CIF Prelims Girls: Bonita, Claremont, and Lauren Advance

The CIF Southern Section is easily the toughest and strongest sporting section in the country – advancing to the finals of this meet is the equivalent of advancing to the state final in the big states, and superior to the final in smaller states.  Just one of the penalties we pay for living in Southern California.

The upshot is that only two of the 19 girls team that qualified from their league meets advanced to the Finals, along with one individual.

Bonita has been ranked in the top 10 of Div III all year, and they advanced as expected with a second place, 99:53 finish in the first heat.  There were led once again by 2009 State Finalist Marissa Scott, who finished 7th/19:22 and was joined in first 10 by frosh Mikayla Flores (9th/19:24).  The Bearcats time ranked them 13th among the qualifiers, so they will need to take a strong step to finish top 7 to advance as a team, while Marrisa can advance as an individual with a strong effort.

This was the Claremont girls first strong season in several years, and their young team struggled, with a top runner’s DNF and another performing below par.  But they were just fast enough and in just the right heat to advance to the Div. II finals, finishing 4th in 100:02.  They were led by frosh Merin Arft in a nice 19:17, equaling her effort from the Mt.SAC Invite under less ideal conditions.  Div. II is about as strong as any division has ever been for CIF, with the top three teams nationally ranked and the State’s top 9 all from the Southern Section, so the Wolfpack will need a huge step to advance.

South Hills had been ranked #13 in Div III and so advanced as an at-large team despite finishing 4th in the tough Sierra League.  The Huskies had a bit of an off day and failed to advance, finishing 6th in the second heat in 102:56. In a division where the top 5 in each heat and the fastest sixth go forward, they missed that spot by 1:34.  Junior Alex Borunda (9th/19:24) led their effort and she missed advancing by just 3 places and 17 seconds.  Glendora also had a chance to advance but they were slightly off their best and were unlucky to land in the fastest heat.  They ran 99:49 – the fastest SGV team time on the day, fastest of the non-qualifying teams, and they would have advanced in heats 2 or 3.  This is becoming something of an unwelcome tradition for the Tartans, as their boys team were the fastest non-qualifiers in ’07 and ’08.  Tartan senior Lauren Justus – a State finalist in ’09 – fought through illness during the race to finish 6th in 18:39 – top SGV time of the day – to advance individually, and she has strong chance to advance again this year.

Complete Results (PDF’s) are here

SGV Top 14 Performers, Team Rankings Top Performers from each team after the jump

SGV Top 14 Performers – CIF Prelims/Mt.SAC

1. 18:39   Lauren Justus – Sr, Glendora
2. 19:15   Miriam Jimenez – Sr, Baldwin Park
3. 19:17   Merin Arft – Fr, Claremont
4. 19:22   Marissa Scott – So, Bonita
5. 19:24   Alex Borunda – Jr, South Hills
6. 19:24   Mikayla Flores – Fr, Bonita
7. 19:31   Megan Renken – Fr, Claremont
8. 19:52   Allison Mayo – Sr, Glendora
9. 19:54   Lexie Jackson – So, Bonita
10. 20:03   Tori Whitworth – Fr, Glendora
11. 20:06   Vianca Holguin – Sr, South Hills
12. 20:08   Marissa Horton – Sr, St. Lucy’s
13. 20:17   Taylor Hebb – Sr, St. Lucy’s
14. 20:18   Danha Hernandez – So, Claremont

SGV Team Rankings/Team Leaders

1. 1:39:49   Glendora – 5th Div. II, Heat 1
2. 1:39:53   Bonita – 2nd Div. III, H1
3. 1:40:02   Claremont – 4th Div. II, H2
4. 1:42:56   South Hills – 6th Div. III, H2
5. 1:45:08   Rosemead – 8th Div. III, H2 – Kelly Luc (Sr) 20:24
6. 1:45:38   Los Altos – 10th Div. III, H1 – Emily Ruiz (Jr) 20:29
7. 1:46:00   Covina – 11th Div. III, H1 – Rachel Falomir (Sr) 20:43
8. 1:47:01   West Covina – 10th Div. I, H2 – Lovella Perea (Sr) 20:41
9. 1:48:14   Arroyo – 8th Div. II, H3 – Cindy Ngo (Jr) 20:42
10. 1:49:42   Rowland – 11th Div. II, H1 – Vanessa Lopez (Sr) 20:28
11. 1:50:32   Northview – 12th Div. III, H1 – Jonni Zambrano (Fr) 20:39
12. 1:51:45   Baldwin Park – 11th Div. II, H1
13. 1:54:44   Sierra Vista – 13th Div. III, H2 – Janet Solis (Jr) 21:47
14. 1:55:33   Bishop Ama – 14th Div. III, H3 – Illiana Velazquez (Sr) 21:29
15. 1:56:54   Pomona Catholic – 9th Div. V, H1 – Shannon Markle (Jr) 21:37
16. 1:57:18   Ganesha 15th Div. III, H2 – Jennifer Castro (Sr) 22:08
17. 1:57:21   South El Monte – 17th Div. III, H1 – Jasmine Meza (So) 20:39
18. 2:01:42   Bassett – 17th Div. III, H2 – Zahina Rios (Sr) 20:33
19. 2:05:00   La Puente – 17th Div. III, H3 – Justine Lengston (Sr) 22:57

Individuals: Celina Kissinger (Jr, Diamond Ranch) 21:19;  Nayeli Santamaria (So, Mountain View) 24:20