ROADRUNNER CLASSIC::

Braves Win Roadrunner!

Many runners couldn’t see the course twenty feet in front of them but that didn’t stop Edison (Huntington Beach) runner Maryann Pynchon from winning her 2nd challenging invitational of the season, nor did it stop Anthony Martinez from establishing himself as an emerging Southern Section talent and St. John Bosco’s #1 man for the second race this season. No, the dense fog at La Mirada Regional Park during the 8th Annual Roadrunner Classic only accomplished to obstruct the view of any spectator trying to watch these impressive performances from a distance. And while it was a cool foggy morning in La Mirada a last minute team entry added a whirlwind to the Girls Varsity race as Esperanza of Anaheim stormed into the meet and blew out the competition. For St. John Bosco it was the second time in as many years that their top individual was also the top race finisher. The 2001 version of the Braves also fared well as they overcame tough challenges from Anaheim Katella and Loyola of Los Angeles to once again capture the team crown.

St. John Bosco, ranked 5th in this weeks CIF-SS Division II poll, scored 48 points to win the meet after placing their top five in the first 21 places. Martinez, a junior finished the course with a time of 15:38, and was supported by seniors Randy Hills (3rd -15:50), Daniel Estrella (6th- 15:57), Albert Flores (17th – 16:26) and Sophomore Mahesh Gandhi (21st – 16:43). Their team time of 80:34 was 19 seconds off the meet record of 80:15 set in 2000 by St. John Bosco. Of his Braves meet coordinator Tim McIntosh proclaimed: “Tony is tough, and Randy just has to have that one breakthrough race and today it was Daniel that had it, but we still need to close our gap from #4 to #5 man.” When informed that his team had won the meet he surprisingly replied, “Did we really?” McIntosh’s surprise at his team claiming victory was justified as the Katella Knights gave the Braves all they could handle posting a point total of 53 and a team time of 80:48. While it was the Loyola Cubs with an early pack lead it proved to be the Knights who came through with an impressive runner-up showing here proving that their #7 rank in this weeks CIF-SS Division II poll is more than justified. “I am real happy with the way we ran today, we got to run at a great meet, in great conditions, against teams we have yet to compete against,” Katella’s Coach Cochran said. As for the Cubs, the CIF-SS Division I 8th ranked team, they seemed to be a little off on this day as Head Coach Lalo Diaz informed us that his #1 and 2 runners ran as #3 and 6 today.

Diamond Ranch (10th CIF –SS Division III) came through on the boys Small Schools side of the meet capturing the team title with a point total of 29 while posting a team time of 86:48. Adrian Contreras of South El Monte was the boys Small School top finisher with a time of 16:22.

Maryann Pynchon’s individual victory was achieved after running the 2nd fastest time in Roadrunner history and by beating the next closest runner by 31 seconds. Pynchon’s top finish however could not help her team overcome the dominance of an Esperanza team running for the first time in an invitational since week #1’s Great Race of the Great Bay. “We just want to get out there and run,” said Coach Rich Medellin of his girls before the race, “We don’t care who is in the race, we just want to race – the girls are getting tired of just practicing. We had a race cancelled and one we weren’t allowed to go to so it’ll be good to finally get a race in,” proclaimed Medellin in reference to his team having to pull out of last week’s Great America Race and having a later Sunset League cluster meet cancelled due to high temperatures. It was a great example of team running as Esperanza posted a victory of 29 points and had their top five finishers place in the top 12 leaving Sunset League rival Edison to settle for the runner up team spot with 63 points.

Almost as impressive as Esperanza’s dominance of the Large School Division was Lakewood St. Joseph’s dominance in the Girls Small School Division. The Jesters were led by a 1 – 2 finish from Sophomores Kendra Carreon (19:29), and Tracy Dantema (19:30) to win their division with a total of 39 points. Runner-up in this division was Division II school La Mirada who chose to run down a level this week out and probably made the right choice as they walked away from the meet with more confidence as their top five were only separated by an impressive 39 seconds.

**It should be noted that because of construction being done around the lake in which the original Roadrunner course uses much of, meet managers had to devise a new route to this years 3 mile course which (meet managers have agreed) made the course approximately 8-12 seconds slower then courses used in years past.