The Grossmont High School boys cross country team is definitely not running on empty this season. Far from it, in fact.
The Foothillers could be running all the way to this year’s state championship meet in Fresno.
“We have a goal of making it to state, and now there’s the possibility that we could win a CIF championship,” Grossmont head coach Ross Bartell said with renewed optimism.
The Foothillers have opened the season with some highly impressive numbers in a sport that determines its champions by the order of numerical finish in a race.
Grossmont stepped off the season by winning the Division I junior/senior race at the Vaquero Stampede Aug. 21 at El Capitan High School and followed that with a third-place finish in the Division I team standings at the Bronco Round-up Aug. 28 at Kit Carson Park in Escondido.
The Foothillers recorded a second-place team finish in the large schools Mustangs Division at last Friday’s 40-team Ian Cumming/Tim Latham Invitational at Rohr Park in Chula Vista.
Grossmont finished eight points behind Otay Ranch at the Bronco Round-up and were 19 points arrears of the Mustangs at last Friday’s 1,250-runner event.
Consistency is the biggest part in scoring success at any athletic level and the Foothillers appear to have that with this year’s group, which is heavily impacted by the school’s junior class.
In particular, it’s been a season to savor for junior Russell Blakely, the Foothillers’ top runner.
Blakely opened the season with first place finishes in his division at both the Vaquero Stampede and Bronco Round-up. He posted a third-place finish in last Friday’s Rohr Park invitational, though he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his time.
“My time wasn’t all that great,” he shrugged after timing 16:13.2 on the 5K course. “The competition was better; it was harder (to win).”
“I think you can tell that he’s very competitive by nature,” Bartell chimed in.
Francis Parker senior Kenan Pala broke away early and won in an almost unheard time of 15:16, placing 47 seconds ahead of runner-up Manuel Correia, a junior from Point Loma, and 57 seconds ahead of Blakely.
Hilltop senior Jimmy Byland, another runner who was undefeated in two races to step off the season, finished fourth in 16:29.7.
The Foothillers’ top five runners finished 1-5-11-22-23 in the 96-deep field.
Junior Ian Rosen finished as Grossmont’s No. 2 scorer in 16:30.4, followed by junior Joshua Edwards in 17:07.0, senior Kei Okura in 17:40.6 and junior Mason Coyle in 17:44.9.
Bartell was especially elated by Edwards’ finish. “This was his best effort,” the Grossmont coach said. “He stepped up.”
Otay Ranch chalked up a division low 43 points to win the race, followed by Grossmont with 62 points, Scripps Ranch with 105 points in third place and Steele Canyon with 128 points in fourth place.
“The kids ran well, they were aggressive on this course considering the tough weather conditions (92-degree heat),” Bartell said. “They were great.”
Now that Blakely has sized up the competition, he has started to refine his goals. “I want to win the CIF meet,” he said.
Overall, East County teams turned in a good showing this year. Granite Hills finished fifth in the boys junior varsity Mustangs Division while Steele Canyon finished fifth in the girls varsity Mustangs Division. Valhalla finished fourth in the boys frosh/soph Mustangs Division while Liberty Charter was third in the frosh/soph Red Devils Division.
