By Leonard COUTIN

For three months, Crescenta Valley High School cross-country head coach Mark Evans has been grooming his cross-country boys’ and girls’ teams in preparation for a place at the Pacific League finals as well as for a road trip to the CIF prelims/finals. On the boys’ team, senior Manan Vats and junior Dylan Wilbur have performed well, winning two of their season League meets and ensuring the Falcons were well-prepared for the League finals.

The Pacific League cross-country championships finals were held on the Falcons’ home course at Crescenta Park on Thursday, Nov. 1. The weather for the late afternoon competition was cooperative: mild temperatures, low winds and plenty of sunshine. Volunteers lined the course making it easy for runners to identify their path.

The Falcons started out strong with Vats and Wilbur crossing the mile mark first. Teammate Grant Lauterback was close behind as he ran with Arcadia’s two top runners. Lauterback has made many contributions to CV’s positive scoring this season.

As a senior, Vats was well aware that this was his last time running on this course as a Falcon. He took the lead on the last upper loop, and ended up taking the win with a time of 15:27.8.

Wilbur captured second place running 15:37.8 followed by Lauterback (15:47.0). Arcadia’s Jacob Hsu placed fourth (15:49.9) and teammate Tianyuan Pei took fifth (15:57.4). Freshman Isaiah Givens of Pasadena broke up the points for CV by placing sixth (15:59.6).

The final points came from Falcon Erik Faeustle who crossed the finish in seventh place (16:04.8), followed by teammates Evan Doloszycki in 14th (16:27.9), Jack Myers, 16th, (16:40) and Ethan Sharp, 21st, (16:57.8).

Final boys’ varsity score: CV 27, Arcadia 49, Burbank 85, Glendale 104, Burroughs 110, Pasadena 166, Hoover 205, Muir (DPN)

The Lady Falcons suffered a major blow when their top runner Sophia Atin got hurt and had to pull out of the race. Samantha Moore took over as CV’s lead to place fourth with a time of 19:41.0 and teammate senior Gabby Borraez placed fifth (19:43.2). Both Moore and Borraez have continuously improved both their running techniques and speed this entire season, which made a huge difference at the League finals. Also scoring for the Falcons were Ily Nelson in 12th (20.10.1), Reese Sion, 18th, (20:32.4), Sarah Benitez, 23rd, (20:52.8) and Taili Sherwood-Kong, 25th, (21:18.0).

Apache runner Joyce Wu, who has already won both League meets individually, blew away the competition when she set a very fast pace to win with a time of 18:31.5. Unfortunately for the Apaches, the Burbank team won both conference meets and continued to shine as Sol Fernandez placed second running 19:12.5 and Shalom Mejia placed third (19:36.6).

Final girls varsity score: Burbank 32, Burroughs 59, CV 62, Arcadia 80, Glendale 161, Hoover 165, and Pasadena 179

The CV JV boys placed second in the team standings behind Arcadia followed by Burbank. Falcon Noah Ataya ran one of his best races of the season placing third with a time of 17:26.2. Other CV contributors were Christian Peraza, sixth, (17:35.8), Ravi Riley, seventh, (17:43.1), Morgan Faunce, 11th, (18:04.0), Kevin Tasci, 12th, (18:07.2), Aaron Marshall, 17th, (18:42.1) and Andrew Kazangian, 25th, (19:17.2).

Final JV boys’ score: Arcadia 30, CV 39, Burbank 62, and Glendale 94

The CV JV girl’s team took second place behind Burbank. Lead runner Rachel Hart ran an impressive race placing third in a time of 21:27.4 behind Burbank’s lead runner Raelene Aldana, who won with a time of 21:06.4. She was followed by teammate Raquel Goli (21:18.3).

Contributors to the Falcon team score were Eva Marta who took fourth (21:54.3), Sojeong Kang, 9th, (22:34.0), Michelle Longlax, 10th, (23:23.0), Persiyana Petrova, 11th, (23:52.7), Sara Viray, 13th, (25:48.8) and Monserrat Escobedo, 14th, (25:54.3).

JV girls’ final score: Burbank 22, CV 34 other team DNP

The CV Falcon boys’ team won the frosh/soph race. Falcon Chris Cubias won with a time of 16:53.8. Teammate Max Burton placed third (17:05.7), Jace Milford, fifth, (17:31.6), Rowan FitzGerald, sixth, (17:31.6), Bryce Bitetti, seventh, (17:32.1), Nolan Brown, ninth, (17:34.4) and Dylan Haworth, 10th, (17:34.7).

Boys frosh/soph team score: CV 22, Arcadia 54, Burroughs 66, Glendale 138, and Pasadena 182

The CV frosh/soph girls were led by Eden Haack who scored sixth in a time of 21:02.5. Teammates Kelly Helton placed 15th (22:00.2), Rebecca Doherty, 16th, (22:25.0), Brianna Watcher, 20th, (22:42.4), Valeria Borraex, 22nd, (22:47.3), Ha-Hym Kim, 27th, (23:45.8) and Sinead Aguilar, 28th, (23:52.8).

Final frosh/soph girls’ score: Burbank 20, Arcadia 52, Burroughs 67, CV 79, and Hoover 155

To see more of Leonard Coutin’s photos, visit www.cvweekly.com/SPORTS.

  Leonard Coutin