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Pacific League All-League Meet #1 (SS)
La Crescenta - During the season’s midweek period there are some monster dual through all-league gatherings that are every bit as competitive as weekend Invitational action. We would like to take the time this season during those weekday periods to in a bit more depth cover some of these special ‘battle of the titans.’ While we do not have the time or space to cover dual meets, there will be a special few this fall and the ever-growing in popularity “All-League” gatherings that may feature titanic match-ups, with a number of leagues around the state having two or three of these “all the school” gatherings during the season. The six team east San Gabriel Valley Pacific League has spilled over a bit into the San Fernando Valley with the addition of Burbank and Burroughs in recent years, with the eight team grouping gathering tomorrow, Wednesday, September 19th for one of three ‘all-league’ type meets at La Crescenta Park, with the other two competitions later rotating around the league. The league has a great tradition in all sports, with the Arcadia and Crescenta Valley Cross Country squads in recent years having a number of very top individuals and teams. Over the past two years the Arcadia Boys’ squad has placed seventh and third at the Division I level, with this year’s Crescenta Valley Girls’ squad ranked nationally and they were fourth in last November’s State Meet. Claire Collison of the CV Falcons blazed a 16:40 last weekend at Woodbridge, putting her equal #7 on the All-Time Course list there for Girls. The Falcon Boys squad is currently ranked sixth in the Section Division I with a fine effort this past weekend at Woodbridge in seventh (Arcadia was second but only 24 points and 23 seconds on the 1-5 team time clock separated the two schools). Nathan Sellers from Crescenta Valley was second in the 2005 State Meet, with the two schools having fine distance traditions going back into the 1960's with 1968 Olympian Tracy Smith a State Mile Champ and area Cross Country star from Arcadia, and Coach Keith Gilliland’s CV distance groups always strong with Jeff Holyfield leading a Section Championship Cross Country squad on the way to a Kinney Regional individual championship in the early 1980's. There are some other fine schools and runners in the League, with Sadee Martinez (Burroughs, Burbank) emerging from last weekend’s Mt. Carmel Invite in San Diego with the best time of the day in that huge meet, and she is a sub-5 minute 1600 runner in track. Burbank has Ryan Williams who was 9:29 last track season and third in League over 3200m. The Arcadia Girls team is improving, and there will be some great battles and good depth to the afternoon of action on both sides. Of particular interest is the clash between the Arcadia and Crescenta Valley Boys Varsity squads, with this shaping up as a real classic. Remember, the competition is being held on Crescenta Valley’s home course, with the league rotating through courses that will have them land eventually at Arcadia’s, but they do start here this year. A listing of the two school’s times from Woodbridge over the weekend shows the back and forth nature of a competition between the two. In the past the league has scored the big eight team meet here as individual duals, so while other schools may have runners displace these two teams, the scoring between the two should have all the other people taken out. Notes that follow are a bit of history with place in last year’s final league cross-country meet (run at this park, plus track league placement and track bests)
Soph race times: Straight scoring from Woodbridge has Arcadia winning 27-28. The Crescenta Valley course runs time-wise like the old Mt. SAC course and is an interesting one, with quite an elevation rise during the first half to three-quarters of a mile before a long sweeping run gradually downhill to the bottom of a park where athletes work back up to the top before heading back down and up and into the finish. It is anything but flat, and it is Crescenta Valley's home course. As we indicated a number of other athletes are avaialble to spice up the action on that Boys’ side. Western Nelson of Burroughs was fifth individually in League last year as a soph at the Varsity level, racing 16:15, and was 10:04 in track for 3200, with Matt Carey (Burbank) seventh Varsity at 16:24 and 9:29 3200 star, teammate Ryan Williams eighth. Christian Kooshian (Muir, Pasadena) was fourteenth in League in the Fall but raced 9:36.40 in the League Finals in track for fourth at 3200m. Burroughs’ Jonathan Alipzar was 4:24.51 in the spring for 1600 meters, with Burbank’s Greg Dotson 2:01 and 4:33 last year at League as a frosh. We will be there to report on the action and it should be a classic. Doug Speck If you have a local league gathering of this variety that has
especially high ranked squads drop us a note and we would like
to feature these during our mid-week “Battle of the Titans” series.
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