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West Hills girls team finished second at this year's South Bay Invitational cross country meet.

Wolf Pack on cross country prowl

By Phillip Brents

Posted Sept. 29, 2002

The West Hills High School boys cross country team has won the last six Grossmont North League titles under head coach Pat Connolly, who has coached the team since the school’s inception in the late 1980s. The West Hills girls cross country team has won five consecutive Grossmont North League titles.

Something definitely has to be said about running in pairs – as the Wolf Pack’s competition found out at the 29^th annual South Bay Invitational Sept. 27 at Rohr Park in Chula Vista.

The West Hills girls team placed second overall in its division while the West Hills boys team finished in a tie for third in a field loaded with some of the San Diego Section’s heavy hitters.

"We were competitive in our first couple invitationals but this was our first scoring meet. It was a measuring stick for us – where we stacked up in the county," Connolly explained. "We hope to improve even more. This year the top three teams at CIF qualify for the state meet. We’re hoping to qualify for state."

With six varsity returners, including the team’s top runner of a year ago, the Wolf Pack boys squad has to believe it has the arsenal to contend for a state qualifying berth. Senior Ross Halleland leads the Wolf Pack’s talented pack. He finished 23rd at last year’s San Diego Section Division I finals as a junior. Also back is senior Michael Bell, the team’s fourth runner last year but expected to move up to the No. 2 man this year. Other varsity returners include senior Zach Ninteman and juniors Matt Noble, Robert Hernandez and Billy Scott.

The status of being front-runners is nothing new for West Hills, however. The Wolf Pack last qualified for the state championship meet in 1997 while in the midst of enjoying a run of four consecutive division titles. West Hills started its run in 1995 as Division III champions, won back-to-back Division II championships in 1996 and 1997 and topped the Division I field in 1998.

During that stretch, the Wolf Pack produced such celebrated runners as Evan Fox, a three-time San Diego Section 1600-meter champion and state track and field champion, and Ben Aragon, another San Diego Section track and field champion who now ranks as UCLA’s top runner.

"We’ve been among the county leaders. We’ve been close the past few years (to qualifying for state)," Connolly said. "We’ve had some pretty good firepower. But this year we have a good pack."

Halleland was fourth among individuals in this year’s South Bay Invitational boys varsity field. His time of 16:31 was five seconds faster than last year’s time on the 3.1-mile course. Noble (16^th, 17:04), Hernandez (21^st, 17:07), Bell (26^th, 17:15) and Scott (54^th, 18:04) rounded out the five West Hills scorers in a field that featured 113 finishers.

In the team standings, the Wolf Pack (tied with San Pasqual with 121 points) finished behind division champion Rancho Buena Vista (35 points) and runner-up Bonita Vista (103 points).

The West Hills girls team returns three all-league runners -- senior Lynette Simonds and juniors Elaine Gillespie and Janae Dale – along with varsity returner Traci Wetzel, a senior.

Gillespie turned in the fourth best girls varsity time at this year’s South Bay Invitational, timing 16:12 for 2.55 miles – an improvement of two seconds from last year’s race. Dale was sixth in 16:29, followed by Simonds in 14^th place at 16:46 and Wetzel in 18^h place at 16:58 to give the Wolf Pack two finishers among the top 10 runners and four finishers among the top 20 runners. A total of 101 finishers comprised the field.

West Hills (with 93 points) finished behind division champion Valley Center (54 points) and ahead of third-place Bonita Vista (126 points) and fourth-place Granite Hills (128 points).

The Wolf Pack girls team last qualified for the state meet in 1997 when it finished second in the CIF finals. Head coach Bill Cleves said his team will once again contend for the Grossmont North League title and see where its strength lies in competition beyond the conference finals.

"We’ll be competitive again this year, though Grossmont and El Capitan are both improved. This year will be pretty competitive," Cleves said.

Granite Hills scored top 10 place-finishers in both the boys varsity and girls varsity races as Eladio Carrillo and Cindy Walker strode to eighth-place finishes, respectively. Carrillo, a returning state meet qualifier, timed 16:46 on the boys course to trail race winner Ryan Becijos of Bonita Vista who set a new course record in 16:09. Walker timed 16:34 in the girls race to trail race winner Rebecca Sale of Valley Center in 16:02.

Also for Granite Hills, Jessica Woods was 17^th in the girls varsity race with a 16:56 time while Alicia Moore was 25^th in 17:15.

In the girls junior varsity race, West Hills’ Kristen Peters and Caramie Huntington finished seventh and eighth overall, respectively, to help the Wolf Pack to a fourth-place team finish in a field that boasted 175 individual finishers.

In the boys frosh/soph race that featured 117 finishers, Granite Hills’ Walter Bueno was fourth overall in 18:56, placing ahead of West Hills’ James Huntington (sixth, 19:00), Jeremy Root (17^th, 19:32) and Mike Dolan (20^th, 19:39). West Hills finished third in the team standings ahead of fifth-place Granite Hills.

In the meet concluding boys junior varsity race, West Hills recorded a second-place team finish as T.J. Sheets led Wolf Pack individuals with a ninth-place time of 18:32. A total of 119 runners finished the race. Helix finished fourth in the team standings.