SERRA LEAGUE FINALS::

The Streak - Version 10.0
A Perfect Ten for the Braves

A huge accomplishment for the St. John Bosco cross-country program was viewed as just another race in their quest for the BIG title by this year's team. Nonetheless the seven members of the varsity were happy to be the ones to bring #10 to their school, team and coach. It was their first of four steps in attempting to win CIF-Southern Section and State titles. As for the race, for the Braves, it was an combination of exciting and passionate racing mixed in with some lethargy and flatness. No one performed sub-par, but more then one spectator noted that lethargy from a few members of the team, who later said they felt somewhat flat and tired. Racing for the first time since Mt. SAC (which was thirteen days prior), the Braves started out relatively conservatively through the first mile. They started hunting opponents down by 1.5 miles and through mile two they were in great position to capture the win commandingly. At the finish line the outcome was clear as the Braves finished in places 2-3-4-7-8-9. A huge upside to this race was the outstanding packing by the team and the impressive 33 second gap between runners 1-6.

Leading the way for their team was junior Randy Skillens and senior Luis Uribe. The two Braves dueled it out with Servite's Nicky Mosey before succumbing to him somewhere past 1.5 miles. With the individual title decided Skillens and Uribe battled each other and finished 2nd and 3rd respectably. For Skillens it was a solid race, but not the one he had hoped for. He raced to a 15:45 time, one second off his school record tying cluster meet race of a month and a half ago. Uribe faired much better this time out then at the September 7th cluster. His time (15:47) was a much improved effort over his 16:06 clocking. These two runners look to lead their team to more prestigious accomplishments along the way. Senior Ephraim Barrios placed 4th in league and ran as the 3rd scorer for his team. Barrios raced in 4th for almost the entire race and was never a threat to the leaders and was never threatened by the pack trailing him. Surely with the bigger races still ahead Barrios will find himself surrounded and push even harder to overcome his competition and race to faster times. Running tightly packed as the team's 4th, 5th and 6th scorers were junior Luis Perez, senior Jon Sandoval, and junior Kevin Urak. Despite what he described as a flat race Perez fought through his roadblock to finish in 7th and earn all league honors after racing to a respectable 16:15. Senior Jon Sandoval seemingly is enjoying making statements to his team as well as to his opponents as of late. After stepping up at the Mt. SAC invitational two weeks prior Sandoval proved this time out that his last race wasn't a fluke. He has slowly worked his way up from a roll player on the Frosh-Soph level, to Junior Varsity champion and now to a vital part of the Braves top seven. His time of 16:16, good enough for an all league 8th place finish, was another PR. Kevin Urak was another Brave that rebounded nicely from the cluster meet. His time of 16:18 was a big improvement over his previous race at this course. Urak also earned all league honors placing in 9th place. Senior Matt Estrella ran as the Braves 7th man. Earning the privilege to run in his first meaningful varsity race ever through his hard work over the last month Estrella came through flawlessly. Fighting off pre-race nerves Estrella ran strong to place 16th. His time of 16:50 would have placed him as the number 2, 3, or 4 man on most other teams in league. The Braves were lucky to have him however as he added superb depth to his team.

The Varsity wasn't the only successful level at league finals. Both the Frosh-Soph and Junior Varsity also claimed the league championship. The Junior Varsity was led by juniors Matthew Pruter, who also captured the individual title, Russell Gonzalez and senior Alex Wood. Those three runners swept the first three spots. Juniors Bradley Bonilla and Carlos Alvarenga also ran well enough to earn all league honors as they place in 6th and 9th place respectively. The Freshman-Sophomore team had a battle on their hands and believed they had lost the race when it ended. That wasn't the case however as they triumphant by a mere two points to claim their 5th Serra league title in a row. Sophomore Jon Batres took individual honors in the race to pace his team and also earned himself a spot on the varsity post season roster. Frosh-Soph runners achieving all league honors were freshman Victor Bonilla (4th) and Luis Toapanta (6th) and sophomore Michael Alvarez (10th).

Up next for the Braves is the Varsity post season. The team will run at Mt. SAC in the CIF-Southern Section Preliminaries on Saturday, November 15. Their race will start at 9:37am. Come support the Braves in their quest for the BIG titles.