After finishing runner-up to rival York in every meet this
season, including most recently a 25-32 defeat at Gavilan College
just last week, the Anzar High boys cross country team provided its
best effort for its last meet Thursday and narrowly defeated the
Falcons 34-36.
SALINAS
Cuco Chavez had some idea.
The Anzar cross country assistant coach stood alongside the Toro Park trail Thursday at the Mission Trail Athletic League Championships in Salinas, both arms raised in the air when Hawks Armando Zepeda and Diego Leon sprinted toward the finish line.
Although the two harriers were the fifth and sixth runners to cross for Anzar Thursday, they also proved to be the difference.
And Chavez knew it.
After finishing runner-up to rival York in every meet this season, including most recently a 25-32 defeat at Gavilan College just last week, the Anzar High boys cross country team provided its best effort for its last meet Thursday and narrowly defeated the Falcons 34-36.
It’s Anzar’s third straight Coastal Athletic League title. The team advances to the Central Coast Section Cross Country Championships as a result, scheduled for Crystal Springs in Belmont on Saturday.
“They looked good,” Chavez said afterward. “Oh, they looked so good, coach.”
Anzar’s Valerie Quezada, meanwhile, recorded a 22:31 to take first overall in the girls race, and the Hawks finished tied for second out of three teams.
Head coach Doug MacKinnon said the Anzar girls will advance to the CCS meet, nonetheless. Despite the second-place tie with Marina and neither team having a sixth runner, which is often the deciding factor in a cross country tiebreaker, both teams will move forward.
York finished first by 25 points.
“Kind of a happy ending for both teams,” MacKinnon said.
Brittany Romero (9th, 25:44), Crystal Prado (11th, 26:46), Kelly Gomez (12th, 27:06) and Krystal Ruiz-Rocha (16th, 30:55) rounded out the Hawks on Thursday.
MacKinnon, though, despite it being an 11-team event, broke down the Division V boys race into a dual meet between Anzar and York. Scribbling notes on a wrinkled index card, MacKinnon came up with a result in the Hawks’ favor immediately following the race.
But with just a two-point difference separating the teams, MacKinnon wasn’t ready to go on the record until the official results were posted.
“It’s close,” he said. “It’s gonna be close.”
The Hawks had been closing the gap with York all season, but had yet to find the winning edge. Two weeks ago, at the second MTAL Center Meet at Toro Park, the Hawks lost to York 113-117.
MacKinnon said then that the league championships would come down to Anzar’s fourth, fifth and sixth runners.
And he was right.
“We trained hard and we knew what we had to do and we worked hard for it,” said Armando Zepeda, who was fifth on Anzar in 18:24, 12th overall. “We just gave it the best we could.”
“They were in a group,” said Miguel Vega of York’s runners. Vega finished fourth on the Hawks in 18:18 and 10th overall.
“We just had to get in there (and break them up).”
Although Diego Leon (18:25) finished sixth for Anzar and did not technically figure into the Hawks’ final score, his 13th place finish pushed Jeremy Blalock (18:29) — York’s fifth runner — into 14th place.
MacKinnon called it the “turning point.”
“With the jobs that we were given, I think we did a lot better and were able to focus on one thing,” Leon said.
Instead of concentrating on the race as a whole, MacKinnon provided specific jobs to each of his runners. For Vega, Zepeda and Leon, their job was to break up York’s pack of runners.
“I didn’t run as well as I should have, but I think our fourth, fifth and sixth guys won it for us,” said Anzar’s Aaron Hsia-Coron, who clocked a second-place time of 16:48 to lead the Hawks Thursday.
Hsia-Coron’s disappointment, however, centered around his runner-up finish, as the Anzar junior took second behind York’s James Palaniuk (16:39).
“I am pleased I got a PR, but I really wanted to get James,” Hsia-Coron said. “But [beating York] definitely made me feel a lot better.”
Finishing runner-up to their rivals all season may have actually had a positive affect on Anzar, at least during the MTAL Championships.
“We really wanted it today,” said Anzar senior Jacob Wilkinson, who finished third overall in 17:24, a personal record by about 10 seconds. “I think being beaten all year really drove us to train harder.”
Izzy Parra, who finished seventh overall in 17:55, was disappointed when he didn’t meet his goal of defeating York’s Will Shearer, who took third in 17:41.
“We all had jobs coming into the meet,” Parra said. “I was trying to beat Will.
“But we’ve got another shot at CCS.”
Boys Division V Results
Individual
1, J. Palaniuk, York, 16:39; 2, A. Hsia-Coron, Anzar, 16:48; 3, J. Wilkinson, Anzar, 17:24; 4, W. Shearer, York, 17:31; 5, N. Payne, Pacific Coll., 17:41; 6, A. Olson, Pacific Coll., 17:50; 7, I. Parra, Anzar, 17:55; 8, J. Pawling, York, 18:04; 9, J. Kim, York, 18:16; 10, M. Vega, Anzar, 18:18; 11, C. Moore, Marina, 18:19; 12, A. Zepeda, Anzar, 18:24; 13, D. Leon, Anzar, 18:25; 14, J. Blalock, York, 18:29; 15, A. Fish, Pacific Coll., 18:48; 16, T. Zunes-Wolfe, Pacific Coll., 18:57; 17, G. Hogg, York, 18:57; 18, C. Buchanan Rodda, Marina, 19:06; 19, D. Coffman, Marina, 19:08; 20, T. Dreszer, Pacific Coll., 19:19; 21, J. Garza, Anzar, 19:30; 22, C. Mackenzie, York, 20:20; 23, J. Green, Pacific Coll., 20:27; 24, I. Pauley, Calvary Chris., 20:48; 25, F. Esslinger, Marina, 20:49; 26, N. Diamsay, Marina, 21:19; 27, J. Cushimir, Pacific Coll., 21:31; 28, B. Warnes, Oakwood, 21:48; 29, J. Sandoval, Calvary Chris., 22:32; 30, T. Bushman, Oakwood, 22:32; 31, Z. Vega, Marina, 22:59; 32, C. Hope, Oakwood, 23:31; 33, J. Cripe, Calvary Chris., 23:34; 34, B. Guinvarch, Marina, 24:14; 35, K. Carson, Oakwood, 24:31; 36, C. Van Slyke, Calvary Chris., 28:11; 37, H. Ventura, Calvary Chris., 31:26.
Team
1, Anzar, 34; 2, York, 36; 3, Pacific Collegiate, 62; 4, Marina, 99; 5, Calvary Christian, 147.
Girls Division V Results
Individual
1, V. Quezada, Anzar, 22:31; 2, C. Armstrong, York, 22:58; 3, A. Sani, Marina, 23:27; 4, G. Micheletti, York, 23:28; 5, M. Nogueira, York, 24:04; 6, G. Jardini, York, 24:06; 7, A. Chaffey, York, 24:17; 8, S. Penko, Marina, 24:47; 9, B. Romero, Anzar, 25:44; 10, M. Eugene, Marina, 25:55; 11, C. Prado, Anzar, 26:46; 12, K. Gomez, Anzar, 27:06; 13, A. Mast, Marina, 27:46; 14, E. Ramsay, York, 29:02; 15, S. Bridler, Marina, 30:45; 16, K. Ruiz-Rocha, Anzar, 30:55; 17, C. Cushing, York, 32:44.
Team
1, York, 24; 2, Marina, 49; 3, Anzar, 49.
