AYALA EYEING ANOTHER STELLAR SEASON

THE INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN Brian Baiotto, Correspondent 9/8/11

When September rolls around, Ayala High School's girls cross country program is traditionally branded the team to beat. This year will be no different.

Bulldogs coach Dawn Staab has led the program to nine Sierra League titles since 2000 and this year's version boasts a triple threat and has hopes of ending the season with another state appearance in Fresno.

Senior captains Taylor Khan, Jaclyn Gonzalez and Chandler Colquitt make up the area's best female trio. Their goal is to lead the Bulldogs to their first CIF-Southern Section title since 2006.

Khan came out her freshman year with scoliosis and used to leave her brace in Staab's car while she ran. Three years later, Khan holds the school record on the Mt.San Antonio College course at 17 minutes, 55 seconds and is the reigning Sierra League MVP.

Khan's leadership and work ethic are what Staab loves most about her star captain. "She is bound and determined at every workout to be the best and drag everyone along with her," Staab said. "There are no easy days with Taylor."

Gonzalez came out as a freshman and was rushed to the emergency room after passing out on her first run. "Jackie always had a great deal of heart when she tried to do something and we had to make sure her body could catch up," Staab said. "By her sophomore year, she found her groove and was the Sierra League champion." Gonzalez has the second-best time ever at Mt. SAC for Ayala (18:04) and just missed all-state honors by four places in finishing 25th.

Colquitt was the experienced runner of the group as a freshman after having experience with the local Pacers group and told Staab she liked to run, but not race. "Turning that around took some patience, but eventually she saw that it was fun to compete and run," Staab said. "After about a season of `will testing,' she came out of it and taught the rest of us how things needed to proceed and is always thinking and trying to reach for perfection." Colquitt is a respected leader. She had a 10th-place finish (18:46) at Mt. SAC and finished third at state last year.

"These girls came in after we had won a CIF title and everyone had graduated. They knew of the success and tradition, and all have worked hard to blaze their own path and that's what I appreciate most about my senior captains," Staab said.

Junior Breanne Baughman will be the Bulldogs' No. 4 runner with senior Christina Russell rounding out the top five.

"We're a very deep team and have a lot of talent and confidence, but we'll never take anything for granted," Staab said. "Claremont is an up-and-coming program and the area has a lot of talented programs, so you have to earn everything with hard work."

LIVING UP TO EXPECTATIONS
THE INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN  Brian Baiotto, Correspondent 9/8/11

The true measuring stick of an athlete's heart isn't how he handle's success, it's the adjustments to failure.

Rancho Cucamonga High School's boys cross country would be the first to say it fell short of expectations last year at the state meet, a fact used as motivation since then. The Cougars return all five starters and are ranked second in the CIF-SS Division 1 poll, and have won two consecutive Baseline League titles and 10 in the last 14 years.

Luis Gutierrez, Jon Dileva and Calvin Davis headline arguably the best boys program in the area.
Gutierrez is one of the state's elite runners and ended his junior year with a third- place finish in Fresno. Gutierrez is a two-time All-CIF runner and boasts a 14:53 showing at Mt. SAC.
"Luis is a guy we all look up to because of his incredible athletic abilities, and is someone that we expect to set the pace," Dileva said. "He's always smiling and having a good time, but he takes this sport very seriously."

Dileva ran the Mt. SAC course in 15:26 and was a first-team all-CIF selection last year. Dileva wants to break 15 minutes at Mt. SAC this season, but his primary focus is the Cougars winning CIF and state team titles.

"Jon has been working very hard to improve this year and is someone we expect big things from," Rancho Cucamonga coach Terry Tierney said. "He's improved so much over the past four years and has become a great leader." Davis finished the Mt. SAC course in 15:15. He's had to fight off injuries, but is healthy again and will have to perform well if the Cougars are to meet their very high expectations.

Kevin Matthews, Austin Esposito and Mat Holton round out Tierney's lineup.

"Luis, Jon and Calvin have been running together for the last five years and it shows in their performances," Tierney said. "I'm really proud of how hard everyone is working, and believe we have an outstanding chance to do very well at both CIF and state."

While the Cougars are heavy favorites to win their third consecutive Baseline League title, Ayala and Damien look to battle all year for Sierra League supremacy. Damien's Tom Ebiner, Moses Baiden, Doug Negrete, Conor Brandt, Adam Williams and Jonathan Herredia will fill the first six spots in the Spartans lineup. "We expect to have our best teams in quite a few years," Damien coach Michael Williams said. "I believe we can contend for a Sierra League title and will be very competitive in CIF Division III competition."

