The Rio Hondo XC teams met for League Finals at Lacy Park on perfect fall day. South Pasadena’s depth was again prominently on display, as they matched their League Meet 2 success by taking team titles in four of the five races and in the only race they did not win forced going to the 6th runner to decide the Girls Varsity against winner La Canada. Based on the Varsity results, Rio Hondo will be represented at CIF Prelims in Riverside by South Pasadena in Division 3 Boys and Girls, and La Canada and San Marino in Division 4 Boys and Girls. Alex Ortega of Temple City qualified as an individual and will compete in Boys Division 2.
In the JV Boys race South Pasadena’s Amador Lagunas pulled away in the last mile and won in 17:32. He was followed by teammates Wayne Monical, William Walker and Kyle Oda in the 2-4 places. La Canada’s Tuszynski, broke up South Pasadena’s bid for a perfect team score by taking the 5th spot, but South Pas’ 5th scorer came in 6th for an almost-perfect 16 point team total. Temple City took second with 39 points.
In the JV Girls race, South Pasadena’s Fiona Bock (20:28) and Caroline Liu went 1-2, followed closely by La Canada’s Sydney Bond. La Canada also took the 4 and 5 spots, but South Pasadena had 5 scorers in the top 10 to take the JV League title with 28 points to La Canada’s 33.
South Pasadena’s Kieran Press-Reynolds made it a sweep by winning his 3rd League meet of the season in 16:12. He was followed by teammate Oliver Chang in second and San Marino’s Xavier Beck in third. South Pasadena took the Rio Hondo League varsity title by having 5 scorers in the top 10 and a total of 24 points. San Marino took second with 57 points with three runners in the top 10. Temple City’s Alex Ortega was in the lead through the first two miles but made a wrong turn at the Rose Garden and dropped to 6th place. South Pasadena’s relative youth on Varsity and impressive results in JV and Frosh Soph boys would appear to make the Tigers favorites for 2016.
La Canada’s Katie Scoville again led the Varsity Girls race from the mile mark and eventually won by over a minute in 18:03 (a time that places her tied for 4th on the Lacy Park all time top 10 list). South Pasadena’s Emily Ye took 2nd, followed by La Canada’s Adena Dipaolo. After some very close finishes, La Canada and South Pas ended up tied at 33 points and the Girls Rio Hondo title had to be decided using the 6th runner from each team - with La Canada prevailing. La Canada looks to be strong again in 2016 based on the youth of their squad.
In the last race of the day, Jacob Wielenga of South Pasadena led from the start and won in 17:42. His teammates Sibrian, Porcu, Dettman and Stans went 2-5 for a perfect 15 points. San Marino took second with 63 points.
Complete team and individual results and race video links are in the race results below.
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