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Boys - Girls
by Donal Pearce
Boys
Boys
TVHS 35 MVHS 37
On Thursday, November 1st, the Temecula Valley Bears boys' cross
country team got a legitimate scare (one day after Halloween!) from
the arch-rival Murrieta Valley Nighthawks. In the end, the Bears
prevailed, but, considering the Southwestern League championships
were being held at the Temecula Valley campus, the home-field advantage
was not as helpful as they might have hoped. Murrieta's #1 runner,
Kellen Acosta, held off an all-out late charge by Temecula's Kacey
Carr to capture league champion honors by several steps. Temecula
Valley finished 2, 6, 7, 9, & 11 for 35 points. Murrieta Valley
finished 1, 5, 8, 10, 13 for 37 points. Chaparral's Steve Brenkov
and Robert Herber finished third and fourth, respectively, to give
their Division 2 school a respectable third place finish with 63
points.
The Southwestern League meets together three times during the season,
twice in cluster meets for all five schools (Chaparral, Elsinore,
Murrieta Valley, Temescal Canyon, and Temecula Valley), and then
once again for the championship meet. At each meet, the outcome
was the same, but with increasingly tighter scores, this last one
about as tight as they get! Chaparral was the host of the meet.
Because Chaparral doesn't yet have a course to accomodate this type
of gathering (they are a very new school--four years old, I believe),
Temecula Valley coach Doug MacLean suggested his 3.0 mile course
be the site. The home field advantage wasn't as friendly to the
CIF-SS and state-ranked TVHS squad as it might otherwise have been,
though the Bears barely nipped the Nighthawks for the championship
on the hilly course. One noted middle-of-the pack Bear competitor
was out with an injury. Two of the Nighthawk Varsity boys ran but
were not at full strength due to illness and other personal circumstances.
They all look forward to full strength at next week's CIF-SS Prelims
at Mt. SAC.
Coach Steve Chavez was extremely pleased with his young squad,
consisting mostly of sophomores and juniors. "This is the first
time in my coaching career that I can say the boys ran exactly as
planned from start to finish!" Chavez beamed before the awards
ceremony. The local newspaper, The Californian, quoted the Bears
coach as saying, "It's a great feeling--we completed the race
in league competition. That was our goal." Both the Nighthawks
and the Bears had four top-10 finishers. The Nighthawks had owned
the crown since 1997 and intend to win it back in 2002. Last years
winner at this same course for league meet #2 was won by Carlos
Handler in an identical time of 16:28. Fifth place finisher, Senior
Brandon Power, an 800-meter star in track, streaked past two Temecula
Valley runners in the last 300 meters on the course which starts
and finishes on the track. Brandon's time last year was 17:28. Ninth
place finisher, sophomore Anthony Mercado had a time 59 seconds
faster than last year.
Temecula Valley 35
Murrieta Valley 37
Chaparral 63
Temescal Canyon 120
Elsinore 141
1) Kellen Acosta (MV) 16:28
2) Kacey Carr (TV) (time unknown)
3) Steve Brenkov (C) 16:46
4) Robert Herber (C) 16:54
5) Brandon Power (MV) 17:00
6) Dustin Russell (TV) 17:03
7) Anthony Adamucci (TV) 17:07
8) Scott Breithaupt (MV) 17:10
9) Brett Campfield (TV) 17:14
10) Anthony Mercado (MV) 17:22
Girls
Murrieta Valley 19
Temecula Valley 56
Chaparral 72
Temescal Canyon 92
Elsinore 143
From the Californian article by staff writer Greg Ball:
Murrieta Valley coach Mark Fitzpatrick didn't have to say much
about the efforts of his team--the Nighthawks spoke for themselves
by placing all seven runners in the top [twelve] and earning 19
points to Temecula's second-place total of 56.
"They're smart and they ran a great race today," Fitzpatrick
said. "They're a strong bunch of girls. They know they don't
have to win the race at the beginning, and they know when to make
their moves. I'm real proud of them."
Chaparral's girls also finished third (72), and will accompany
Murrieta (CIF-SS #4 rank) and Temecula to the CIF-SS prelims. Temescal
Canyon (92) and Elsinore (143) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
. . . The girls individual title also went to a Murrieta runner,
and the name was no surprise--Liza Pasciuto. Behind a consistent
pace that saw her take a six-second lead just one-quarter mile into
the race, Pasciuto motored to a first-place time of 19:04. [Her
time last year at this course was 19:22 on October 30, 2000.] Teammate
Bongabih Shey was second (20:01) and Temecula's Yolanda Carillo
was third (20:11).
Murrieta's Rachel Corrington finished fourth (20:13) [despite taking
a nasty spill about the one-mile mark], followed by Murrieta's Elaine
Woodward in fifth (20:26), Temecula's Erica Cartaya in sixth (20:40),
Murrieta's Kristina Hill in seventh (20:54), Temecula's Jessica
Eddington in eighth (21:14), Murrieta's Shea Corbin in ninth (21:19)
[claiming her fourth all-league honors to cap off her Senior year]
and Temescal Canyon's Ashlee Hinojosa in 10th (21:26).
In JV action, TVHS won on the boys side while Murrieta won on the
girls side (sweeping the first seven spots).
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