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Suburban League finals
2.91 miles at Mt. San Antonio College 11/06/02 - Kirby Lee results and
photos
Jesse Mirola and Lynnette
Thompson (Suburban Champs!!)
About the only thing left for the Norwalk High boys and the La Mirada
girls to do to clinch the Suburban League cross country title was to show
up for Wednesday's finals at Mt. San Antonio College after each went through
league dual meets undefeated.
That proved to the biggest challenge for the schools. Norwalk and La Mirada
each had transportation difficulties which delayed their arrival.
Norwalk's reserved bus never arrived at school. After half an hour wait,
coach Carl Van Gorden had to call to have another bus sent to pick up
the team. The Lancers arrived only 10 minutes before the start of the
first race. La Mirada's bus simply came late.[ep
There was little drama on the course. Norwalk, led by the 1-2 finish of
seniors Jesse Mirola and Nitin Mahan in 15 minutes, 48 seconds and 16:28
over the hilly, 2.91-mile course, coasted to its sixth consecutive league
title.
La Mirada defended its girls title behind the third-place finish of senior
Audrey Serrata (20:27) to win its seventh title since 1993 and earn a
postseason berth for the 17th consecutive season.
The top three teams qualified for the Southern Section preliminaries at
Mt. SAC next Saturday.
Bellflower senior Lynette Thompson overcame the flu to defend her individual
title in 20:10 in warm and dry conditions. Thompson was well off her Mt.
SAC best of 18:58 run last month and needed a surge on the crest of Reservoir
Hill with a half mile to pull away from Norwalk senior Elvira Del Castillo
(20:25).
``I felt like couldn't even walk,'' said Thompson, who said she was on
the verge of blacking out during the second mile.
The Norwalk boys had four runners among the top six with Mirola, Mahan
and sophomore Eddie Perez and senior Froylan Sanchez in fourth and sixth,
respectively, to win with 33 points. La Mirada, boosted by senior Dag
Tesfaye in third, edged Glenn for second, 51-53.
``I was kind of frustrated when the bus wasn't there,'' Mirola said. ``It
made me kind of mad. I am sure that we could have run faster if they had
a better warm up. There was nothing that we could do about it. It's just
one of those things that happen in life.''
An abbreviated warm up didn't seem to detract Mirola, the defending league
champion who finished ninth in last year's Southern Section Division II
finals. He broke from the field on course's relatively flat Valley Loop
with a 4:40 split to finish the season undefeated against league competition.
Depth was the difference for the La Mirada, which defeated Glenn for the
girls title, 40-60. Glenn had three runners among the top eight. Enelda
Martinez and Victorina Meza finished fourth and fifth and ahead of La
Mirada's second runner, Vanessa Thomas in seventh.
La Mirada pulled out the victory with junior Amanda Stephens, senior Jennifer
Minero and sophomore Ana Poblet in ninth, 10th and 11th while Glenn's
fourth and fifth runners were 26th and 36th.
Nitin Mahan (Norwalk) - Das Tesfaye (La Mirada) - Audrey Serrata (La
Mirada)
Boys
Team: 1. Norwalk 33; 2. La Mirada 51; 3. Glenn 53; 4. Bellflower 89; 5.
Cerritos 124; 6. Mayfair 153.
Ind: Jesse Mirola (N) 15:48; 2. Nitin Mahan (N) 16:28; 3. Das Tesfaye
(LM) 16:56; 4. Eddie Perez (N) 16:58; 5. Jivany Lopez (Artesia) 17:04;
6. Froylan Sanchez (N); 7. Nathaniel Moore (LM) 17:27; 8. Luis Robles
(G) 17:29; 9. Carlos Robles (G) 17:49; 10. Rudy Vasquez (G) 17:53.
Girls
Team: 1. La Mirada 40; 2. Norwalk 60; 3. Glenn 79; 4. Cerritos 87; 5.
Bellflower 105; 6. Mayfair 128.
Ind: 1. Lynette Thompson (B) 20:10; 2. Elvira Del Castillo (N) 20:25;
3. Audrey Serrata (LM) 20:27; 4. Enelda Hernandez (G) 21:00; 5. Victorina
Meza (G) 21:02; 6. Jessica Cos (N) 21:15; 2. Vanessa Thomas (LM) 21:34;
8.Sara Aguilar (G) 21:43; 9. Amanda Stephens (LM) 21:43; 10. Jennifer
Minero (LM) 21:54.
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