Coronado, Foothill, and Green Valley Dominate Sunrise XC Regionals

Tech managed to qualify their boy’s team for state, as the third-place team in the Sunrise Division, but otherwise it was the all Foothill, Coronado, and Green Valley.

Carl Greene of Foothill led his team to victory by winning the Sunrise Boys race, in a mild upset over Del Sol’s Colin Smith. Greene and Smith broke away from the field after the mile and Foothill senior surged in the final mile, winning by five seconds, 16:32 to Smith’s 16:37. Silverado’s Dante Carter, who finished third, was twenty seconds back in 16:57.

The Del Sol senior, who had beaten Greene each time they had met previously this year, offered no excuses but admitted he was not 100% physically.

“I’ve had trouble (with a pulled groin). I’ve been recovering and of the last ten day, I’ve taken six of them off. Every time I run it flares back up. I didn’t feel it running today, but I’m not as sharp as I could be.”

Green was happy with the result: “I gave it all I had. I got him (Smith) at the bottom of the hill. I didn’t expect the pace to be as slow as it was. Toward the end I wanted it to be an all-out race.”

Foothill nipped Coronado 53 to 64 in the team scoring, while Tech edged out Del Sol by two points, 106 to 108, to finish third.

Foothill coach Tim Simonis was pleased that his team’s performance. “They ran pretty well. They did a good job today, that’s for sure. It was nice to win one.”

Qualifying for state as individuals, along with Colin Smith and Dante Carter, were Walter Casey and Nick Priego of Del Sol and Dennis Coughlin of Silverado.

The Sunrise Girls race was a repeat of the Conference Championships. Alyssa Rapovy of Green Valley won the individual title and Cononado won the team title with Foothill finishing third. All three teams easily qualified for state.

Coronado’s Kristal Hosaka, who is normally the Cougars’ number two runner, took an early but narrow lead over a following pack of Rapovy, Erin Smith of Coronado, and Lindy Eskin of Green Valley. Rapovy had an eight second lead over Smith at the two-mile point and turned it on from there, winning easily in 19:51 to Smith’s time of 20:24. Eskin finished third (20:43) and Hosaka hung on for fourth (20:57).

For Rapovy, “That was a really cool race. I started pushing all the way at the bottom of the hill…all the way to the end.” For her coach, Blaine Thompson, it was no surprise. “Alyssa really runs hills well.”

Coronado coach Mark Tondryk was pleased to come away with the team win. He had said before the race that the key was for his fifth and sixth runners to beat Green Valley’s fifth runner. And that’s exactly what happened.

The Cougars’ three freshmen: Emma Czerwinski, Sara Dort, and Logan Lucas all finished in the top 13 and their sixth runner, sophomore Katie Monaco, was 19^th. Green Valley’s fifth runner finished 21^st.

 “Emma Czerwinski (fifth overall) really came through for us today,” added Coach Tondryk.

Foothill finished third with 61 points, placing all five scorers in the top 17.

In total, Coronado, Green Valley, and Foothill runners took 16 of the first 21 places. 

The five individuals qualifying for state were Taylor Coss, Tech; Jessica Raymond, Basic; Marisa Denton, Desert Pines; Gaby Vazquez, Eldorado; and Shelby Nelson;  Las Vegas.

(Phil Lawton)