Chavez edges Rosales at Mt. SAC

WALNUT • Barstow’s Isaac Chavez took first and Apple Valley’s Daniel Rosales crossed the finish line a second back in their CIF-Southern Section Cross Country Preliminaries Division III heat race on Saturday to help their teams advance at Mt. San Antonio College.

Chavez finished in a time of 15 minutes, 24 seconds. The Aztecs as a team won the race with 53 points and had four runners in top 11 and six of the top 30. Andrew Romano (15:54) came in fifth, Joshua Gomez (16:24) finished in 10th, Ian Barba (16:25) was 11th, and Jeremy Trujillo (16:49) came in 27th to round out Barstow’s top five.

Rosales (15:25) helped Apple Valley take fourth with 150 points in the same heat to advance to the section championships for the third year in a row. Sam Nunes (16:30) came in 13th and Nick Reynolds (16:59) was 31st. The top five teams in each Div. III heat advanced.

Rim of the World’s Dustin Fay (15:36) came in fourth in the same race to advance as an individual.

The CIF-Southern Section Championships will be held on Nov. 22 at Mt. SAC.

VALENZUELA WINS HEAT: At Walnut, Apple Valley sophomore Hannah Valenzuela advanced to the section championships by winning her Div. III heat at Mt. San Antonio College, but her team did not.

Valenzuela finished the race in 17:51. The Sun Devils as a team took 10th, and Valenzuela’s sister, Miranda (20:55) came in 47th.

SULTANS FINISH SECOND BEHIND NO. 1 RANKED SAUGUS: At Walnut, the Sultana girls scored 48 points to finish second in their Division II race heat to advance.

The Sultans finished second to Saugus (27), which is ranked No. 1 in the nation, and had four runners in the top 15.

Hannah Munyan (18:09) paced Sultana in third. Shayna Robinson (18:47) came in seventh; Jane Higuchi (18:53) took 10th; Lainie Bird (19:25) finished in 15th, and Cassie Bird (19:43) rounded out the top five for Sultana in 21st.

Jesse Lopez (17:11) competed as an individual for the Sultana boys, but didn’t advance.

COUGARS BOYS ADVANCE: At Walnut, the Granite Hills boys had three of the top 20 runners in their Div. II preliminary race heat to advance.

Chris Rivera (15:51) placed fifth to lead the Cougars to fourth place as a team. Robert Sager (16:26) and Cody Jordan (16:29) took 17th and 18th respectively.

The Cougars’ girls just missed qualifying as a team, finishing in seventh, as did Jzsanette Lindstrom (19:22) who also came in seventh. Wendy Roberts (20:22) finished 21st.

PATRIOTS ADVANCE: At Walnut, Hesperia Christian’s girls finished seventh in their Division V heat to advance to the finals.

Jacinda Fernandez led the way with a 29th-place finish in 15 minutes, 20 seconds. Kassie Martinez took 38th in 15:44.

Hesperia Christian’s boys failed to qualify for the finals, but Chris Maerzluft will advance as an individual thanks to an eighth-place finish in 11:53. Both races were reduced to two miles because of high temperatures and poor air quality.

The championships are Nov. 22 at Mt. San Antonio College.

SERRANO GIRLS FALL JUST SHORT OF ADVANCING: At Walnut, the Diamondbacks girls finished in fifth place in a Division I heat to just miss advancing to the CIF-Southern Section Championships by four points.

It was the first time in five seasons that Serrano failed to advance to the section championships.

There were four heats for each division, and the top four teams from each advanced. Due to high temperatures and poor air quality, all of the races in the afternoon were reduced from three miles to two.

Natasha Coe led the Mojave River League champion D’backs in 11th place in 12 minutes, 56 seconds, and Jessica Feuerstine (13:14) took 14th.

Nathan Lamb (11:24) paced the Serrano boys to 10th place in their Division I heat.

HAWKS FALL SHORT: At Walnut, the Silverado girls came in 13th in their Div. I preliminary heat to not advance.

Sara Taylor (13:21) led the Hawks in 18th place and Jennifer Gutierrez (14:20) came in 59th.

The Hawks ran in a two-mile race due to poor conditions.

GONZALES DOESN'T MAKE IT: At Walnut, Hesperia’s Daniel Gonzales (11:53) came in 75th in a Division I heat to fall short of advancing to the section championships.

EAGLES FALL SHORT: At Walnut, Excelsior ran in the CIF-SS Div. IV preliminaries at Mt. SAC and took 16th in a 16-team heat.

The Eagles ran the full three miles because they competed in the morning before the length was cut down.

Keith Carlson (19:42) led the Eagles in 88th place, followed by 95th-place Cody Fisher (20:10) and Malcom Leon (20:12) in 96th.

BURROS CAN’T ADVANCE: At Walnut, the Burroughs boys and girls competed in full-length races in Divison III and were not able to advance.

Leading the seventh-place boys was Caleb Rosales (16:33) in 12th. Pat Glantz (17:16) finished 39th for Burroughs.

The girls finished ninth overall, led by Jennifer Speer in 11th. Her time of 19:18 set school record in a Mt. SAC race.

Jenny Durtschi finished in 19:33 to take 17th.

WARRIORS COME UP SHORT: At Walnut, both the Apple Valley boys and girls teams came in 11th in their Div. V heat races, which were shortened to two miles.

Rick Hermansen (13:15) and Evan Sipes (13:47) paced the boys in 49th and 61st, while Sarah Hermansen (16:31) and Lara Richmond (17:08) led the girls.