CIF Prelims
Saturday November 12, 2011  at  Mt. SAC

Girls’ Huge Effort Makes Finals²

Both Teams in the Finals for First Time Since 1994

Captain Caitlin beat all but two Morro Bay runners, a significant factor in San Marino’s 8 point victory.

Mt. SAC (rain course) - What appeared to be a two team race for the last spot in next week’s Finals turned out to be a three team race for two slots.  In a very close race that left the families nervous but cautiously optimistic at the finish, San Marino’s girls beat both teams, including a deep Valley Christian squad.  Alissa executed the Coach’s strategy perfectly by pacing herself from the beginning and moving through the pack in a consistent manner.  At the end, she took 4th place in the heat and 15th overall (3 heats).

Freshman Sarah Linton solidified her status as the team’s #2 runner and also set a smart pace.  With the team losing 5 varsity runners from last year’s squad, Sarah’s contribution cannot be overstated. Monrovia might have taken San Marino’s place at CIF if she had chosen another sport.  She proved just as important in this race, displaying a tenacity reminiscent of Nicki Miller (‘09).

In the match race with Morro Bay, we were stronger in the front and they were stronger in the back.  Sarah, Caitlin and Veronica went 19-22-25 whereas MB’s girls went 15-27-31, nearly accounting for all of San Marino’s advantage.  But it was Lindsay’s 36th place finish that really delivered the coup de grace by cracking the heart of their 32-42-50 “5th man” advantage.  This was a key pre-race piece in the strategy and the co-captain delivered it perfectly.

It is interesting to note that only two teams in the heat - Flintridge and Valley Christian - have better 7th runners than Marissa Shen.  But, let us celebrate the hard work and the never-say-die attitude of #6 Titan Marina Flores.  As rising underclassmen look to snag a varsity slot, Marina fights for her place on this CIF Finals team.  In fact, Marina’s 44th place finish and Marissa’s 46th place finish both provided points against Bishop Montgomery as our #6 and #7 both beat Bishop’s number 5 runner.

Bravo girls.

click here for complete race results

Alissa Places 15th Overall; Has Shot At State

Alissa prepares to pass Alyssa Rivas, Mayfield’s top runner.

Guys Cruise Into Finals

Peaky Places 12th Overall

Top

Mt. SAC (rain course) - It wasn’t their best performance of the year but it was good enough to move on to the CIF Finals for the third consecutive year.  As has been the case all year, Peaky led the way while Drew and Robbie ran much of the race side-by-side until approximately 300 yards from the finish.  That is when Drew accelerated and began picking off competitors, including 4 Don Bosco runners.  This was a short flat course so times don’t tell you much but the fact is that Drew and Robbie ran closer to Peaky than they have in some time.

Kenny’s ankle seemed better as he out-sprinted University Prep’s Danny Cabral at the finish to take 58th place.  Yuvan was close behind in 60th to round out the scoring for the Titans.  Both John Judge and Daniel Covarrubias continue to work hard.   The freshman gained valuable experience and the senior got to the Finals again.

You can expect it to get more difficult on Saturday when every runner and every team will bring their “A” game.  Teams with big gaps like ours are generally vulnerable.  However, the good news is that the weather forecast looks pretty good and we can expect to return to the challenge of the real Mt SAC course.  Given all of our Titan Hill training, that should help a little.  Our men don’t figure to make it to State but it will be fun to see them run the Finals and see if they can pick a couple of teams off.

Click here to look at combined
heat results from CIF Prelims.

* Rain course. Times are meaningless except for gap analysis and comparisons to other teams.

Click here for full mens results in PDF format.