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By Loren Kopff
@LorenKopff on Twitter
It was status quo for the 605 League cross country championships last Thursday afternoon at Knabe Park as the Cerritos High girls team took home the top spot, just as it did the previous two cluster meets. For the boys, Pioneer High made it a season sweep of first place finishes, followed by Whitney High and Cerritos.
Cerritos sophomore Sofia Vasquez (20:01), senior Jaide Lin (20:08) and sophomore Samantha Chang (20:48) claimed the top three spots as the Lady Dons easily defeated Whitney 21-43. Senior Lauren Park finished in sixth place with a time of 21:05 and senior Isha Pema claimed the ninth spot at 22:15 to round out the 21 points earned.
Whitney had a trio of runners finish in the top 10, led by sophomore Christine David, who was fourth with a time of 20:51 and senior Christine Hamakawa, who was right behind her with a time of 21:03. Sophomore Kritika Pantha finished in eighth place with a time of 22:06 while senior Emma Centeno was 11that 22:30.
Artesia High, which did not field a team in either of the regular season cluster meets, finished in fourth place with 119 points. The Lady Pioneers had all seven runners finish anywhere from 21stplace through 29thplace, led by sophomores Alexa Fernandez (25:30) and Alejandra Padilla (25:39).
John Glenn High claimed 152 team points with its top runner, sophomore Monserat Juarez, crossing the finish line with a time of 27:07.
Following the race, the Pioneer boys clearly dominated that race, picking up 19 points with five runners finishing in the top seven. Whitney came in second place with 71 points, edging out Cerritos by one point.
Whitney junior Rishi Golani and freshman Lorenzo Rodriguez finished in ninth and 10thwith times of 17:44 and 17:48 respectively. Coming in 16thplace was Whitney sophomore Jeffrey Fernandez and right behind him was junior Eric Kim at 18:28. Two places later was senior Timothy Nguyen at 18:34.
The top runner for Cerritos was sophomore Michael Giordano, who came in fifth place with a time of 17:38. After him, the next Cerritos runner was senior Everett Woolley, an 11thplace finisher at 17:50. Rounding out the top five Dons harriers were senior Luc Skube (13th, 18:09), junior Paul Dinh (20th, 18:36) and sophomore Jayson Malhi (23rd, 18:56).
Artesia and Glenn finished in fifth and sixth places with 115 and 161 points respectively. The top Artesia runner was senior Daniel Alonzo, who had the fourth best time at 17:26, and the leader of Glenn was senior Michael Angelo David, who came in 26thplace with a time of 19:21.
During the post-race awards ceremonies, Lin and Vasquez were named co-league most valuable players and were named to the first team along with Change, Park and Pema. David, Hamakawa and Pantha were also named to the first team from Whitney while for the boys, Alonzo and sophomore Joel Martinez were first team representatives from Artesia while Giordano from Cerritos and Golani and Rodriguez from Whitney were also named to the first team.
FOOTBALL
A late rally by Glenn came up short as the fourth ranked Eagles were edged by host Nogales 24-21 in a CIF-Southern Section Division 12 first round game. Glenn finishes the season at 6-5.
After a scoreless first quarter, Nogales grabbed a 3-0 lead before senior quarterback David Sanchez scored from two yards out. Late in the first half, senior running back Edwin Udengwu made it 14-3 with a 23-yard touchdown run.
But the Nobles added a touchdown just before halftime, then took a 17-14 lead with the lone tally in the third quarter. Glenn regained the lead early in the fourth as Udengwu scored from seven yards out. Glenn thought it would get a clinching score late in the game as Udengwu scored from 65 yards out. But the play was called back because of a holding penalty and Nogales would get the game-winner with less than a minute to play.
Udengwu would pick up a game-high 258 yards on 30 carries while Sanchez was 14 of 22 for 107 yards. Senior Tim Stevenson caught nine of those passes for 70 yards. For the season, Udengwu had 1,964 yards on 239 rushes and scored 26 touchdowns while Sanchez passed for 1,655 yards and 16 touchdowns.
BASKETBALL
The winter season begins on Monday but most of the area teams will start their basketball and soccer seasons at the end of next week. The Glenn and Norwalk High boys basketball teams will compete in the first annual Rumble for Rosecrans Ave. Tournament all next week, co-hosted by Norwalk and Sunny Hills High. Glenn will face University High on Monday and Troy High on Tuesday in pool play action while Norwalk will face Santa Fe High on Tuesday and West Torrance High on Wednesday.
Also next week, Valley Christian High will host Whitney High on Wednesday while in girls basketball action, Glenn will host Arcadia High on Wednesday, Norwalk will visit Santa Fe High on Wednesday and Whitney will entertain St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy on Wednesday.
SOCCER
The Glenn boys team visits Arroyo High on Tuesday before hosting Lynwood High on Thursday while the Lady Eagles host Arroyo on Tuesday.
The Norwalk boys team goes to Garden Grove High on Tuesday before hosting Chino High on Thursday while the Lady Lancers face Santa Fe and Paramount High on the road on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
The Valley Christian boys squad host the California Military Academy on Monday and Crean Lutheran High on Tuesday while the Lady Defenders are home to Gahr High on Thursday.
Finally, the Whitney boys team faces Whittier Christian High on Tuesday while the Lady Wildcats visit Samuelli Academy on the same day.