Ayala hasn't won a league title since 2004, but Bulldogs coach Dawn Staab said they're strong this year. Kenny Tanner, Christian Eagon, Alfredo Contreras, Robert Martinez, Evan Scheerer and Jacob Keifer will be interchangeable parts all season for an Ayala team looking to not only win its first team title in seven years, but also make a run at state.

CROSS COUNTRY: Gonzalez, Ayala win Sierra League finals

By Pete Marshall, Staff WriterCreated: 11/02/2010 10:32:31 PM PDT

WALNUT - Junior Jaclyn Gonzalez has been one of the many standouts on Ayala's stellar girls cross country team, but Gonzalez had never been in the position she faced Tuesday afternoon, as she held off Claremont's Merin Arft to capture first place in the Sierra League finals at hot and dry Mt. San Antonio College.

"I'm so surprised that I won," she said. "I've never done that before. I wasn't thinking about winning, just running to the best of my ability."

Apparently that was enough for the league title on a brutal day in which temperatures soared into the 90s.  

She completed the course in 19 minutes, 19 seconds, which is better than it looks on the surface because of the tough conditions.

Ayala, as it had in two regular-season meets, won the girls team crown. The Bulldogs finished with 44 points, edging out Claremont, which had 65. Arft finished three seconds behind Gonzalez.

"It was tough conditions, so we weren't at our best," Ayala coach Dawn Staab said.

Chino Hills, which finished fourth in two regular-season meets, took third as a team on Tuesday, qualifying for CIF. West Covina South Hills finished fifth, but qualified for CIF because the Huskies had been ranked in the CIF-SS poll.

St. Lucy's was fourth Tuesday and didn't qualify as a team, but will send two individuals to CIF: Taylor Hebb (fourth) and Marissa Horton (sixth).

It was a foregone conclusion that Claremont, ranked No. 4 in CIF-SS
Division 2, would take home the Sierra boys crown.

Although the Wolfpack didn't finish 1-2-3-4 like they did at the last league meet, senior Paul Ross took home individual honors (15:52), edging out senior teammate Henry Falotico (also 15:52).

 

As good as Claremont has been in recent years, the team was blocked from a league title by Rancho Cucamonga in the Baseline League. So in their first year in the Sierra League, the boys took home their first team league title since the early '90s.

Claremont coach Rob Lander was searching for improvement from the No. 5 spot, and he got it on Tuesday.

"Aric Crowell had been 17th or 18th and then 15th or 16th in the first two league meets," Lander said, "but this was his best placement today (13th).

"We're looking more at CIF Finals and State, but this is a very significant league title."

Claremont won all three boys league races this year, and finished with 27 points Tuesday. Ayala, second at all three races, was runner-up with 57 points.

Damien (63 points Tuesday) was third in all three races, and captured the third and final automatic spot for CIF. Chino Hills was fourth with 72.

Gonzalez leads Ayala to 17th Sierra League Title

Ayala High’s Jaclyn Gonzalez held off Claremont’s Merin Arft in the final 100 meters Tuesday to win the individual Sierra League cross country title and lead the Bulldogs to their 17th team title in 19 years.

Gonzalez, who finished second in two previous league meets this season, battled through the mid-90 degree heat at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut to record a time of 19:19, three seconds faster than Arft and 13 seconds ahead of third-place Raquel Arteaga of Chino Hills High.

In the boys race, Ayala finished second behind new Sierra League member Claremont. Chino Hills High was fourth. 

Ayala girls scored a Sierra League-best 44 points.

Ayala girls reclaim Sierra League title

Pete Marshall,Staff Writer             

WALNUT- Ayala was the dominant girls cross country program in the Sierra League foryears and won 15 consecutive league titles at one point.

That impressive streak ended two years ago, but on Tuesday, after Chino Hills' two-year run as league champions, the Bulldogs are back.

Ayala edged out St. Lucy's 38-44 at the Sierra League Finals at Mt. San Antonio College to capture the 2009 league title.

The teams had each won one of the regular-season league races. Tuesday's result determined the league crown.

"We haven't won league since 2006," Ayala girls coach Dawn Staab said.

"Chino Hills had kicked our butts. But we ran well today."

On a hot, dry afternoon with air quality affected by a fire in Diamond Bar, it was survival of the fittest.

"Cross country is about dealing with adversity," Staab said.

After winner Lauren Justus of Glendora, St. Lucy's had the next two finishers,second- place finisher Taylor Hebb (19:07) and third-place Marissa Horton (19:12).

But Ayala had six of the next nine runners (led by fourth- place finisher Chandler Colquitt) to take the title.

"Honestly, we're disappointed," St. Lucy's coach Tony Reyes said. "Our goal was to win league."

