Closer Look: Redondo Girls 2 for 2 in Bay League XC

The second of three seasonal Bay League cross country meets was predictable in that little was predictable. 

The Redondo Girls won the much-anticipated Sea Hawk vs. Mustang rematch by an impressive point margin, but not with the impressive individual performances everyone expected. The Palos Verdes strategy of putting varsity runners in junior varsity races didn't pay off—it almost cost  the varsity boys team its win, and didn't help in the JV races either.

Lightly regarded West Torrance almost pulled of the upset of the year in the varsity boys race by running smart and hanging tough—who could have guessed? Mira Costa's Aryn Foland and Redondo's Dezhan Bland had individual efforts that dwarfed their performances in the first Bay League meet.

The varsity girls race started off in a familiar enough fashion, with the Redondo team moving to the front and everyone else letting them set the pace. Soon it was the same lead pack as the first Bay League meet three weeks ago, but with the addition of Costa's  Foland, making it a group of six from Redondo, two from Costa and one from PV.

For a few hundred yards around the mile mark, this lead pack had to squeeze down to the narrow width of a sidewalk. Here the girls were running shoulder-to-shoulder practically on top of each other. No one was giving up position for comfort or safety. The mile split was 5:36 as the leaders came through, and by 5:41 they were gone. The chase pack seemed well behind but came through only six seconds back. A few seconds later the rest of the field streamed through.

About halfway into the next mile, Mira Costa's Savannah Pio and Foland moved into the lead position, began to push the pace, and the pack started to stretch out. By the two-mile mark, Pio was in control of the race, with Foland following a few seconds behind. Redondo runners Rachel Bush and Laura O'Neill had dropped back; teammates Cara Ulizio and Kelly Ryan, followed by Lyndsey Mull, were now the only group running close enough together to resemble a pack, but even they were stringing out.

Still, five red Redondo uniforms occupied all the territory between the top two Costa runners and teammates Kelli Sugimoto and Vivian Cherrette, who were only a little ahead of Redondo's Kayla Ferron, PV's Erica Capellino, West's Rodriguez and Redondo's Villagas. Redondo was looking safe, but Costa was looking determined.

Coming down off the last hill, Pio was all alone. She moved onto the grass for the final circuit around the field holding a 50-meter lead over Foland, with Bush another 50 meters back. The Costa girls finished one, two, in 17:18 and 17:29, with Foland showing a remarkable 48 second reduction in her gap behind Pio since the last race.

Bush took 3rd in 17:38, and the rest of the Redondo scoring team streamed through right behind her: O'Neill 4th in 17:44, Ulizio 5th in 17:48, Ryan 6th in 17:50 and Mull 7thin 17:53.

PV's Capellino was 9th in 18:09, putting herself between Costa's Sugimoto in 8th with an 18:01, and Cherrete's 10th in 18:11.

Once again, this five-team league meet turned into a Costa-Redondo dual meet. Well regarded West and PV, both ranked in the top 10 for division 2 in the state, were not a factor in the scoring. Costa had the top two runners, but couldn't pull off a win.

Redondo's first place team score was 25 points, Mira Costa came in second with 37, West 3rd with 78, Palos Verdes 4th with 92, and Peninsula was 5th with 133.

This time out, the varsity boys race served up the most excitement of the day. Still as unpredictable, in the way it played out as well as its outcome, as the girls race, it also was something of a cliff-hanger at the end, as everyone waited for the official score to determine the winner of a race few expected to be close.

But when the numbers were totaled, it was still Palos Verdes on top, as predicted pre-race, but by only one point. The team that almost took it all away from them wasn't the betting man's choice, Redondo, it was West, the 4th place team from three weeks ago. While waiting for those scores, the PV coaches must have been biting their finger nails or even kicking themselves for putting last year's No. 1 runner down in the JV boys race. Sure, Jonah Diaz cruised through in first place, but his 15:50 time would have dropped their varsity score 13 points, making West's incredible improvement moot. Expect a humbler, more conservative PV at the final Bay League meet Nov. 4.

The race itself was a barnburner. The first mile was the now typical large group pack. This time there were six Redondo runners, three from PV, two from West, plus Reo Lantertu of Peninsula. Reo was a distant 6th place three weeks ago, but during the second mile he surged into the lead and kept on going. PV's Justin Unno stayed on his shoulder, but the rest were stringing out fast. Redondo's Tyler Caracoza, Mira Costa's Adam Perez, West's Brandon Vientos, and PV teammates Daniel Riegen and Alec Duntan were running single file as the second group.

A little more than a half mile later that second group had lost contact with Lantertu and Unno, and soon Unno was pulling away from Lantertu. Meanwhile, Redondo's Dezhan Bland, after loosing ground in mile-two, was now moving up and passing others who were feeling the pace. Four West runners formed their own pack and to keep contact with Caracoza, whose shoulder Perez seemed content to sit on. Other Redondo runners were also feeling the fast early pace: Nick Harold was fading. Evan Malone-White was disconnected from the group in front of him. Patrick Borgerding had also lost contact.

Nearing the finish, Unno ran onto the grass field, with Lantertu some 40 meters back, and cruised around its perimeter to cross the finish line in first place, clocking 15:11, an even more decisive individual win than in the previous Bay League meet. An obviously spent Lantertu arrived 2nd in 15:19.

As West's Vientos rounded the field, Redondo's Bland was powering past PV's Riegen and Duntan, and gaining on him. But he was far enough ahead to easily hold on to 4th in 15:28. Bland took 5th in 15:31 and Costa's Perez came in several places behind at 15:42.

In the end, PV eked out a one point team win with 47 points to West's 2nd with 48, then it was Redondo in 3rd with 65, Peninsula in 4th with 79 and Mira Costa 5th with 98 points.

In other races:

Junior Varsity Girls: Mira Costa (35 points), Redondo (37), Palos Verdes (68), West (95), Peninsula (129)

Junior Varsity Boys: Peninsula (31 points), West (39), Palos Verdes (64), Mira Costa (86), Redondo (150)

Frosh Girls: West (22 points), Mira Costa (50), Redondo (89), Palos Verdes (98), Peninsula (108)

Frosh Boys: Redondo (38 points), Palos Verdes (42), Peninsula (65), West (75), Mira Costa (154)