In the boys' race, Bellarmine-Jefferson senior Gerard Herkey continued to reap the fruits of a strong summer, putting together his second impressive race in less than a week following his win at the Morro Bay Invitational on Saturday.
Herkey -- who ran 14:44.13 over the 2.7-mile course Saturday -- broke the course record at Johnny Carson Park on Tuesday, covering the flat 2.6-mile layout in 13:18, well ahead of the old mark held by Burroughs' Brian Anderson, who clocked 13:47 en route to his victory at the same meet in 1998. Herkey's victory was also the first by a Guard runner in the city meet since Jose Diaz won it in 1992.
       Herkey's teammate Jeff Pang -- who finished 12th Saturday in 15:57.09 -- took second in 13:43 and Burbank's Ryan Christoffersen was third in 13:44.
       But after that, it was all Burroughs, as Coach John Peebles' squad packed well to take the next five places, with only 27 seconds separating his scoring runners on their way to victory with 30 points. Adrian Harrison (13:47), Morgan Walker (14:01), Josh Betancourt (14:03), Daniel Anderson (14:06) and Alex Sandoval (14:14) took fourth through eighth, with Kent Melendez (14:20), Steven Newbon (14:30) and Kyle Hazlewood (14:35) providing support at 10th through 12th place. Only Burbank's Stephen Stoll (ninth, 14:18) broke up the Indians' impressive effort.
       Burbank and Bell-Jeff scored 53 points each, with Burbank taking second because of the faster sixth runner. Providence, whose top finisher was Joey Henderson (21st, 15:44), took fourth with 83 points.
         On the girls' side, Burroughs senior Katie Vahoviak became the third female to win back-to-back city meet titles in the past eight years, joining fellow Indian Brenda McDonald (1999 and 2000) and Burbank's Kim Lorimer (1997 and 1998).
         Vahoviak shattered the previous course record of 16:26, set in 2002 by Oakwood's Treani Swain, as she established an early lead and continued to build throughout the race on her way to a comfortable victory in 15:35. The most exciting moment of the afternoon came in the race for second and third, as Burroughs' Adriana Powers and Burbank's Michelle Horgan battled stride for stride in the final 400 meters, with Powers prevailing by less than a second, as both individuals clocked 16:22.
         In the team competition, Burroughs relied on the strength of Vahoviak and Powers' 1-2 finish to knock off rival Burbank, 20-37, as Lilyana Morejon (fourth, 16:47), Sadee Martinez (fifth, 16:52) and Michelle Martinez (eighth, 17:11) provided great depth for Coach John Peebles' Indians.
         Kiran Jolly (sixth, 17:06), Allison Ivie (seventh, 17:10), Nelly Shamirian (ninth, 17:18) and Amanda Browne (12th, 18:10) capped the scoring runners for Coach Darin Wolf's Burbank squad.
         Amber Herkey was the top finisher for Bell-Jeff (10th, 17:35) and Nadia Simon took top honors for host Providence (23rd, 20:55). Bell-Jeff took third with 70 points and Providence was fourth with 115.