SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Cross Country

BV's Becijos filling large shoes

By Phillip Brents

Posted Sept. 30, 2002

Mar Vista High junior Troy Swier was not present at last Friday’s 29th annual South Bay Invitational but Bonita Vista High junior Ryan Becijos was. Becijos — who may be among the most talented Metro Conference cross country athletes currently running in the shadow of superman Swier — set a new course record in winning the boys varsity division. The win was Becijos’ his second consecutive in a countywide invitational after he captured the Division I junior race the previous Saturday at the Movin’ Shoes Invitational at Balboa Park’s Morley Field.

Confidence has to be at an all-time high for the Baron runner, whose time of 16:09 broke Swier’s year-old course record of 16:10 for 3.1 miles on the Rohr Park course in Chula Vista.

Bonita Vista and Mar Vista are scheduled to collide in a double dual meet encounter along with Southwest Friday at 3 p.m. at Luckie Waller Park.

Becijos pulled away from challengers in the second half of the race, winning by a 14-second margin against Rancho Buena Vista’s Artemio Mateo (16:23) and finishing 15 seconds ahead of Sweetwater’s Edgar Llanez (16:24). Becijos made his statement — finishing 37 seconds ahead of Granite Hills’ Eladio Carrillo, a returning state meet qualifier.

Behind Becijos’ inspired performance, the Barons captured second place in the boys varsity team standings. Bonita Vista (with 103 points) finished behind division champion RBV (35 points) and ahead of both San Pasqual and West Hills, tied for third place with 121 points. West Hills, which is also competing in Division I for postseason competition, aspires to qualify for this year’s state championship meet. Even more impressively, Bonita Vista finished 54 points ahead of sixth-place Sweetwater, ranked eighth in the section among boys teams.

The Barons received top 20 finishes from Julian Zamora (12th, 17:01) and Michael Valdez (18th, 17:06) in the field of 113 finishers. Rounding out Bonita Vista’s five scorers were Abraham Alvarez (30th, 17:35) and Chris Wymer (34th, 17:44).

For the Red Devils, Javier Diaz (15th, 17:04) and Hector Arreola (17th, 17:05) both recorded top 20 finishes.

Entering the meet, Sweetwater coach Tim Latham had been pleased with his team’s early season progress. “We thought we were in a rebuilding year with a lot of newcomers. We’re very pleased where we’re at right now. We’re running well. We’re exceeding expectations.”

This year’s South Bay Invitational might have well been called the Baron Invitational II, considering the dominating performance put forth by Bonita Vista teams. The girls varsity team, keyed by Kristen Gonzalez’ second-place individual finish, placed third in the team standings. The Barons placed the top four runners in the 119-runner deep boys junior varsity field to handily walk away with the division team title ahead of runner-up West Hills. Bonita Vista was second in the team standings in the 175-deep girls JV field.

After winning the Baron Invitational on Sept. 13, the Barons’ Gonzalez finished second in her division at last Saturday’s Mt. Carmel Invitational. She was second at last Friday’s South Bay Invitational to Valley Center’s Rebecca Sale, who opened up a 10-yard lead late in the race and strode to a three-second victory. Sale timed 16:02 for 2.55 miles; Gonzalez’ time was 16:05.

Only three other Metro runners broke the top 25 finisher’s list: Bonita Vista’s Tiffany Caddell (11th, 16:42) and Eastlake’s Mercedes Razo (19th, 17:03) and Brittany Leija (23rd, 17:14).

Daniel Valdez finished with top individual honors in the boys JV race with a time of 17:39 ahead of teammates James Serratos (second, 17:39), Ryan Groth (third, 18:03) and Phillip Chipounov (fourth, 18:05). Bonita Vista’s Mike Morales (sixth, 18:09) and Jared Purkey (eighth, 18:25) both posted top 10 JV finishes. Sweetwater had two top 10 finishers: Fernando Sepulveda (fifth, 18:08) and Francisco Villasana (seventh, 18:20).

A pair of Eastlake runners excelled in the invitational’s opening two races. Ashley Ronco was fourth in the girls JV race, timing 18:00. In the boys frosh/soph race, Ernesto Valdez was 10th in 19:12.

Three Bonita Vista runners scored top 25 finishes in the girls JV race: Jessica Munoz (fifth, 18:05); Breanna Kelley (15th, 18:51) and Ashley Boyd (21st, 19:00).
Two other Eastlake runners posted top 20 individual finishes in the boys frosh/soph race: Daniel Andrade (15th, 19:27) and Matt Daniel (19th, 19:36).

Team titles went to Torrey Pines (girls JV), RBV (boys frosh/soph and boys varsity) and Valley Center (girls varsity).

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