Birmingham's Marina Santana (foreground) and
Jenny Hernandez (right) were catalysts in the team
win.
HERNANDEZ GIVES BIRMINGHAM
LEG UP ON SAN PEDRO
IN LA CITY SECTION PRELIMINARIES
Jennifer Hernandez
knows can hold her own against her younger brother in wrestling. On
Thursday, the
Birmingham High of Lake Balboa sophomore found out she could keep pace
with the City Section's best in cross country.
Hernandez was a surprise
heat winner in the City preliminaries, clocking 18 minutes, 35 seconds
for the 2.9-mile Pierce College course in a Birmingham sweep of the
top three places to lead the Patriots to a heat victory.
Senior Marina Santana was
second (18:42) and junior Emma Hartel was third (18:43) for Birmingham,
which posted a 22-83 victory over Garfield of East Los Angeles. The
top five teams advanced to the finals on Nov. 22 at Pierce.
In the boys' competition,
Birmingham senior Mehdi Taieb- Brahim had the day's fastest time of
15:26 to help the Patriots to second in its heat. Monroe of North Hills,
led by the 1-3 finish of sophomore Gabriel Guzman and junior Salim Benmohamed,
was a 39-52 heat winner over Belmont.
The emergence of Hernandez
may be the boost the Birmingham girls need to defeat two- time defending
champion San Pedro. San Pedro won the other heat, 17-69, over Los Angeles
with the 1-2 finish of sophomore twins Kirsten and Megan Adams in 18:33
and 18:44.
Hernandez won the City frosh-
soph 3,200-meter title in track last spring but has been slowed by shin
splints and an ankle sprain suffered while wrestling with her 12-year
old brother Willie.
Hernandez had not run under
20 minutes at Pierce until finishing second to Hartel in the West Valley
League finals in 18:59 last Thursday. Hernandez said she has learned
to cope with her shin condition but the discomfort from her ankle still
persists.
Hernandez sprained her ankle
when she stood up awkwardly after pinning her brother in a friendly
sibling wrestling match. "I really didn't know what to expect from
myself," Hernandez said. "Today, I was really nervous to see
whether I could do what I did last week."
Birmingham's Emmaline Hartel was part of the fine
team depth!
A similar performance
by Hernandez, Hartel and Santana would put the Patriots in contention
for their first section girls title since 1998. Santana, who finished
third in last year's City final, had been the Patriots' top runner until
last week when Hartel's victory in the league finals. "We weren't
expecting it from her," Santana said about Hernandez. " We
were thinking maybe she could run in the 19s not the 18s. She is just
focusing better. We have a young team but they are very mature for their
ages so I knew we could improve a lot."
San Pedro's Kirsten Adams sizzled to an 18:33
heat win!
ADAMS FAMILY LEADS SAN
PEDRO TO VICTORY IN LA CITY PRELIMS
By Kirby Lee -- San Pedro High sophomore twins Kirsten
and Megan Adams haven't raced much after a late start because they had
not taken their physicals. Conditioning didn't seem to be a factor in
the L.A. City Section preliminaries at Pierce College on Thursday.
Kirsten and Megan finished
1-2 in career bests of 18 minutes, 33 seconda and 18:44, respectively,
over the 2.9-mile course. The Adams were part of a San Pedro sweep of
the first four places with freshman Lauryn Maes (19:22) and Mavel Tortoledo
(19:40) to lead the two-time defending champion Pirates to a 17-69 heat
victory over Los Angeles.
In the other heat, Birmingham
of Lake Balboa was a 22-83 winner over Garfield. South Gate was
fourth with 98 points. The top five teams in each heat advanced to the
finals on Nov. 22 at Pierce.
The Adams sisters didn't
run in any invitationals because of a delayed appointment for physicals
and conflicts with club soccer. Their competition has been limited to
Marine League dual meets. Megan and Kirsten were first and second in
last week's Marine League finals in a San Pedro sweep of the top seven
places.
"We push each
other and try to stay with each other but It's been hard because there
has been much
competition," Kirsten Adams said. "We're really excited about
next week with a bigger race."
Thursday's race offered
a little more than a time-trial for the Adams sisters. But they should
be
challenged in the finals by Birmingham's Jennifer Hernandez (18:35),
Marina Santana (18:42) and Emma Hartel (18:43), who went 1-2-3, in the
other heat.
Birmingham is
expected to be San Pedro's biggest challenger in the Pirates' pursuit
of its fourth section title in five years. San Pedro took a blow when
junior Jackie Conlin, who finished ninth in the 2002 City final, was
lost for the season with a knee injury.
"If
we have her we're not talking about a race," San Pedro coach Bruce
Thomson said about Conlin, the sister of 1999 Foot Locker national finalist
Valerie Flores."Birmingham is a really good team but we were far
superior. Now, we'll have to see what happens. It's going to come down
to whose fifth and sixth runner is
ahead of who."
It
could be a similar scenario in the boys competition among Garfield,
Birmingham and defending
champion San Pedro, which squeaked out a 51-52-58 heat victory, and
Monroe and Belmont, which were 1-2 in the second heat.
L.A. CITY SECTION
PRELIMINARIES
At Pierce College
5k
BOYS
HEAT 1: TEAM-1. *Garfield,
51 (82:17); 2. *Birmingham, 52 (81:45); 3. *San Pedro, 58 (82:52); 4.
