By Bob Ramsey, on October 17th, 2018 Most of the leagues wrapped up their league/cluster meet schedule last week. All of the others, except for the Montview League, will finish this week.
We’ll add results and brief coverage as it becomes available, and more extended coverage as photos and race notes are made available.
Tuesday, October 15th
Mission League – Crescenta Valley Park, La Crescenta
In the first meet both Flintridge Sacred Heart and their brother school St. Francis finished in the top half, with Tolog Lauren Nettles finishing an impressive fifth. The Knights will need another good performance to stay in the CIF qualifying spots.
Complete Results
Boys Results: St. Francis had a bit of a rough day, falling from 4th in the first meet to 6th. Sean Wilcox was best for the Knights in 18:16.
Girls Results: Flintridge Sacred Heart moved from 2nd in meet 1 to win here, helped by Harvard Westlake resting two runners. Tolog junior Lauren Nettles was 2nd/19:58
Baseline League – Bonelli Park, San Dimas
Damien was 4th and St. Lucy’s 5th in the first Baseline Meet. The Spartans’ CIF chances increased when they received a CIF Ranking Monday, but a third place is in reach for both teams.
Baseline League #2 Results
- Boys Results: The Spartans jumped up to second by putting three men in the top 10, led by by frosh Eric Martinez who was 4th/16:42. They were also helped by league leaders Chino Hills resting several runners.
- Girls Results: The Regents were 5th again, and were a bit further away from 3rd from the first meet. Frosh Sarah Gann stepped up for the team’s top finish at 7th/20:14.
Horizon League #5 – Legg Lake Park, South El Monte
These girls race every week, and form has held each time, with the SGV’s Ramona Convent 2nd, Alverno 3rd, and San Gabriel Mission 6th.
Complete Results
- Girls Results: Ramona Convent was a solid second again, let by a 4th/21:17 finish from frosh Emily Silva. Alverno backed up a bit but still held third, their best was Kate Bolin – 9th/22:32
Wednesday, October 17th
Almont League #2 – Legg Lake Park, South El Monte
Schurr was the easy boys winners in the first meet, and Alhambra won the girls meet by an even bigger margin. Montebello and Bell Gardens were 2/3 on both sides. Alhambra has the best chance to move into the top half in the boys race, and San Gabriel will look to move up in the girls.
Complete Results
- Boys Results: Montebello were a distant 2nd to Schurr in the first meet, but the Oilers stepped up big to edge their cross-town rivals 48-49. Bell Gardens were 3rd again. Spartan soph Armando Morales was the big winner again in 16:25, and Jonathan Maya (Sr, Montebello) in a big step up performance, was 2nd/16:53, improving three spots and 23 seconds from Meet 1.
- Girls Results: Alhambra were the easy team winners again, but it was Schurr that made the big move, improving by 32 points and three spots to finish second. Spartan senior Marai Atanacio registered a clear 18:40 win over form Almont #1 Serena Duenas (Sr, Alhambra) who was 2nd/18:53. A lot of Schurr’s help came from frosh Berlyn Moreno who moved up to the Varsity for the first time to finish 9th/20:40 – a 1:04 improvement from meet 1. Bell Gardens was 3rd, just ahead of Montebello.
By Bob Ramsey, on October 17th, 2018  This week, the CIF Southern Section rankings expanded to 16 for each of the five, enrollment based divisions.
Up to this point, the rankings have been mostly for fun, in that they didn’t have any direct impact on CIF post-season qualifying. But beginning with this week and for the next three weeks, any team that does not qualify by finishing in the top half of their league can advance if they are ranked twice in the last four weeks.
Seven teams moved into the rankings this week. The Arroyo boys returned to the Div. 2 Top 10, where they were ranked earlier this year. New to the extended rankings are the Rosemead and Covina girls, and the boys from California, Whittier, Damien & La Cañada. The Condors and Cardinals were ranked earlier this year.
With these updates La Canada joins Claremont, Bonita, Bishop Amat & Flintridge Prep in having both their boys and girls teams ranked.
