By Leonard COUTIN

Early in the season, Crescenta Valley Head Coach Mark Evans discussed his strategy and performance plan for his team. The CV Falcon cross-country team hoped to set the stage to accomplish its goal of becoming the 2019 Pacific League champions. The first scoring meet of the season, League No. 2 on Thursday, held a special significance for this year’s Falcon seniors. It was going to be their last attempt to set their personal record times on their home course at CV Park, the culmination of long hours of training and preparation over four seasons. The Falcon boys and girls knew they had the home field advantage and each of the top five were prepared to make every sacrifice to clinch their major sweep.

     The Falcon varsity girls were first scheduled to run the three-mile course. At the starting line, the lead runners from Burbank, juniors McKynzee Kelley and Megan LaCamera, rushed to the front of the pack joining the top three senior Falcon runners, Sophia Atin, Samantha Moore and Natalie Bitetti. The competition between rivals Burbank and Crescenta Valley penciled out to be a very close race right up to the finish. Atin, with only two races under her belt, knew she had to stay close to Kelley if the girls were to have a chance to score a team victory. Moore and Bitetti have already given solid performances this season and did what they could to score low positions. 

The key performances of the day were by Falcon fourth place runner Ily Nelson and fifth place runner Kelly Helton.

Crossing the first mile mark, the teams were packed tightly. Moving to the second mile on the backside, spectators lined the course and cheered the runners. With eight teams in the race, Burbank’s Kelley was strong in the last 800m to win running 18:59.4 followed by CV’s Atin (19:11.3). Burbank junior LaCamera captured third (19:14.9) followed by Falcons Moore (19:19.5) and teammate Bitetti (19:25.3). Pasadena senior Carina Langley performed well to place sixth in a time of 19:28.5. CV’s Ily Nelson came in 12th running 19:58.2 followed by teammate Kelly Helton (20:05.8). It was tense as the teams waited for the final post and ultimately CV was rewarded when the team learned it beat rival Burbank by one point.

“The team as a whole ran very well. We won five of the six team battles and had six individual winners in the races,” said Evans. “Girls’ varsity ran a great team race. Kelly Helton had one of her best League races and scored important points for us. Sophia Atin ran a tough race to finish seconnd as did Samantha Moore and Natalie Bitetti.”

Final varsity girls score: CV 35, Burbank 36, Burroughs 89, Arcadia 99, Pasadena 114, Glendale 161, Hoover DNP, and Muir DNP.

In the final race of the day, senior Falcon Dylan Wilbur had a PR performance run. Not only did he take control of the entire race, his performance on the second mile proved he could command the pace as he separated from the pack. Though strong, Wilbur’s final time of 15:19.9 was several seconds off his previous mark.

Teammates Erik Faeustle, Max Burton and Rowan FitzGerald positioned themselves close to the front of the pack to provide backup for an excellent score. Pasadena sophomore Isaiah Givens ran one of his best races of the season to place second with a time of 15:31.9. Arcadia senior Jacob Hsu placed third (15:37.0) followed by teammate Tianyuan Pei (15:38.8). Faeustle placed fifth running 15:39.6, and Burton ninth (15:58.8) followed by FitzGerald (16:05.6) and Chris Cubias scoring the final mark as the fifth man placing 14th running 16:21.8. 

Other Falcon contributors were Jack Myers, 15th, 16:22.6, and Bryce Bitetti, 19th, 16:29.1.

“Boys varsity ran a great team race. Erik Faeustle passed the first two Burbank runners in the last 800 in a nice show of our depth. Max Burton, Rowan FitzGerald, Jack Myers and Bryce Bitetti had great races for us to put six runners in front of Burbank’s fifth runner. We made a big move in the last two miles to seal the win,” said Evans.   

Finals varsity boys score: CV 39, Burbank 48, Arcadia 58, Burroughs 113, Pasadena 133, Hoover 163, Glendale 198, and Muir DNP

  Leonard Coutin