"It's Time To Play The Game!"
Boys Recap!

By Rich Gonzalez
Editor, DyeStatCal
     (FRESNO) -- With Ventura splitting up its varsity squad, Clovis East and Newport Harbor opting for the non-seeded race, and a host of others competing at partial strength due to SAT testing, Saturday's Clovis Invitational resembled more of a chess match than a cross-country race.
     Coaches plotting various moves and counter moves -- run in packs, key off opposing runners, learn to get out quickly, or working the last mile hard -- all in hopes of better preparing their squads for the upcoming stretch of championship meets at the sectional and statewide levels.
     "Who said there's no coaching strategy from the sidelines," kidded one of the state's younger coaches. "There's just no time outs in our sport."
     But while many notable boys teams were busy playing chess, El Rancho was having a grand ole' time playing checkers -- "triple" jumping right past three state-ranked squads and unleashing a performance clearly better than in any previous outing this fall.
     The Dons, who only returned one varsity member from last year's squad that missed qualifying for the state meet by just two points, had the biggest breakthrough at Clovis. Second overall in a merged score of the leading teams, El Rancho was the most notable rising performer here, with seven weeks remaining on the CIF calendar.
     Here's a quick breakdown of developments at the Clovis meet which play into the state meet team outlook on the boys side:
     Division I:
     For those not paying attention closely, Buchanan has been the most dangerous team on the landscape during the first month of the season, with the Bears finishing sixth at Woodbridge and fourth at Stanford. So what, you say? Well, Buchanan did that without Danny Vartanian, their #2 returnee from last year. Plug Vartanian in as their #3 at either of those two major meets this year and the Bears would have won.
     Vartanian returned to the lineup here, under strict orders to not force the pace in his debut race of the season after being sidelined for two months from a stress fracture. Dee-Vee appeared to heed the instructions well and settled for an impressive 16:34 run and 74th-place finish here (fifth scorer from their "A" but 6th from the school and another on their "B" team ran very well) as Buchanan scored 152 points to hold off El Rancho while beating three other state-ranked Division I squads handily.
     Vartanian dipped under 16:20 on multiple occasions last year, but this year's squad is far deeper. In fact, Buchanan's 79:55 run this weekend was not only a school record, it was a Central Section record as well! Jonathan Sanchez, Heath Reedy, Adam Delton, Carson Keller and Vartanian were the scorers on their record-setting squad. Congratulations, fellas!
     As previously mentioned, El Rancho was the Cinderella story of the weekend, continuing an amazing improvement curve under Coach Ray Elliott this fall that had seen the Pico Rivera-based crew hang close to -- and now beat -- several strong squads. The 80:38 is a Woodward Park school record for the proud program which, you have to remember, had only ONE varsity returnee from last year! The Dons were led by their sole returnee Jason Zapien, who clocked 15:39. Also scoring were Pedro DeAlba, Gio Rodriguez, Juan Rodriguez and Alex Sanchez. We should also point out that El Rancho also boasted the fastest #6 and #7 men (Daniel Herrera and Eddie Aguilar at 16:27 and 16:32, respectively) varsity runners in the meet! Having driven through the San Gabriel Valley and along the 605 Freeway many times during the hottest hours of the day this past summer, I often spotted their runners logging the miles under tough conditions. All that sacrifice and commitment is paying off.
     Crescenta Valley and Arcadia continued their endless string of scheduled faceoffs (previously meeting head-on at Woodbridge, the Pacific League cluster meet and Pepperdine), with CV's better depth providing the difference as The Falcons placed third in the seeded race (196 points) to Arcadia's 5th (212). Both squads have a great 1-2-3 punch, where Crescenta Valley held a 50-53 edge in race scoring across those scoring positions and also enjoying a 171 to 188 scoring advantage at the 4-5 spots.
     The key thing to note here is that Arcadia's #4 man had a bad day at Clovis, while issues at the #5 position might be addressed soon as the Apaches went 1-2 individually in the frosh-soph race, where both finished as fast or faster as their #5 on varsity that day. In short, Arcadia may be turning the corner on addressing their depth issues. It might be just in time; Arcadia plays host to CV and the rest of the Pacific League schools this Thursday at Arcadia Park. CV won the first league cluster meet.
     Skyline of Oakland, a team I thought might be very slightly under-ranked in the state poll (despite many others thinking they were over-rated), clearly showed their worth by placing fourth in sweeps, a point out of third and only a dozen points from second. The group traditionally has an excellent scoring quartet and a slight gap back to spot, where two runners battle for that position on a weekly basis. One of those two was not in attendance here.
     Clovis East, perhaps trying to take a more conservative approach at this meet with several tough Central Section challenges awaiting, won the Extra-Large Schools division while posting a very fine 81:12 team time. Well check their roster to see if all were on board for this one. CE arrived here as the top-ranked team present among those ranked statewide in Division I. They placed sixth in a power merge of the results from all varsity races.
     An interesting Sac-Joaquin Section scenario continued to eveolve here as Jesuit and Davis were not separated by much in their clash in the seeded race. The head-on comparison was particularly close across the top three scoring positions, with Jesuit's Marauders holding a bit more comfortable edge over Davis at the final two spots.
     Royal, ranked 7th in CIF-SS last week, did not have one of its top performers race on varsity this weekend and another took a spill early in the race and never quite recovered in trying to regain his place among the sea of running humanity. Chino Hills (one of four teams right there in battling for the last ranked position last week) looked solid here while Glendora was a bit of a mild surprise as a third solid runner emerged for the Tartans in Corey Bullock (16:06).
