The cross-country season in the Rio Hondo League came to a head with the league finals for boys and girls, taking place at Lacy Park in San Marino on Nov. 2.
The La Cañada girls’ team looked to secure a third consecutive league title, and to do that, the Spartans had to distance themselves from rival South Pasadena.
In a close race, La Cañada just edged out South Pasadena 30-32 to be named league champions once again.
“We knew South Pasadena has the strongest team on the girls’ side that they have probably ever had, and we knew it was going to be a shootout,” La Cañada girls coach Pete Magil said.
The Rio Hondo League individual championship for the girls in the 3-mile run came down to the wire as Tigers junior Abigail Errington and Spartans junior Maya DeBrouwer battled to the tape. It was Errington who crossed the line first, taking the title in a time of 17 minutes, 58 seconds.
“I really wanted to come away with the win, so, despite all the lactic, somehow I was able to keep up and push and run,” Errington said. “It definitely hurt a lot, [but] the only thing on my mind was going fast because it mattered so much to cross the finish line first.”
DeBrouwer was literally right on her heels, finishing in 17:59 for second.
“I wanted to stick behind and follow the race and let people go ahead, see how it goes, then try to just stick it out at the end. It’s not my day; that’s OK, though,” DeBrouwer said.
All five of the Spartan runners’ finishes that counted for score came in the top 12, to secure the title with a total time of 1:35:50. Spartans senior Katelyn Matarese took fourth in 18:44, followed by sophomore Charlotte Hopkins in fifth at 18:56. La Cañada senior Yasmin Ghaneh grabbed seventh in 19:15, while junior Kaoru Saito finished 12th.
“We knew that one of our runners needed to have a big day and our number four runner, Yasmin Ghaneh, had a big day,” Magil said. “[She] PR-ed big time and grabbed the place we needed to just eke out South Pasadena.”
For the Tigers, all five runners that counted for score came in the top 11 for a total time of 1:36:26.
“[La Cañada] has gotten us about nine of the last 10 years in this meet, but we’re close,” South Pasadena coach Mike Parkinson said.
The Spartans and Tigers girls teams are two of the top-ranked teams in the CIF Southern Section Division IV polls, with La Cañada ranked fourth overall just ahead of South Pasadena at fifth.
Monrovia finished in third and will join La Cañada and South Pasadena in advancing to the CIF Southern Section Cross Country Championships at Mt. San Antonio College starting Nov. 10. The finals begin Nov. 18.
Meanwhile, San Marino finished in fifth with a score of 121 behind Temple City in fourth.
In a runaway effort, the South Pasadena boys’ team came out on top with 22, outdistancing second-place La Cañada’s 59.
“We knew first place was a little out of reach this year, so I told them this is the race we are going to use to make sure that we are ready for CIF next weekend, and we can give it our best to make it to CIF finals,” La Cañada boys’ coach Andy Rodemich said.
La Cañada’s second-place total time was 1:24:51. The top finisher for the Spartans was senior George Hervey, who took sixth in a time of 16:38.
“It’s pretty hot today, so the conditions were bad,” Hervey said. “Went out, I think, 5:06 and then the second mile just killed me. For the conditions, I’m pretty happy with it.”
La Cañada freshman Charles Matarese grabbed 11th in 16:43. Senior Jamie Saunders, sophomore Mateo Rose and freshman Caden Ho finished in 13th through 15th to round out the scoring efforts.
The individual championship in the boys’ race went to South Pasadena senior Keeran Murray in a time of 15:49. Just six seconds behind Murray was Tiger freshman Michael Scarince, finishing second in 15:55.
In total, all five of the Tiger runners who finished for score came in the top eight, with a total time of 1:21:36.
As with the girls, Monrovia boys’ team finished in third and will advance as a team to the CIF competition, joining the Tigers and Spartans.
First published in the November 9 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
