By Bob Ramsey, on September 16th, 2015 Claremont took both wins in the first Palomares League Cluster meet, run over a flat 3 mile course at Whittier Narrows on a relatively cool afternoon.
 Steven Kahn The Boys defeated Ayala by 27-41 margin, taking four of the first six spots. The individual leader was Ayala junior Steven Kahn, the clear winner in 15:14 over Claremont #1 junior Ryan Renken at 15:21. Bonita was a solid third, led by senior Noah Anderson (8th/15:52) in the absence of State track finalist Dillon Beckum.  Diamond Bar junior Paul Abdo had a very nice day to crack the Top 10 at 7th/15:47
The Claremont girls slightly bested the boys with 25 points, but they had a much easier go of it.  Obviously running within themselves, CHS’s top five all finished with a second of each other, placing 3-4-5-6-7 – all at 18:25.  Key for Claremont was the debut of frosh Sydney Hwang in the top five, a strong addition to an already strong group.
Bonita’s edged out Ayala 62 and 64 for second.  Ayala senior Sydney Tullai was the big winner in 17:52, followed by Kelly Creese (Sr, Bonita) in 2nd – her 18:11 time showing a return to her strong form of her soph year.
The other three teams did not challenge in the scoring but Olivia Valderrama (Jr, South Hills) – 9th/18:48 and Savannah Yi (Jr, Glendora) – 10th/18:50 did round out the Top 10.
Complete Results for the First 2015 Palomares League Cluster Meet are here.
By Bob Ramsey, on September 16th, 2015 Here are two local results we missed from the weekend.
 First, CIF ranked Pomona Catholic took another big step in the development of their program by traveling to the Ultimook Invitational in Tillamook, OR.
 Senior Andrea Diaz coming up out of the Mud Pit PC finished 10th in a field of 21 in this unique meet (at least to the SoCal XC experience) that features lots of mud and water.  Senior Kassandra Martinez led the team with a 9th place finish in a meet where time doesn’t matter much.
Also, St. Paul traveled east again, this time to compete in the Dog Days of Fall meet at Cajon HS in San Bernardino.  Best for the Swordsmen on this flat, fast 3 mile course was Andres Falcon who was 10th/16:50 in the senior race.  Best among the CIF ranked girls was Angelina Ramos who was 10th/20:51 in the junior/senior race.
By Bob Ramsey, on September 15th, 2015  This week will see the first three cluster meets of the SGV XC season. With the high heat behind us (at least for this week) we should see some top performances.
Cluster meets all count toward the league championships. Â The top teams often face the challenge of racing well in these meets while still looking to do well in the big weekend events. Â With Woodbridge ahead on Saturday, we’ll certainly see this come into play this week.
Wednesday, September 16th
- Palomares League (Whittier Narrows Park, South El Monte – Flat 3 miles) – Claremont are top ranked on both sides, with Ayala a strong challenger, especially among the boys.  Bonita looks to be third if they can bring all their runners to the line. Live Results here.
- Mission Valley League (Bonelli Park, San Dimas – hilly 3 miles) - Arroyo seem to be clearly the class of the league on early results, but this is a league where the teams develop a great deal during the season.
Thursday, September 17th
- Hacienda League (Bonelli Park – San Dimas – somewhat flatter course by the lake – 3 miles) - Los Altos should be the boys favorites, with Walnut the likely winners on the girls side.
By Bob Ramsey, on September 15th, 2015  There was a bit of a shake up in the second CIF rankings for 2015, released on Monday.
This time, seventeen SGV schools are ranked in the Top 10 of their divisions, nine girls and eight boys.  The St. Paul girls, tenth last week, fell out of the Div. IV rankings.  But the real shake up was in the Boys Div. II – last week’s #1 Claremont fell to fifth on a week they were idle.  Rich Gonzalez of PrepCalTrack, who does the rankings for CIF, explains why…
There was some shuffling around on the order in the Division II boys set, where a thorough analysis led to a cleaning up of the rankings from the week before.
So there you have it. Â We’ll know more after Woodbridge…
And by the way, an updated, in-season set of rankings for the SGV are coming on Monday.
