They’re off… harriers usher prep return

ECS staff report

EL CAJON – California’s stay-at-home ban has been lifted, giving high school athletes and coaches something to cheer about as sports for the current school year are now underway following a six-month delay when the gun sounded Friday (Feb. 12) to begin cross country competition.

Cross country, traditionally one of the strongest sports in East County, is coming off a down season locally in 2019, which resulted without a CIF San Diego Section boys team champion and just a pair of all-CIFSDS athletes — both graduated seniors.

So let the 2020-in-21 campaign kickoff with conference dual meet action.

Valhalla 20, Granite Hills 35

At Valhalla: Everything turned up aces for the Norsemen, as Manuel Campos took medalist honors in a time of 11:11, as the host placed their five runners among the top seven to vanquish their Jamacha neighbors from the north.

Valhalla’s Nicholas Nance captured a battle with the Eagles’ Mel De Alba-Ruiz for second place, then it was all orange as Vince Cono followed to clinch the triumph.

Steele Canyon 15, Helix 48

At Jamul: Diego Lopez fueled a Cougars assault that saw the host place six runners under 15 minutes to shutout the Highlanders.

Lopez breezed in 14:27 over the 2.55-mile circuit, followed by teammates Angel Arredondo, Bradley Bell, Juan Pablo Arredondo, and Dominic Rizzo to secure the perfect score of 15.

The Scotties were obviously hurting with the loss of senior Jaden Forester, an all-CIF selection last season.

Grossmont 21, West Hills 34

At western Santee: Conversely, unlike Helix, the Foothillers did not miss all-CIF honoree Devin Provence after taking five of the top seven positions from the host Wolf Pack.

Ian Rosen romped through the 3.3 Km course in a flat 11 minutes, followed by teammate Russel Blakely, who was three seconds back.

West Hills displayed some quality runners in Mark McCowin (11:17) and Landon Morales (11:22), the rest of the podium belonged to the Hillers.

Santana 15, El Capitan 49

At Jamul: One year removed from a team medal at the CIFSDS championships, the Vaqueros might need to start from scratch after nearby Sultans were quite un-neighborly in a shutout victory.

Jack McMackin motored through the Steele Canyon course in an even 14 minutes to registered the best clocking by any runner of the afternoon.

McMackin was followed by Connor Cherry (14:16), who had the third-best time on the day, followed by teammates Mateo Graham, Jayson Oliver Cameron Thomas.

Elsewhere in GVL action, ECVHS and Mount Miguel could each send only two healthy athletes to the starting line in a No-Score dual. The same thing happened in Saturday morning’s City League dual when Christian traveled to Clairemont.

GIRLS

El Capitan 25, Santana 32

At Steele Canyon: The Vaqueros are poised to make a run at a third consecutive CIF team medal with a host of underclassmen.

Sophomore Amber Chase left the rest of the field chasing, dominating to earn medalist honors by more than a minute to fuel the Vaqueros past Santana.

Chase looked in mid-season form by cracking the 16-minute barrier in a clocking of 15:55 over the 5.1-kilometer course.

Santana demonstrated its team depth to make a meet closer than El Cap has faced in several seasons. The Sultans’ Mikayla Horning out-kicked El Cap sophomore Samantha Mauzy (17:05) to take second by five seconds.

Next came Vaqs senior Ashley Boinus (17:37), finishing narrowly ahead of freshman Jillian Rudolph in her varsity debut.

El Capitan was the 2018 CIF San Diego Section champion in its division, then it was the runner-up in 2019.

At western Santee: The closest dual on Friday (Feb. 12) nearly came down to the displacement runners, as the visiting Foothillers pinched the Pack.

Grossmont senior Madeline Minutelli dominated with a 53-second margin of victory, but the Wolf Pack followed with quality runners.

The next thee finishers — Berea Crescitelli, Berea Crescitelli ad Angelica Emlund — hailed from West Hills.

However, the Pack roster proved too top-heavy, as the next four coming across the line were all Hillers — the exact formula needed to barely claim the meet.

Elsewhere, the other GVL race was vacated as ECVHS and Mount Miguel only had four runners each. The City League saw Christian’s Alaina Zamorano romp to medalist honors with a winning margin of exactly 100 seconds, but the Patriots only had four runners in falling to host Clairemont.

The late GHL meet saw host Steele Canyon pummel Helix, 15-50, behind medalist Graziella Mineo. Eight Cougars were clock at-or-below 16 minutes before a member of the Scotties crossed the line.