*Narbonne, 137 (87:04); 5. *Sun Valley Poly, 137 (86:07); 6. Lincoln,
138 (86:18); 7. Reseda, 233 (95:01); 8. Taft, 236 (92:45); 9. Los Angeles
Hamilton, 244 (95:25); 10. Bravo Medical, 247 (93:21); 11. Verdugo Hills,
261 (96:24); 12. Elizabeth Street, 324 (103:03). IND.-1.
Taieb-Brahim, B, 15:26; 2. Hernandez, G, 16:06; 3. Jimenez, G, 16:08;
4. *Hernandez, R, 16:15; 5. Delgado, N, 16:17; 6. Oropeza, G, 16:20;
7. *Lares, Franklin, 16:21; 8. Pinedo, SP, 16:24; 9. Soto, SP, 16:24;
10. Hernandez, N, 16:25; 11. Alcala, B, 16:26; 12. Aguilar, B, 16:28;
13. Rosales, SP, 16:36; 14. Hernandez, B, 16:37; 15. Mendoza, SVP, 16:41;
16. Swartz, SP, 16:41; 17. Nava, SP, 16:44; 18. Torres, B, 16:46; 19.
Cardial-Avila, G, 16:47; 20. Ugalde, SP, 16:49.
HEAT 2: TEAM-1.
*Monroe, 39 (82:23); 2. *Belmont, 52 (83:27); 3. *Los Angeles, 69 (84:00);
4. *South Gate, 90 (84:53); 5. *Venice, 139 (87:06); 6. Gardena, 171
(88:48); 7. Roosevelt, 178 (89:33); 8. El Camino Real, 205 (90:53);
9. L.A. University, 250 (94:23); 10. Granada Hills Kennedy, 292 (99:52);
11. Los Angeles CES, 295 (102:27). IND.-1.
Guzman, M, 15:52; 2. Ruiz, SG, 16:10; 3. Benmohamed, M, 16:24; 4. Lopez,
LA, 16:28; 5. Flores, B, 16:31; 6. Gonzalez, B, 16:31; 7. Lehman, V,
16:31; 8. Cerritos, LA, 16:36; 9. Garcia, B, 16:37; 10. Samano, M, 16:39;
11. Manzano, M, 16:39; 12. Serrano, LA, 16:40; 13. Galindo, B, 16:45;
14. Lopez, M, 16:46; 15. Dominguez, SG, 16:49; 16. Magana, SG, 16:50;
17. Felix, M, 16:53; 18. Garcia, LA, 16:56; 19. Chavez, B, 17:01; 20.
Neverez, SG, 17:02.
GIRLS
HEAT 1: TEAM-1. *Birmingham,
22 (95:35); 2. *Garfield, 83 (103:55); 3. *Venice, 95 (102:56); 4. *South
Gate, 98 (105:45); 5. *Van Nuys, 152 (108:40); 6. Taft, 153 (110:01);
7. Verdugo Hills, 160 (109:08); 8. Bravo Medical, 179 (111:02); 9. Gardena,
239 (116:11); 10. Canoga Park, 247 (118:23). IND.-1.
Hernandez, B, 18:35; 2. Santana, B, 18:42; 3. Hartel, B, 18:43; 4. *Garcia,
VH, 18:56; 5. Mendoza, V, 19:00; 6. Estevez, V, 19:11; 7. Oviedo, B,
19:20; 8. Castro, G, 19:52; 9. *Roth, El Camino Real, 20:10; 10. Herrera,
B, 20:13; 11. Ponce, G, 20:14; 12. Dove, B, 20:33; 13. Bell, Westchester,
20:41; 14. Parra, G, 20:42; 15. Padilla, SG, 20:54; 16. Johnson, B,
20:57; 17. Estrada, BM, 21:03; 18. Sanabia, SG, 21:03; 19. Hernandez,
SG, 21:05; 20. Williams, T, 21:10.
HEAT 2: TEAM-1.
*San Pedro, 17 (96:13); 2. *Los Angeles, 69 (102:46); 3. *Monroe, 114
(106:18); 4. *Roosevelt, 129 (106:39); 5. *Belmont, 138 (107:39); 6.
Granada Hills Kennedy, 161 (109:23); 7. Sun Valley Poly, 162 (109:26);
8. Franklin, 192 (111:35); 9. Granada Hills, 226 (113:35); 10. Narbonne,
281 (117:56); 11. Palisades, 305 (120:11); 12. Los Angeles CES, 364
(134:14). IND.-1. K. Adams, SP, 18:33;
2. M. Adams, SP, 18:44; 3. Maes, SP, 19:22; 4. Tortoledo, SP, 19:40;
5. Garcia, LA, 19:42; 6. Marmolejo, LA, 19:44; 7. Cardenas, SP, 19:52;
8. Cespedes, R, 19:53; 9. Tecaxco, B, 20:10; 10. Morales, M, 20:16;
11. Rubi, SP, 20:21; 12. *Escobar, GHK, 20:27; 13. Gomez, Los Angeles
University, 20:28; 14. Olivares, SP, 20:35; 15. Hernandez, LA, 20:39;
16. Nolasco, SVP, 20:44; 17. Hernandez, Los Angeles Marshall, 20:45;
18. Rodriguez, R, 20:47; 19. Bermudez, F, 21:05; 20. Rojas, M, 21:05.
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