The teams that were most helped by the rankings were Damien and the boys and girls of Bonita. The Spartans were 4th in the strong Baseline league and may need the help The Bearcat boys are narrowly third and the girls narrowly 4th in the brutal Palomares League, where five of the six girls teams and three of the boys teams are ranked. Conversely, SGV ranked Glendora were unranked, so they will need a not-impossible move up to 3rd at finals to advance.
Four of the SGV Girls Top Ten were unranked: #5 Arcadia, #8 Glendora, #9 California & #10 La Serna. Only #6 Rowland and #9 Glendora are unranked among the boys, but except for Glendora, all of these teams will not need the rankings to advance.
You can view the entire rankings here:Â Week 7 – 10/15 CIF-SS Rankings
San Gabriel Valley Girls
Div 1 – #6 Walnut (7th last week)
Div 2 – #1 Claremont (Same)
Div. 3 – #9 Bonita (Same); #13 Rosemead (Not ranked)
Div. 4 – #5  Bishop Amat (Same); #6 La Cañada (Same); #8 Mayfield (Same); #16 Covina (Not ranked)
Div. 5 – #2 Flintridge Prep (Same); #7Â Poly (Same)
San Gabriel Valley Boys
Div 1 - #6 La Serna (Same); #7 Arcadia (9th); #12= California (Not ranked)
Div. 2 - #1 Claremont (3rd); 9th Arroyo (Not ranked)
Div. 3 – #10 Bonita (9th); 13th Whittier (Not ranked); 15th Damien (Not Ranked)
Div. 4 – #3 South Pasadena (4th); #10 Bishop Amat (Same); #13 La Canada (Not ranked)
Div. 5 – #2=Â Flintridge Prep (Same)
By Bob Ramsey, on October 13th, 2018 Demonstrating, once again, that the West Coast is the best coast, the Claremont girls defeated a national level field to win the Eastern States Championship race at the Manhattan Invite at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.
Full Results
 Eastern State Champs on the Van Cortlandt Podium Despite running out of their usual order, the Wolfpack put 4 in the first 17, led by frosh Maddie Coles who was 6th/14:44 on this hilly 2.5 mile course. They defeated several nationally ranked schools, including CIF SS rival Saugus, who were 4th.
 Third Place! The Wolfpack boys also ran a bit out of their usual order, but they finished a strong 3rd in this national field, and were just 4 pts from 2nd. Their top finisher was senior A.J. Reyes at 14th/12:45.
 You ride the subway to this meet.
By Bob Ramsey, on October 13th, 2018 Final Results Are Here
It looks like most of the SGV schools ran partial or B Teams here.
The exception is the Girls Varsity Small Schools Division.
Melanie Mach (Sr, Rosemead) won here second Invite in a row with an 18:21 effort – a 90 second improvement from 2017! She was 5 seconds clear of Flintridge Prep‘s Haley Allen in 2nd.
Prep won the race, contested over a rolling 3-mile course in 97:02. Rosemead was 2nd in 100:19.
By Bob Ramsey, on October 13th, 2018 Live Results are here
Boys Combined: Noah Hibbard (Sr, Arroyo) is the SGV’s best at 2nd/14:41 on this flat, 3-mile course. Others in the Top 10:
- Oswaldo Cervantes (Sr, Nogales) – 3rd/14:46
- Joshua Orellana (Jr, Arroyo) – 4th/15:00
- Jesse Alvarado (Jr, Walnut) – 6th/15:09
- Eduardo De Paz (Jr, Baldwin Park) – 8th/15:15
- Daniel Echeveste (So, Bonita) – 9th/15:17
Top 10 Teams (Out of 44 Teams)
- Arroyo -Â 2nd
- Claremont BÂ – 4th
- Bonita – 6th
- Glendora – 7th
- Los Altos – 10th
Girls Combined: Chloes Arriaga (Sr, Walnut) scorches the wet course to win big in 16:28
Emma Arriaga (Sr, Walnut) – 4th/17:16 was the only other SGV Athlete in the Top 10 of this meet that featured a very strong girls field.
Top 10 Teams (Out of 40)
- Claremont BÂ – 2nd
- Walnut – 3rd
- Arroyo – 5th
- Bonita – 6th
- Glendora – 9th
By Bob Ramsey, on October 11th, 2018 Nearly half of the SGV schools will be in action this weekend in two meets at opposite ends of LA County, while SGV #1 Claremont are flying to New York to challenge themselves against some of the best teams in the East.
