To
say the 2005 St. John Bosco cross-country team has yet to accomplish
anything would be an accurate statement. They have yet to qualify for
a CIF-Southern Section or State final and they have yet to win a 12th
league title, all goals which are in sight, but far from being accomplished.
However to say that their season up to this point has not been productive
would be highly inaccurate. This year's squad displayed their productivity
at this year's Mt. SAC invitational. This years squad showed that the
work they have put in since June is starting to pay off. As an unranked
Division 2 school the first five weeks of the season the Braves debuted
at #10 this past week as a result of their strong performance at the
Bell Gardens invitational. The statement they made in pulling off such
a solid performance in the sweepstakes race could catapult the team into
the top 5, with a top 3 ranking a possibility. The rankings aren't as
important as the final outcome of the season, but are used to illustrate
a teams success and productivity from week to week. Four out of the five
runners on this year's Brave squad improved 4 minutes and 56 seconds
from 2004 to 2005 at Mt. SAC (with the fifth member of the team not competing
all together). That statistic in itself shows how far and how productive
this year's team has been, and could very well illustrate how far this
team can go if it keeps up it's positive productivity. St. John Bosco is among elite, again
Prep
cross country: Showing at Mt. SAC race brings optimism.
By Kirby Lee, Special to the Press-Telegram
St. John Bosco High will be a different team from a month ago in the Serra League finals in two weeks. The Braves are emerging once again as a contender for a 12th consecutive league title and a berth in the CIF Southern Section finals after a rough start.
St. John Bosco, which entered the CIF-SS Division II rankings at No. 10 last week for the first time this fall, solidified its status in the 58th Mt. SAC Invitational on Saturday.
The Braves, led by junior Victor Bonilla, who was 18th in 15:38 over the 2.91-mile course, finished third in the team sweepstakes race with 133 points, four points behind runner-up Reno. Rancho Bernardo won with 104.
More importantly, St. John Bosco finished as the top California team in Division II [in the individual sweepstakes race] to bolster its hopes for a CIF-SS finals appearance for the sixth consecutive season and a perhaps a state meet berth for the fifth time in six years.
The season didn't start with such promise for the Braves with Bonilla as the lone returnee from a team that finished third in the 2004 State Division II final.
St. John Bosco suffered its first Serra League loss since 1999 with a second-place finish to Servite [edit: "to Santa Margarita"] in a cluster meet on Sept. 27., putting the Braves' 11-year winning streak in doubt.
"My goal is to win league and try to make it to CIF finals but realistically at the beginning of the season we just wanted to do our best and try to win league," Bonilla said.
Braves coach Tim McIntosh, a 1978 St. John Bosco alumnus, said that the team has used the setback in the Serra League cluster meet as motivation to win the league outright with a victory in the league finals on Nov. 5.
"They don't have a lot of notoriety," McIntosh said. "They kind of felt that everybody in our league thinks we're down this year. People were saying, 'These guys aren't any good. They aren't like Bosco runners." Now they have proven that they are."
Particularly Bonilla, the No. 5 runner on last year's team.
On a cool, overcast morning, Bonilla knocked off 48 seconds off his Mt. SAC best to move into fifth on the school's all-time list for the benchmark course.
Junior Tim Barreto was 27th in 16:10 and junior Justin Martinez was 31st in 16:18. Senior Jonathan Batres was 36th in 16:26 and sophomore Brett McCoy rounded out St. John Bosco's scoring in 50th in 16:46.
Barreto, Martinez and McCoy were frosh-soph runners last year. McCoy ran a personal best by almost two minutes over his freshman year.
The biggest difference for St. John Bosco on Saturday might have been Batres, who is rounding into shape after missing most of the summer because of injury. He didn't have a full week of running until the last week of September.
"They have come a long way and we're hoping that we can keep this going and try to win a league title," McIntosh said. "Honestly, they went into the league meet hoping to beat somebody. We've improved a lot but I don't think it's just an improvement in the runners but having confidence in themselves."