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CIF-Southern Section
Saturday, November 12, 2005
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CIF-Southern Section
Saturday, November 12, 2005 DIVISION I BOYS ANALYSIS HEAT #1 - No surprises in qualifying, as the top 5 seeds in the race finished in the projected order. Michael Cybulski (hamstring) sat out for Royal and we've told been he'll race next week, but they'll sit another key frontrunner out. Arcadia did exactly as pegged, taking second and never really seriously challenged for that spot. Their 1-2 punch was been solid in recent weeks, but better results might be needed at of 3-4-5 if they are to make state. Los Alamitos we had as the #3 seed, but was very vulnerable in our eyes in recent weeks. Sure enough, they made it, but had to ekedout a 3-point decision over Santa Ana Valley to do it. Credit Los Alamitos for hanging tough in their biggest pressure race in ages. King, the #5 seed, fared well among among the big dogs and led the chase pack. The big surprise of this heat was Montebello! I had them NOWHERE on the radar, yet they took sixth and actually scored only 90 points through four runners, but their fifth scorer tacked on another 96 points. HEAT #2 - Trabuco Hills ran fairly well to snag the top spot here, taking advantage of Murrieta Valley's usual #2 man placing fourth for the Nighhawks. Both teams had sizeable spreads, but that's partly due to both having excellent frontrunners. Marina, a team we had ranked in the top 10 early on, has been plagued by injuries for much of the season and we had them seeded fourth in the heat. The Vikings ran well and took advantage of #3 seed Thousand Oaks reportedly sitting out three kids here, perhaps underestimating the depth of the field. This heat had five teams ranked at one point or another this season, so it was essentially the "Group of Death" and a shorthanded Thousand Oaks lineup got edged by Marina (which appeared to close the gap at 4/5) and by La Sierra, which had major depth issues after going 2-4 in team scoring up front. HEAT #3 - It must be nice to have El Toro's depth, as they were without Anthony Masci (stress fracture) and McDonald (just resting, we understand), and yet still won its heat over a ranked and dangerous Upland team! El Toro had a scary 29-second spread while Upland, which only recently had enjoyed a healthy lineup, had a 96-second spread behind Ryan Gamboa. Corona looked very fine for the third time in a month, with modest spread and nice balance helping them vault over a Crescenta Valley team that appeared to have a between widen between the 3-4 positions, proving a bit costly. The top four seeds all advanced, with #5 seed Hart holding its place. HEAT #4 - El Rancho surprised us with its aggressive effort in prelims, posting the top team time (80:17) of the entire day while gapping only 36 seconds among its scorers! Dana Hills chose to "pack it in" and finished second here, but not especially a safe cushion away from not qualifying. it's 27-second gap was best among the division's qualifiers to finals, but it remains to be seen if amother gear is in store. West Covina was no surprise as a qualifier here, with a semi-deep field of 15 teams allowing the Bulldogs to fully enjoy the benefits of a 1-2 finish from the Mercado Brothers. During next weekend's 14-team depth-fortified Finals, West Covina's depth will come under attack! Fourth-seeded Sultana not only finished fourth, but also pegged a projected qualifying spot by posting a fine team time. Vista Murrieta, the #5 seed, was edged out by Long Beach Poly by only 5 points there. BIGGEST CLUTCH RUN: Marina HS, which barely made it out of League Finals (by one point!) two weeks ago due to injuries, but took full advantage of 14 more days of training and a narrowing gap (80 seconds, comapred to 132 seconds two weeks before!) to advance! El Toro, which was missing two runners but still won its heat, and improving Corona both earn honorable mention. CASUALTY VICTIMS: Tenth-ranked Thousand Oaks, which reportedly rested out three runners, saw its season end a tad prematurely.
DIVISION II BOYS ANALYSIS
HEAT #2 - The BIG "step-up" performance of the day goes to Ventura's boys, an unranked team the entire year and yet the heat winner today! The Cougars went 9-10-11-12 for their first four runenrs (NICE!) to break up Loyola's led trio and hand the defending state champion Cubs a 64-77 setback. Ventura was #4 seed in the heat, but took full advantage of problems by ranked squads from Don Lugo and Westlake to win going away. Ventura might have won the heat anyway, although Don Lugo could have been in the running. Loyola, the #2 seed, didn't look that bad (and gapped just 48 seconds), so it could enter Finals in a good position as the darkhorse. Camarillo, the #5 seed, has enjoyed the return of Ted Price from injury (he won the race in a fine 15:32 for prelims) and nice support behind him as Coach Mike Smith's crew is filling the role of dangerous underdog to perfection! Don Lugo, the #1 seed, opted not to run one of its top runners and also sat another runner out due to injury (both will run next week, we are told) and had major problems with a 2:06 scoring gap. Westlake, which ran its best race of the season at the Marmonte League Finals, was knocked off by perfectly peaking squads from Ventura and Burroughs, thus bringing a bitter end to their season. HEAT #3 - In perhaps the tightest boys heat of the entire day, it was #4 seed and unranked El Modena which battled well to upset a pair of ranked teams and win a thrilling heat in which the top FIVE teams were separated by only 14 points!! Frontrunner Curtis Aukshunas picked the perfect time to run his best race, winning the heat for an El Mo crew that rebounded brilliantly from a humbling League Finals setback to Brea Olinda. Top seed and #3-ranked Chino Hills was right in the thick of it and almost became the day's biggest casualty, but was able to snag an automatic berth despite a distant fifth scorer. Damien, which just missed cracking the final Top 10 poll of the season and was 11th on the depth chart and the #3 seed here, advanced by the skin of its teeth. Hemet, unranked for all but perhaps one week of the season, remained a dangerous player in this sport with yet another fine November run, this time beating 6th-ranked Edison on a sixth-runner tiebreaker. Edison, the highest-ranked boys team not to advance today, was clearly plagued by a key scorer sick all week and encountering trouble here, and no teammates able to truly step up and cover the loss. Only 15 points out of first, yet now staying home as a team (frontrunner Jayson Hayes advanced), this was a bittersweet close. Nobody was able to break up the top five seeds here, although sixth seed Sout Torrance finished a very distant ninth. HEAT #4 - This heat ran true to form as the top five seeds claimed those places although La Habra edged Brea Olinda by one point, rather than our team placement projection of the other way around. St. John Bosco, which was come alnog were well the last five weeks, was the narrow 2-point winner over always-dangerous-in-postseason West Torrance, 81-83, setting up a nice rematch in the final. Ayala, which was built itself back up nicely after its frontrunner was lost for the season, earned the final automatic berth as Henri Flores won the heat for the Bulldogs in 15:32. La Habra, with a very fine run, advanced as an at-large by time. BIGGEST CLUTCH RUN: Ventura, coming from the fringe of the radar to win its heat! A great run for the crew, but the division is very deep, so a repeat performance is required if the team is to have any chance for a state-meet berth! Kudos also to qualifiers El Modena and La Habra, who appeared to run their best races of the year! CASUALTY VICTIMS: Edison, the 6th-ranked team and a standout performer at the Orange County Championships and the Sunset League battles. Outside of "The OC", the Chargers had their troubles at Stanford and twice at Mt. SAC. Depth, their strong point this season, had problems answering the call today. Don Lugo, the #2 seed in its heat, held out two kids and almost became the biggest casualty of the day. A very inconsistent squad this season, it could challenge for the title next week, or could miss the Top 10 entirely. REST OF DIVISIONS SUNDAY EVENING
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