 Bell Gardens Invitational – Cerritos Regional Park
Live Results Might Be Here
San Gabriel Schools will make up nearly half of the fields of 64 at this meet run on a fast, flat 3-mile course, including SGV ranked Arroyo, Bonita, Glendora, and Walnut. The Bearcats and Tartans will be trying to impress to earn a higher spot in the CIF rankings to help their post-season qualifying chances, as will St. Paul.Â
In the boys races, Arroyo’s Noah Hibbard and Nogales’ Oswaldo Cervantes will face off for top honors, while Walnut’s Chloe & Emma Arriaga will lead the girls races, along with whomever competes for Claremont’s B- Team.
Last year in this meet, then senior Edgar Nunez (Baldwin Park), Hibbard, and George Castillo (El Rancho) had Top 10 finishes and the El Rancho boys were 2nd overall and Arroyo was 5th. In the girls races, the SGV’s best was then senior Lizette Castro (Arroyo), while Claremont’s B-Team were first, with Arroyo 3rd and Glendora 7th.
 Santa Clarita Valley Invitational – Castaic Lake Recreation Center
Live Results Might Be Here
Seven SGV schools will make the drive up to Castaic to run on this rolling, three-mile course. The SGV Ranked Pioneer boys and Flintridge Prep girls will contend for team honors. Rosemead’s Melanie Mach, Poly’s Sophie Phinney and Prep’s Sasha Codiga should finish well individually.
Last year in this meet, Flintridge Prep won the girls Small School race, with Sophie Gitlin (now at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps – Go Athenas!) leading with a big win.
 The famous XC monument at Van Cortlandt Park Also on Saturday, nationally ranked Claremont’s top athletes will compete in the big Manhattan College Invite – contested on the famous cross country course at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. They will meet some of the very best teams from the XC hotbed of New York and the surrounding states in the Eastern States Championships races. (Race Assignments here).
We haven’t found a link to live results, but you can view a (paid) live video webcast here.
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2018 Claremont again tops the list. They may be the best team in both the Southern Section and in California, and are certainly among the ten best in the country. So, yeah, they’re also the best in the SGV
Girls teams show more surprises and changes during the year than the boys typically do, due to the way frosh can have a bigger impact among the girls. The biggest movement is Mayfield, up to 6th, along with Arcadia and Glendora moving up two spots.
2018 San Gabriel Valley XC Rankings – 10/6
- Claremont (Previous – 1st)
- Walnut (2nd)
- Bishop Amat (4th)
- La Cañada (3rd)
- Arcadia (7th)
- Mayfield (12th)
- Bonita (5th)
- Glendora (10th)
- California (8th)
- La Serna (6th)
Detailed Team Analysis through the Top 15 after the jump
Continue reading SGV Girls Rankings — Week 6: Claremont Even Further Ahead
By Bob Ramsey, on October 10th, 2018 Claremont again leads the San Gabriel Valley in our second rankings of the year. The Wolfpack scored a win at Stanford over a good field, and (almost) tempo-ed for a win in the Palomares meet – a league that could advance all six teams to CIF.
Teams at the high end of our sport don’t change a lot over the year, so success is usually about making incremental progress and avoiding injury. The one exception is Whittier – who were ranked in the pre-season, and then fell out of the rankings. They’re back at #10, driven by a rarity for a boys team – at frosh #1 runner.
2018 San Gabriel Valley XC Rankings – Week 3
- Claremont (Previously – 1st)
- La Serna (4th)
- Arcadia (3rd)
- California (2nd)
- Arroyo (5th)
- Rowland (6th)
- South Pasadena (8th)
- Bonita (7th)
- Glendora (9th)
- Whittier (NR)
Detailed Team Analysis through the Top 15 after the jump
Continue reading SGV Boys Rankings — Week 6: Claremont Still the Class of the SGV
By Bob Ramsey, on October 9th, 2018 Most of the SGV will be in action this week as most of the leagues hold their second, concluding cluster meets.