Full Rankings are Here
SGV in the CIF-SS Rankings
- Div I – Boys: Arcadia #4 (4 previous week); California #6 (5); Girls: Arcadia #3 (3)
- Div II – Boys: Claremont #5 (1);  Ayala #9 (8).  Girls: Claremont #4 (4);  Ayala #9 (9).
- Div IIIÂ –
- Div IV – Boys: Bishop Amat #1 (1);  Covina #5 (4).  Girls: Mayfield #1;  Bishop Amat #2;  Covina #9 (8).
- Div V – Boys: Flintridge Prep #1 (1);  Poly #10 (10).  Girls: Flintridge Prep #1 (1);  Poly #6 (6);  Pomona Catholic #10 (10).
Out of the rankings this week: St. Paul Girls #10 – Div. IV
By Bob Ramsey, on September 14th, 2015  High heat and a blackout shrunk the schedule to just two meets for the second week of the SGV Cross Country Season.  Nevertheless, we saw our first big matchup among the girls and a big step forward by one of the boys teams
SGV and CIF ranked Mayfield and Flintridge Prep met up at the Friday night portion of the Rosemead Invitational, with Mayfield coming out on top.
Walnut’s Chloe Arriaga began the nightat Rosemead on Saturday by taking down another frosh course record (with a second overall) . The evening ended with power outage that caused the senior races to be cancelled.
Even without their seniors, the Arroyo boys came out on top of the SGV Merge from Rosemead.  2015 is shaping up to be an excellent year for the Knights.
And earlier on Saturday, Bishop Amat and Arcadia ran well at the Laguna Hills Invitational.
Looking ahead: SGV league cluster meets behind this week, with the huge Woodbridge Cross Country Classic looming on the weekend.
By Bob Ramsey, on September 14th, 2015  Robbie Santoyo Bishop Amat seniors Robbie Santoyo (15:28) and Adrian Diaz (15:38) went one-two in their class race and two-three overall to lead the Lancers to a 2nd place finish at the 2015 Laguna Hills Invitational.  The Div. IV #1 (80:57) edged at partial squad from Arcadia (81:48), who were led by senior Chris Lee (15:45).  Additional SGV results…
- Alhambra 55th/92:30
- Charter Oak 57th/97:04
- Monrovia 58th/99:54
- Cantwell 61st/103:03.
Arcadia, running without at least one top runner, were the top girls team with 93:01.  They were led by junior Holly Lung (6th/18:21), soph Eryca Yamane (8th/18:30) and junior Cindy Hoang (10th/18:34).  Bishop Amat, without several top runners, were 8th in 99:03.  Additional SGV results:
- Alhambra 42nd/1:52:39 - Yaneli Guajardo (Jr) 63rd/20:08
- Cantwell-SHMÂ 55th/2:05:12
Complete results and extended coverage from PrepCalTrack are here.
By Bob Ramsey, on September 14th, 2015  We were looking forward to the Rosemead Invitational to give us a good early season matchup of many of the top SGV teams. Â Saturday’s power failure took away that possibility, but we went with what we have.
So, in a merge of the results of the 35 SGV schools that competed at Rosemead, Friday’s Girls top three were the tops overall, with Mayfield once again edging Flintridge Prep for lead.  Chole Arriaga (Fr, Walnut) was the best individual by 29 seconds.
Friday’s best, Cesar Bermudez (Sr, Sierra Vista) remained the overall leader at 15:01, but in a surprising show of strength, Arroyo – without seniors, were the top boys team, just head of equally senior-less El Rancho and ahead of Friday leaders Los Altos and Covina.
After the jump are the results of a power merge of the 35 SGV teams that competed at Rosemead.
Continue reading SGV Merge at Rosemead
By Bob Ramsey, on September 13th, 2015  If you’re going to run under the lights, you gotta have lights! Â Unfortunately, the area around Rosemead HS suffered a black out during the Saturday portion of the Rosemead Invitational.
It happened during the Boys Junior races. Â Here is Arroyo coach Bryon Hake’s account of what happened next.
