By Leonard COUTIN

On Thursday, Nov. 7, the Pacific conference finals were held on the home course of the Arcadia Apaches in Arcadia Park. Despite wins by both the CV boys and girls varsity teams at the first scoring meet of the season at League No. 2 on Oct. 17 at CV Park, nothing was taken for granted by the athletes as they approached the course. They knew that tough competition would be from the Arcadia boys’ and the Burbank girls’ squads. Pasadena returned with a large – and strong – group of runners, too.

“We went into the meet feeling ready to run well,” said Coach Mark Evans. 

Falcon senior Sophia Atins saw as her strongest rival Burbank junior Kelley McKynzee. However, McKynzee recently returned to running after several weeks off due to her involvement in an auto accident. All wondered how she would perform.

Once the race began, the CVHS girls quickly assembled in a tight pack for the first mile of the course. Atkins was found aside Burbank senior Sol Fernandez in the lead position followed by Falcon senior teammates Samantha Moore and Natalie Bitetti who tucked just behind Atkins. McKynzee was lacking the stamina to run with the top runners.

Atins took a very aggressive approach to the race, continuing to look strong throughout the last two miles of the course. Reaching the last 100m, she poured it on to win in a time of 17:57.5 followed by teammate Moore (18:04.1) and Bitetti (18:06.2). Burbank junior Megan La Camera then crossed the finish line (18:08.9) followed by teammate Elin Markarian (18:17.2).

Pasadena’s Annika Anderson ran an excellent race to place sixth (18:31.2) followed by CV senior Ily Nelson who placed seventh (18:34.8). Falcon senior Sarah Benitez clinched the title for the Falcons taking 16th running 19:18.9. Teammate Kelly Helton came in 18th (19:20.1). 

Looking over the stats, Evans looked pleased.

“The girls ran very well,” he said. “Sophia [Atkins] is looking very strong. I am impressed with how Samantha Moore moved up in the race.  Natalie Bitetti is such a competitor. She was determined to get third and really moved well. It is hard to believe this is her first season of competitive running.  Ily Nelson had a great race to move up four to five spots in the last 200 meters.”

Final varsity girl score: CV 29, Burbank 42, Arcadia 81, Burroughs 98, Pasadena 120 and Glendale 174

Falcon senior Dylan Wilbur has proven that he is the man to beat when he took the win in the League No. 2 meet. Concentrating on leading his team to a league championship and running a solid race was Wilbur’s objective.

Running a strong first mile, Dylan and Pasadena sophomore Isaiah Givens ran neck-to-neck throughout the 2½ miles of the course. But in the last 300m Wilbur excelled to take the win with a time of 14:26.7 followed by Pasadena’s Givens (14:29.6). Falcon Erik Faeustle pushed hard and pulled in the end separated himself from Burbank to place third (14:38.4). Burbank junior Andres Leon placed fourth (14:44.2) followed by teammate senior Victor Goli (14:44.6).

Arcadia runners Jacob Hsu (14:45.9) and Tianyuan Pei (14:46.0) captured the next two spots. Junior Max Burton of CV grabbed ninth (14:58.8) with teammates Chris Cubias placing 11th (15:09.6) and the fifth man for CV sophomore Rowan FitzGerald taking 12th (15:13.1). Falcon Jack Myers was 13th (15:20.4) and Falcon Bryce Bitetti took 16th (15:27.7).

“[This was the] first time in a while that we won league in both varsity boys and girls. The boys ran a very dominating race,” said Evans. “Dylan [Wilbur] was very patient and moved when he was ready to distance himself from Isaiah Givens of Pasadena. Erik Faeustle had a great race to finish third.  He moved well in the last 500 meters of the race to pass the Burbank and Arcadia duos. Our time gap was a very impressive 46 seconds between our first and fifth runner. This is the second fastest team time any CV team has run on the Arcadia Park course.”

The CV Falcons were obviously delighted with the results to win the Pacific League championship. Now it’s time to prepare to compete against Southern California’s best in the CIF prelims and finals. From there it’s the CIF state meet.

Final varsity boys score: CV 36, Burbank 46, Arcadia 65, Burroughs 108, Pasadena 132, Hoover 176 and Glendale 206

The CV frosh/soph boys won the team score with 21 points. Arcadia took second with 57.

“We went into the meet feeling ready to run well,” said Evans. “In the JV races we had some athletes missing due to injury or illness. They still ran very well. We had good scoring up front in the boys JV race just not the depth to overcome a much improved Arcadia. Nolan Brown had his best race of the season. Frosh/soph races went well. Burroughs is very strong. We had a 1-2 finishers but not the depth to overcome Burroughs. The boys’ frosh/soph is simply amazing. We are excited about our depth for the future.”

  Leonard Coutin