SANTA MARGARITA DUAL::

Braves, Four Solid; Defeat Santa Margarita

For the common fan of cross country this was a thrill of a race. For St. John Bosco fans the race was a little more stressful. Going into the final Serra League duel meet both Bosco and Santa Margarita stood undefeated. The Braves entered the race with a confident outlook against a younger, hungry, Eagles team. Their confidence almost got the best of them as the Eagles tried to end the race in the first mile. Placing six of their runners in the front position to Bosco's three, it looked as if the Braves were primed for an upset. As the race unfolded the Eagles, little by little, started to fall back and Bosco proved stronger on this day. A huge contribution to this strength was Senior Albert Flores . Flores made a huge move coming from 11th at 1.5 miles to finishing in 5th place overall and as the Braves 4th scorer.  Never to be forgotten were the Brave's top three runners.  Senior Randy Hills became the first runner in the Serra League's short history to ever take the top honor against a Santa Margarita team.  Hills finished in 15:51.  Junior Anthony Martinez had somewhat of an "off day" for him, but still managed third place overall with an impressive 16:14 clocking. Senior Daniel Estrella finished as the Brave's third scorer, clocking a time of 16:24 just in front of Flores' 16:27.  Bosco's 5th-7th runners finished 11th, 12th, and 13th, too far back in the pack, something that could hurt the team as early as next week's Serra League Finals.

Frosh/Soph action saw the young Brave's hand the Eagles their first defeat of the season, winning with a score of 21-34.  Freshman Randy Skillens once again lead the way.   Skillens was out kicked to end the race, finishing in second overall, learning a valuable lesson for the future.  Still, Skillens' time of 17:18 places him at #3 all time at La Mirada Park amongst all past Freshman Bosco runners.

On the Junior Varsity side of things Junior Darby O'neill paced his team with a time of 18:16 good enough for a third place finish but not enough to bring his team a victory.  The Braves were narrowly defeated 25-30.