 The La Salle girls are looking to repeat their win in the Camino Real League There will be big showdowns in Tuesday’s Del Rey League meet and Thursday’s Del Rio & Pacific meets. Also look for shakeups from the first meet in the Montiview and Miramonte meets – athletes from these schools develop a lot over the season.
We will post results below and expanded coverage as photos and race details are made available.
Tuesday – October 9
Camino Del Rey Association #2 – La Mirada Park
Live Results
This Catholic school super-league combines 18 teams from around LA County, 6 from the SGV, racing in three leagues. In the first meet Bishop Amat bossed the girls race in the top Del Rio League and the boys had probably their best race of the season. Bosco Tech was third, raising hope of returning to CIF for the first time after a three-year absence.
The La Salle girls, relegated to the middle Camino Real league, took control with a win, while promoted Pomona Catholic struggled a bit in the higher Del Rey. The Pacers will be hoping for a stronger results to re-enter the CIF rankings next week.
- Boys Results: Bishop Amat was second again, while Bosco Tech barely held off St. Paul for the third spot – 84-86 in the Del Rey League. James Leon (Jr, Amat) – 2nd/15:54 was the SGV best. Cantwell SHM was 4th in the Camino Real.
- Girls Results: Amat dropped a perfect 15 to with the Del Rey, while St. Paul jumped from 5th in the first race to 2nd! Pomona Catholic fell back to 5th. Olivia Paez was the winner with a very nice 18:26. La Salle slipped to 2nd and Cantwell Sacred Heart was 3rd again in the four team Camino Real league.
Horizon League #4 – Eaton Canyon, Pasadena
This league of small Catholic girls prep schools races every week! This week, they’re back to Eaton Canyon. The SGV’s Ramona Convent and Alverno have been 2nd & 3rd each week, but the 4/5 teams are creeping up.
Full Results
- The team results held form, as Ramona Convent and Alverno went 2-3 again behind CIF ranked Sacred Heart of Jesus. RC frosh Emily Silva continues her progress, moving up to 4th this week.
Wednesday – October 10
Valle Vista League #2 – Bonelli Park, San Dimas
In the first race, Covina was the easy girls winner, while their boys were surprisingly close to heavily favored Rowland. Wilson is coming off of a strong weekend, and their girls will be trying to reach Rowland for third while the boys will be trying to hold off Baldwin Park for the third, CIF-qualifying spot.
Results: Valle Vista League #2 2018
- Boys: Rowland and Covina again went 1-2, while Baldwin Park jumped ahead of Wilson for 3rd, led by a win from Eduardo DePaz who moved up from 5th in the first race.
- Girls: Covina and Kaitlyn Vuong won again, but Rowland pushed past San Dimas to finish second.
Del Rio League #2 – La Mirada Park
Rising La Serna won the first meet in a showdown with defending champs California in the boys race. The Lancers are coming off an excellent performance at Clovis, while the Condors have been uneven in their past two meets – they’ll need 5 good performances to challenge the new leaders. Whittier will try to move up to take the third spot from El Rancho.  In the girls race Cal was in easy control.
Complete Results
- Boys: Gerald Balzer edged out California’s Angel Salinas to lead La Serna to their second league win. Whittier moved up to third over El Rancho, flipping their order from the first meet. The Lancers once again featured a tight 31 second 1-5 gap.
- Girls: La Serna closed the gap to California, but the Condors repeated their win from the first meet. The real move came from Santa Fe. Katie Bautista’s 25 second win led the Chiefs, third in the first meet by a lot, to finish just three points behind the Lancers. Santa Fe’s the 2-5 runners moved up an average of three spots per person from the first meet.
Thursday – October 11
Suburban League #2 – La Mirada Park
In this four-team league, the La Mirada girls were easy winners in the first race, but the favored boys, missing several runners, were 2nd.
Full Results
- Boys: Order was restored as La Mirada recovered from an off Meet 1 to go undefeated in the multi-dual format. Christian Santiago repeated his win from the first meet, while soph Jakob Silvas moved up from 5th to 7th.
- Girls: They were missing their usual #1 but La Mirada did not miss a beat, repeating their win from Meet 1. Senior Mia Gutierrez moved up from fourth to second to lead the Matadoras to the win.