    Division II:
    Boy were the rankings waters muddied in this one.. but not surprising, really. The one clear surprise was the outstanding run by Foothill of Santa Ana (SS), which place da superb 6th in the seeded race, beating higher-ranked Ayala, St. John Bosco and Brea Olinda head-on. One of those squads as shorthanded on SAT weekend but it did nothing to take away from a scintillating 81:34 effort by Foothill in the 'big boys' race.
    St. John Bosco, which did have a key performer sidelined by injury recently, was a young squad badly needing exposure to the state meet course. The team struggled a bit in this outing but should still be fine as its top runners -- including top sophomores -- begin to mature in experience on the big meet days.
    Ventura, ranked #1 in preseason, expectedly took a few lumps here as Coach Tyree split his varsity roster while giving his kids a chance to re-familiarize with the same state meet course where the squad has performed magnificently at each of the last two state meets. The Cougars were also missing a couple of varsity runners (inury and SAT) and ran at a pace along the first two miles that was even slower (11:10-plus) than the conserved pace Cruz asked them to follow. Cruz wasn't particularly thrilled with their pacing up to the two-mile mark, leaving much room for improvement.
    "If anything, it'll make them more coachable" this week, Cruz said.
    For those wondering if Ventura might be in trouble, just keep in mind that although they were shorthanded and they did indeed move much slower than instructed to in this race, they still finished up more than two minutes faster than last year's team at this meet. All indications point to another great finish in November, with Cruz confirming that workouts thus far are going very well.
    Newport Harbor, another superpower lurking in secrecy from the Southern Section, skipped the seeded race here and won the Division II race by over 60 points. Usual frontrunner Rex Nelson, who endured major discomfort while running without his orthotics at the recent Sunset League preview meet, was #3 for the Sailors here. The great news was that consistently strong contributors Michael Puncel (16:160 and Jake Dawson (16:18) continued to race well, helping secure the team victory. Look for Newport Harbor to come out blazing at Mt. SAC in two weeks while taking a planned subdued approach at next weekend's Orange County Championships.
    Del Campo of the Sac-Joaquin Section is rising yet again. Is anyone surprised? Coach Bob King's squad continues taking modest steps from week to week, inconspicuously passing team by team in the Division II statewide Top 25. With their best showing of the year here (11th in sweeps, 81:33 team time), look for DC to be in the state Top 10 ranings picture next week.
    Division III:
    Four state-ranked teams were in action here, with all four leading the way in team results from divisional schools. The pecking order of three of them (Oak Park, Cabrillo and Servite) matched their CIF-SS ranking order, but Willow Glen of the Central Coast Section, the state's #2-ranked team, had trouble keeping pace with two of them on the stats sheet. With at least one top runner (Mohamed Abdalla) competing at partial strength while fasting during the Ramadan religious season, Willow Glen finished a distant 15th in the sweeps race while Oak Park, Cabrillo and Servite went 1-2-3 in their divisional race.
     State #1 Barstow and #2 Oak Park are very close on paper at season's midpoint with each program on its way to the fastest season in each school's respective history for a pair of storied traditions.
     Servite, without the services of some on the varsity for various reasons, was not to far ahead of Las Lomas in combined scoring.
     Division IV:
     Let's not mince words here. With this division littered by several top boys/girls coaches hoarding ample postseason experience AND also coaching within a division lacking depth, it means that plenty of flexibility exists. As such, coaches will rest out kids, allow them to run in lower levels, work on pack running, etc. Such an approach often understandably clouds the real value of analyzing the results, especially on an SAT testing weekend. Unlike any other division, so-called "upsets" occur in the Division IV rankings on a weekly basis. By season's end, however, when everyone has their cards on the table and the stakes are raised, look for the final pecking order to begin resembling the preseason and early-season form charts.
     For now, top-ranked McFarland proved to be every bit as good as advertised in rolling to an 83:06 team-time clocking without the aid of a dominant frontrunner and just a 23-second gap! Their depth appears far better than anyone else's in the division stamping the group as the clear favorite to win state.
     It gets real interesting from there as Maranatha and Oaks Christian (the latter obviously running a jungled lineup here) will battle St Mary's of Berkeley (NCS) and Big Bear (SS) for top honors at the end. For now, however, the week-to-week 'strategizing' of roster moves will have the results not mirror the rankings.
     Division V:
     The top team in the land got stung at Clovis, literally. When members of Woodcrest Christian's boys and girls teams were preparing for their Friday warm-up at Woodward Park, a massive swarm of hornets descended on the group, unfortunately focusing on two individuals, a boy and a girl. Both runners were taken to a nearby hospital -- one reportedly suffering over 80 stings and bites -- with one released hours later and the other apparently not released until race day.
     According to Coach Billy York, it was later learned there was a hornet's nest in a nearby tree, where the insects emerged from. The attack was so fierce, the boy who was victimized tried feverishly to remove his running garments piece by piece, thinking the hornets might stay on the clothing. Unfortunately, the attack did not subside.
     One parent said the hornets actually formed a thick matte on the boy's hair while attacking, with York explaining that hornets apparently not only sting, but also have the ability to bite, with such an attack creating quite a painful consequence. The girl who was victimized worst tried to run from the peril, to no avail. Parents and others tried to flee her to safety, with little success. At perilous as the situation was, it could have been even worse were it not for those parents and teammates putting themselves in harm's way to distract the swarm.
     Park officials were immediately alerted to the hazard, with personnel brought in to rectify the situation. The hornet's nest was removed, with meet officials, Coach York and parents confirming that the size of the nest itself was as large as a basketball.
Coach York said that both athletes were expected to make full recovery, but that in the meantime they would be in much discomfort while the effect of the stings and bites subsided.

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