Instantly, spectators sprinted to positions along the flag-lined route, whipped out their phones, and lit the way. Looking out over the park, it was a beautiful display of lights and support for the athletes. In the final mile of the race, the lights were out along the street and at the track as well, so it had to be smart-phones and occasional passing headlights for light for nearly the entire second two miles of the race.  A couple athletes tripped, at least one bumped into a tree, and at least least a few missed the gate to reenter campus, and had to backtrack a few yards, but for the most part, “The Run in the Dark” was a fun and memorable experience for athletes and spectators alike.
Sadly, the power remained out and the senior races were cancelled.
Saturday was for bigger schools, so the overall quality was higher.  Nevertheless, the Arroyo girls took top honors in a merge of the three class races contested.
Walnut frosh Chloe Arriaga‘s high school winning streak ended at one, as she followed her win at the Fastback Shootout with a mere second place overall.  But her time of 16:57 crushed the frosh course record by 1:12.  Her sister Emma was 6th overall at 17:49, also under the frosh record.
On the boys side, El Rancho junior Donald Brown was the top SGV athlete at 6th/15:12, while Arroyo were 3rd in the merge, just ahead of El Rancho.
Saturday 2015 Rosemead Cross Country Invitational – Complete Results
Merged Individual & Team Top Tens & Full Results after the jump
Continue reading Rosemead Saturday: Lights Out!
By Bob Ramsey, on September 11th, 2015  The Rosemead Invitational keeps growing, and this year moved to two nights! Â Friday saw a field filled with SGV schools and high temperatures, even though the event is run under the lights.
The event brought together Prep League rivals Mayfield and Flintridge Prep in the Girls competition.  Off of returning athletes this should be Mayfield’s best team ever, but they were moved up to CIF Div. IV this year, so they will not have the chance to dethrone Flintridge from the Div. V title.  Mayfield won this first matchup, and the meet, with 55 points in an all class merge.  Flintridge Prep was second at 62.
Natalie O’Brien (Jr, Flintridge Prep)  was the individual winner in 17:29.  Mayfield newcomer McKenna Smith set the Frosh course record at 18:10, finishing 8th overall.
Cesar Bermudez (Sr, Sierra Vista) was the top boy on the night at 15:01, with SGV athletes taking the next seven places overall.
In the big merge, rising Los Altos was the top team on the night with 67 points, followed by rebuilding (or reloading) Covina with 75.
Corrected Full Results by Class
Top Ten Individuals & Teams, plus a merge of all competitors after the jump. Continue reading Rosemead Friday: Mayfield & Los Altos Lead
By Bob Ramsey, on September 11th, 2015  Finding ways to escape the heat is a big early season concern for XC. Â Already this week, the Palomares League has postponed their opening cluster meet and the meet directors of the Running Brave Invite (scheduled for Saturday at Santa Fe Dam) made the decision to cancel their meet due to the anticipated heat.
Luckily, the big SGV based Rosemead Invitational is run under the lights. Â This year moving to a Friday/Saturday format, this super-fast 3 mile event will host 87 teams, including 41 from the SGV.
This should be an excellent meet, featuring traditional powers Loyola and Long Beach Poly, along with seven of the top 12 teams in the pre-season SGV Rankings for both the boys and the girls.
Friday is mostly smaller schools, but it will feature SGV #7 Los Altos and #10 Covina, both making their 2015 debuts in the Boys races. On the Girls side, #9 Covina will meet up with SGV #5 Mayfield (CIF Div. IV #1) and #8 Flintridge Prep.
Saturday night will be larger schools and some smaller schools that opted to move up.  The boys races will feature SGV #1 Arcadia, #3 California, #9 Arroyo, #11 Baldwin Park and #12 El Rancho.  #2 Arcadia leads the girls, along with #10 El Rancho, #11 La Cañada & #12 La Salle.
The athletes will compete by class in this meet, so many of our best will miss each other on the course.
 The other way to beat the heat is to head to the beach.  Five SGV schools, including ranked Bishop Amat, will compete at the Laguna Hills Invitational.
This meet features many top teams and a course with a number of elevation changes but that still runs fast.
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SGV Track & XC This site is maintained by Bob Ramsey – a SGV T&F athlete (Arroyo ’80), and former coach at Glendora HS and Meet Director of the SGV Champs. Bob is currently Director of Track & Field and Cross Country at Whittier College
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