Rio Hondo League #2 – Crescenta Valley Park, La Crescenta
The La Cañada girls and South Pasadena boys were clear winners in the first meet. Look for the same result, but there’s a strong battle for the 2 & 3 spots on the boys side, where Temple City, La Canada & Monrovia finished in that order, each only a point apart! The course for this meet is a hilly 3 miles, and runs similar to Mt.SAC.
Full Results
- Boys: South Pasadena held out four the seven that finished second at Clovis Saturday, including first meet winner Kai Dettmann, but it was still enough to hold off La Cananda 42-46. Temple City moved back to third but had a clear edge over Monrovia who were 4th again, 74-94. Spartan senior Owen Serricchio was the overall winner at 16:22.
- Girls: Ellaney Matarese (So, La Canada) repeated her win from Meet 1 with a very nice 18:56, but with her team missing one scorer and another having an off day, the Spartans fell to second to South Pasadena 44-46. San Marino was third again, but 82 points barely edged out  Monrovia who moved up from 5th place to score 84 – a 16 pt improvement. The Tigers girls also sat out two of their seven from Saturday, including their usual #1 – but a strong 5-6-7 finish from frosh Mai Koyama and seniors Elizabeth Bock & Lindsey Calva propelled them past the Spartans.
Pacific League #2 – Arcadia Park
Live Results
The Arcadia boys are trying to regain the top spot while the Apaches’ girls are working for a CIF berth. Held back by injuries and illness, both teams fell just short in the first meet. The girls are finally at full-strength and boys are healthy, so this will be an exciting day.
Final Results
- Boys: Tianyuan Pei led Arcadia’s strong 6-7-8-9 pack, but it wasn’t enough, as the Apaches fell short of winner Crescenta Valley again, 36-45. Missing one of the five who ran Saturday at Clovis and with another projected scorer having a rough day, Arcadia can still win the league championship with a win at Finals, but it will take a solid 1-5 effort to earn the top spot.
- Girls: Joyce Wu repeated her win from meet 1, and Arcadia, still running without at least one projected scorer, was 4th again. But with seven teams scoring, 4th will advance to CIF, so the Apaches look likely to advance to the post season.
Montview #2 – Schbarum Park, Rowland Heights
This will be the second of three cluster meets on this super hilly course. They followed form in the first meet, with Azusa the easy boys winners and Nogales the girls . Expect that to repeat, but the other finishing spots could switch up quite a bit.
Miramonte #2 – Bonelli Park, San Dimas
Bassett were the winners on both sides in the first race. Edgewood will look to challenge the Olympians in the girls race.
By Bob Ramsey, on October 8th, 2018 This week, Div. 3 Bonita became the third SGV school to have both its boys and girls teams ranked when the girls entered the rankings at #9, the same rank that the boys have held the past two weeks.
Both Bearcats teams, under the leadership of first-year coaches Amanda Seibert and Tim Davis have relied on strong 1-5 performances more than big frontrunners. They finished 20th (boys) and 17th (girls) in the 2017 CIF Finals and will be looking to move up this year.
Maranatha move out of the Div. 5 boys rankings in the only other in/out change of the week. Next week, the rankings will expand to 16, and we can expect to see 6 to 10 SGV teams added to the 15 ranked this week.
You can view the entire rankings here:Â Week 6 – 10/8 CIF-SS Rankings
San Gabriel Valley Girls
Div 1 – #7 Walnut (Same)
Div 2 – #1 Claremont (Same)
Div. 3 – #9 Bonita (Not Ranked)
Div. 4 – #5  Bishop Amat (8th); #6 La Cañada (5th); #8 Mayfield (7th)
Div. 5 – #2 Flintridge Prep (Same); #7Â Poly (8th)
San Gabriel Valley Boys
Div 1 -Â #6Â La Serna (8th); #9Â Arcadia (6th)
Div. 2 -Â #3Â Claremont (Same)
Div. 3 – #9Â Bonita (Same)
Div. 4 – #4 South Pasadena (5th); #10 Bishop Amat (8th)
Div. 5 – #2=Â Flintridge Prep (2nd)
Left Rankings: Maranatha – 10th in Div. 5 Last Week
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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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