the fastest among area athletes last year, and Marissa’s time was equal to the second best of ’08.   Other top finishers included Rowland’s Vanessa Lopez, 19:03 for 4th, (an improvement of almost a minute from ’08) and Kristen Galvez, 19:42 for 9th.  St. Lucy’s Taylor and Katy Hebb (19:17 for 5th, and 19:43 for 10th overall) led the Regents to the team title, over third placed Bonita and fourth placed Rowland on a day when many teams were missing athletes to SAT testing.

On the boys side, South El Monte senior Jayson Perez put in a strong bid to remain area Athlete of the Year with a strong PR 15:35 to finish 2nd overall.  He was joined in the overall top 10 by Arroyo senior Efren Alcala, 16:23 for 9th, and Damien junior John Garcia, 16:25 for 10th.  Los Altos, led by soph Joshua Sanchez (16:28), was the top local team with a fourth place finish.

Top Area Performers

Girls

1. 18:35   Lexie Jackson – Bonita
2. 18:47   Marissa Scott – Bonita
3. 19:03   Vanessa Lopez – Rowland
4. 19:17    Taylor Hebb – St. Lucy’s
5. 19:42   Kristen Galvez – Rowland
6. 19:43   Katy Hebb – St. Lucy’s
7. 19:57   Krissy Hebb – St. Lucy’s
8. 20:10   Reina Sotelo – Los Altos
9. 20:14  Kelly Kuo – Diamond Bar
10. 20:27  Heather Jackson – Bonita

The top finishers for the other local schools were: Arroyo: Lucy Lopez (20:38, 22nd), Covina: Rachel Falomir (20:44, 23rd), Charter Oak: Natalie De Camp (21:26, 37th), Baldwin Park: Lidia Alvarez (22:09, 50th), South Hills: Brianne Cisneros (22:40, 65th), and South El Monte: Stephanie Castillo (23:03, 72nd)Boys

1. 15:35   Jayson Perez – South El Monte
2. 16:23   Efren Alcala – Arroyo
3. 16:25   John Garcia – Damien
4. 16:28   Joshua Sanchez – Los Altos
5. 16:33   Isaias Hinojosa – South El Monte
6. 16:41   James McCreary – Diamond Bar
7. 16:44   James Powell – Diamond Bar
8. 16:46   Miguel Gonzalez – Los Altos
9. 16:54   Alexander Harvey – Diamond Bar
10. 16:58   Felipe Tapia -Rowland

The top finishers for the other local schools were: Covina: Kevin Medina (17:08, 33rd), Bonita: Eric Espinoza (17:09, 35th), Baldwin Park: Steven Huynh (17:20, 43rd), Charter Oak: Tyler Orosco (17:31, 52nd) and Bishop Amat: Kyle Kearney (18:17, 79th)

Top 100 and team scores for boys are here, and girls are here.  Complete meet results are here.