WALNUT – Sure, Glendora high school senior Dylan Flores would have loved to win an individual title at Saturday’s CIF Southern Section boys cross country finals over the three mile hilly course at Mt. San Antonio College.
But finishing second in the Division 2 finals didnt taste so bad because Flores got to celebrate with his teammates after the Tartans won the Division 2 team title.
Glendora won its second team title and first since 2009 after finishing with 73 points to hold off second-place finisher La Serna, who had 99 points.
Flores finished second in 14:54.2. He couldn’t chase down Tesoro’s Griffin Kushen, who won the individual title in 14:38.5. But Flores was second convincingly, and that brought a big smile.
“We were looking forward to this race all season,” Flores said. “We’ve been working hard, training, and coming into the finish, I wanted to put everything out on the line for my team to secure that second spot.
“Winning a CIF title was it. You’re coming in as a freshman and you say imagine if our team can do that one day. And after four years, I’m a senior now, we finally accomplished my freshman goal and it feels very, very good.”
Glendora’s Mathias Oliveros was eighth overall in 15:24.5 with teammates Brady Bertsch (20th in 15:48.6), Aidan Audet (27th in 15:55.6), Kevin Sandoval (32nd in 16:00.07) and Eamon Wright (47th in 16:13.13) all contributing and earning their spot to next week’s state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Glendora coach Sixto Navarette had a feeling they would pull it out.
Ayala was supposed to be the Tartans’ biggest competitor, but Ayals’ boys team was disqualified earlier in the week over a clerical error over enrollment, which had placed Ayala in the wrong division.
Even if Ayala had been there, Navarette felt confident in his team.
“It’s been a team effort all season long,” Navarette said. “It’s been a roller coaster ride the last several weeks because of illness and some injuries, but at the end of the day we did what we had to do today. Our next stop is state and I think we have a real good opportunity.”
Second place team finisher La Serna was able to get to the medal stand thanks to some strong individual performances, paced by Grant Miller, who finished 11th in 15:30.07.
La Serna’s Erick De Leon crossed in 15:50 to finish 23rd and Elijah Perera was 26th in 15:54.3.
SOUTH PASADENA BOYS FINISH SECOND
The South Pasadena boys cross country team was hoping to add a team crown like its girls team, but came up short in the Division 3 finals.
Oak Park won the Division 3 title with 107 points with South Pasadena close behind with 116 points to finish second.
South Pasdena’s Michael Scarince was the Tigers’ top finisher, crossing ninth overall in 15:36.3. Noah Aldana was 16th in 15:46.3 and Adam Ruiz was 26th overall in 16:03.9. Dylan Shugg crossed in 16:05.8 to finish 32nd.
Baldwin Park’s Julio Lopez fared well in the Division 3 finals, finishing 17th in 15:47.7.
The Flintridge Prep boys team finished third in the Division 5 team standings. DeClan Mansbridge was the Wolves’ top finisher, crossing fifth overall in 15:52.2. William Carrig-Braun was the Wolves next best finisher, crossing in 16:45.2 to finish 19th.
St. Francis’ Auge Martin finished fifth in the boys Division 4 finals in 15:14.8 and his teammate Axel Gonzalez finished 14th overall in 14:47.3 Those two performances helped the Golden Knight’s finish fifth in the team standings.