By Leonard COUTIN

It was Falcon Colin FitzGerald who raised the bar for the competition at the second Pacific League cross-country meet held at Arcadia Park late Thursday afternoon.

FitzGerald, with rivals Alexander Hirsch of Burroughs and Apache Tony Segura, all juniors, pushed the pace throughout the three-mile course that ended in a dual sprint to the finish line. FitzGerald ended up the victor, finishing with a winning time of 14.41.3 followed by Hirsch (14:44.0) and Segura (14:49.2). FitzGerald’s performance was noted in the Oct. 6 CIF individual ranking sheet by PrepCalTrack.com editor Rich Gonzalez who ranked the Falcon runner as fourth best and Hirsch ninth in the Boys Division 1 listings. The Oct. 17 sheet provides current status of the teams, ranking John Burroughs as fourth and Arcadia High School 10th in the Division 1 stats.

“Colin had a very good, controlled race,” said CVHS coach Mark Evans. “He stayed in the group and moved when he was ready. He looked very comfortable and controlled. He moved well the last mile and had great speed at the end to get the win.”

Jagdeep Chahal also ran a solid race for Burroughs to capture significant points by running fourth in a time of 14:49.7. Teammate Timothy Wells took fifth running 14:49.9. Arcadia’s Joe Vasquez ran sixth 15:03.5. Mann Vats of CV ran one of his best times on this course (15:11.2), scoring needed points and placing 10th, while teammate Artin Allahverdian took 13th running 15:22.7.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, CV’s Zach Johnson and Logan Neal were nursing injuries and had to sit out the competition. Their contributions could have made a difference for the Falcons.

Final team positions: Burroughs, Arcadia, CV, Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, Hoover

The Apache girls proved their strength when they won seven of the top 10 positions securing their victory. Arcadia was also listed as the second best team behind Great Oak in Division 1 girls varsity by Gonzalez in the Oct. 17 CIF standing sheet.

Burroughs’ Emily Virtue continued to dominate on the course. Coming out very strong she tucked behind Apache lead runner Cindy Liang for the first mile. It didn’t take long for the two top runners to separate themselves from the pack. Virtue had a strong third mile, finishing first in a time of 17:15.8. A string of Apache placements followed that was upset by Burbank runner Gabby Collins who took fourth running one of her best races this season (17:56.3).

Apache senior Cindy Liang placed second (17:26.9) and junior Eryca Yamane, who continued to encourage her teammates to keep up throughout the race, captured third (17:55.9). Fellow Apaches Tori Rodriguez (17:56.8), Gabriela Ramirez (18:17.4), Natalie Stepanian (18:20.0), Jasmine He (18:22.0) and Holly Lung rounded off the top placements for Arcadia.

Burbank’s Kira Bochard placed 10th running 18:34.10. Burbank scored 12th, 13th, and 20th to secure their second place team standing.

The Falcon girls were led by Melissa Owens who placed 11th (19:02.7), with teammates Sophia Atin running 19:25.9 to secure 14th, Gabby Borraez took 17th (19:31.4), Sojeong Kang placed 18th (19:35.6) and Persiyana Petrova placed 19th (19:37.10) contributing to the necessary points for the Falcons to capture third in the overall team standings.

“[The] girls had a great race, one of their best of the season,” said Evans. “They just keep getting faster. Our gap from first to fifth was just 35 seconds.  We were third in both varsity boys and girls. Last time we were fourth in the girls. Everyone ran very well.”

Final team positions: Arcadia, Burbank, CV, Burroughs, Glendale, Hoover

  Leonard Coutin