2001 SERRA LEAGUE FINALS::

After what can be termed an up and down season, filled with adversity and growing pains, St. John Bosco can still claim they remain on top of the Serra League. The Braves captured their 8th League title in a row, and their 3rd Serra League title in as many years. This will also mark the 17th year that a Tim McIntosh coached team will advance to the CIF- SS Preliminaries.

The Braves earned the Serra League title compiling a team score of 33 points. Clearly running their best race of the season the Braves were able to hold off Santa Margarita, whose strong running group finished within 6 points of the Braves with 39 points. It was thought by many that St. John Bosco, ranked #7 in the CIF-SS Division II polls and #8 in the California State polls, might be primed for an upset this year after losing their returning #1 runner to a transfer and having their returning #3 runner not compete. But in a display of great heart and perseverance this year’s team came through in the face of adversity. Leading the way for the Champion Braves was Senior Randy Hills . Hills came within two seconds of the school record after recording a time of 15:46. Hills time put him in 2nd place overall in the race, and he was admittedly disappointed that he wouldn’t walk away with two titles on this day. Right behind Hills in the 3rd and 4th spots overall were Junior Anthony Martinez (15:53), and Senior Daniel Estrella (15:54). Their contribution to the team on this day proved invaluable as our top three helped to lower our final score. Running strong as our 4th man and finishing in 10th overall to capture the last All Serra League spot was Senior Albert Flores. Flores’ time of 16:25 was good enough to hold off Santa Margarita’s 4th runner. Finishing strong as our 5th man was Sophomore Mahesh Gandhi , who set a PR of 16:31 and closed the gap much better this time out between our 4th and 5th runners. Rounding out the Championship team were Senior Patrick Pavelski, and Sophomore Ruben Flores , whose times of 16:49 and 16:58 respectively made the Braves the only team in League to have all 7 runners finish under 17 minutes.

Next up for the Braves will be CIF Prelims, then of to Finals. We hope to continue what we started at League finals and really shine through in the coming weeks. The Braves would love nothing more than to show that we can run with the elite by capturing a high placing in the CIF-SS Division II meet and a berth into the California State meet.

Nine Braves Make All League; F/S Capture Title!

In what can be concluded as a successful day all around, nine Braves on the Varsity, Junior Varsity and Frosh/Soph levels earned the status of All Serra League.

Runners on the Varsity Level receiving All League Medals:
Randy Hills 2nd, Anthony Martinez 3rd, Daniel Estrella 4th, and Albert Flores 10th.

Runners on the JV level receiving All League Medals:
Darby O'neill 2nd, and Eddie Diaz 4th.

Runners on the F/S Level receving All League Medals:
Luis Uribe* 1st, Randy Skillens 4th, and Ephraim Barrios 6th.

Frosh/Soph Conquer
In a race that was almost exciting as the Varsity competition the Frosh/Soph Braves led by Luis Uribe, Randy Skillens, Ephraim Barrios and Jon Sandoval once again captured the League title. The young Braves battled a strong running Santa Margarita team and were able to put four runners in the top 8 to seal the victory.

* Denotes League Champion