St.Lucy's hasn't won a league title since 1997, but Reyes said an injury to his daughter, Mariah, hurt their chances. Mariah Reyes finished 19th.

Teams will advance into different CIF divisions for the CIF-SS Prelims Nov. 14. Ayala is ranked No. 10 in Division II while St. Lucy's is No. 5 in Division III.

It was not a big surprise that Glendora (ranked No. 2 in Division II) won the boys team title in scoring an impressive 25 points with the top three finishers: Kelly Hernandez (15:58), Austin Mendoza (16:03) and Austin Goodheart(16:09).  Justin Wright finished in fourth (16:13) to lead Ayala to a second-place finish and a second-place overall finish.

Chino Hills finished third in both boys and girls races and qualified for CIF in both. The top three teams in league qualify for CIF, plus finishers in the top six on non-qualifying teams.

"Our goal today was to finish in third," Chino Hills coach Jim Bergmann said.

"And we were able to accomplish that."

There was a scary moment earlier in the afternoon when Ayala junior Kassandra Cervantes collapsed at the end of the junior varsity race and had to be takento a hospital.

"She's been No. 1 in most of our JV races this year," Staab said. "But in the last 300 meters, her legs started to buckle. She finished, but then she collapsed. I think it's dehydration. I'm sure she'll be OK."

Ayala has catching up to do

PeteMarshall, Staff Writer

Created: 09/29/2009 10:31:29 PM PDT

SANDIMAS - Last year's battle for the Sierra League boys cross country crown camedown to Glendora and Ayala.Glendora won the first league meet, Ayala won the second and Glendora eked out a win in the third to earn the league title. For Ayala to win the second league meet after losing the first like last year, it's going to have alot of ground to make up.

On a cloudy and unseasonably cool afternoon at Bonelli Park on Tuesday, Glendora easily won the first league meet of 2009 with a score of 22 while Ayala was a distant second at 47. Last year, Glendora edged out Ayala in the first boys race, 28-35.

OnTuesday, Ayala won the girls race with 31 points, followed by St. Lucy's with52.

"I knew Glendora returned a lot and they ran well today," Ayala boys coach Steve Pye said. "And we didn't run our best.  "I told them, `We did it last year, and we can do it again.' "  Glendora had four of the top five finishers and six of the top 11, led by winner Anthony Castro in 16:02. Ayala's top finisher was Taylor Nasu, who was third in 16:19.   "We don't have a guy like (graduated) Tyler Reed, who you know is going to win, but we had a good pack," Pye said. "And Taylor Nasu ran a very good race."  The Ayala boys had five in the top 16 and all seven in the top 20.

The Ayala girls, ranked ninth in CIF-Southern Section Division II, also had their top finisher take third (Katie Weitz, 19:18), but had all seven runners finish among the top 12.  "I'm very happy," Ayala girls coach Dawn Staab said. "We're young, but this team continues to surprise me every week." Staab said Ayala's goal was to "sweep all five races," including three boys and two girls races.They won four and lost only the varsity boys. 

With temperatures much cooler than the 100 degrees routinely registered in the last couple of weeks, it would seem that would equalize the course. Coaches seemed to agree that especially for the first league race of the season, these were the coolest temperatures in at least four or five years.

But for some asthma sufferers like Chino Hills' Jenna Carpenter, it was a big help. The heat and dust did not bother Carpenter like they often do, and she won a league race for the first time with a time of 18:48. She beat runner-up Taylor Hebb of St. Lucy's by 20 seconds.  "I took the lead during the second (of two) laps and kept a fast pace," Carpenter said. "I wanted to win."

Chino Hills finished third among the boys with 82 points, followed by Diamond Bar with 88. Chino Hills also was third among the girls with 56 points. Diamond Bar came in fourth with 125.

13. Ayala Bulldogs (Southern Section)
Rich's Ranking Tier Classification: 2
Coach:  Steve Pye
League: Sierra
2008 Finish:  Placed 7th at State Meet in Division II
Returnees:  Five veterans are back.
2009 Outlook:  After a few postseason setbacks in recent years, the Bulldogs enjoyed their mightiest season close in recent 
memory with a celebratory seventh-place finish at the state meet in what evolved to be a great divisional with some of the 
nation's best teams. Though Ayala graduated frontrunner Tyler Reed, the Bulldogs return plenty, led by a tightly-packed senior 
quartet that includes Cole Firman, Taylor Nasu, Justin Wright and Alex Keifer -- all four within 14 seconds of each other (16:18 
to 16:32 at Woodward Park) at the state meet! It appears the Bulldogs turned a corner in 2008 and continuing that pattern 
in 2009 puts them right in in the CIF-SS Division II title hunt!

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Email Staab

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