Redondo boys, Costa girls win second Bay League cross country meet
Redondo cross country coach Bob Leetch is awarded the Gill National Girls High School Track Coach of the Year award between quarters of the Sea Hawk’s homecoming football game. Redondo Union High School received $5,000 worth of Gill Athletics track and field equipment in Leetch’s honor. Photo
There were new winners in the second Bay League cross country meet setting up a showdown when the elite teams of the South Bay compete in the league finals on Thursday, Nov. 1 at Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach.
Redondo’s boys team was a surprise winner, beating Palos Verdes in a race that came down to a tiebreaker between the sixth finishers from each team
Redondo and Palos Verdes each finished with 38 points, but Redondo’s sixth runner, Tomohiro Yamaya, posted a time of 17:23.82 that bested Palos Verdes’ Ryan Beall’s mark of 17:27.54. Peninsula (73) finished third followed by West (83) and Mira Costa (127).
Palos Verdes, which won the first league meet, is ranked No. 1 in CIF Division 3 while the win moved Redondo up one spot to No. 4 in Division 2. Also ranked in Division 2 are Peninsula (No. 8) and West (No. 10).
Palos Verdes’ Ryland Dreibelbis (1st, 16:17.54) outdistanced Redondo’s Evan Malone-White (16:20.65) to win the boys competition. Sea Hawks finishing in the top ten were William Tait (4th, 16:28.39), Dustin Herold (7th, 16:37.33) and Garrett Klatte (10th, 16:41.15).
Also running for Redondo were Carlos Suarez (15th, 17:08.05), Yamaya (18th) and Waseem Radi (19th, 17:17.52)
Mira Costa runners included Michael Goldberg (17th, 17:11.71), J.C. Ohmstede (25th, 17:39.62), Justin MacDonald (27th, 17:53.78), Niko Pappas (28th, 17:54.34), Chance Weston (30th, 18:02.46), Dillon Shambaugh (32nd, 18:18.17) and Evan Tomita (34th, 19:51.47).
Lady Mustangs overtake rival
Mira Costa’s girls team outran Redondo despite not having its No. 2 runner, Sarah Locke-Henderson, who was out with a foot injury.
Redondo’s Cara Ulizio (18:49.33) and Amber Gore (19:02.45) beat out Mira Costa’s Abby Hong (19:10.69) for the top two spots but Mira Costa had four runners place in the top ten to give the Mustangs 40 points.
Redondo, which had won the first league meet, finished with 46 points followed by Palos Verdes (55), Peninsula (89) and West (111).
The win moved Mira Costa from sixth to second in the Division 2 rankings while Redondo remained in the third spot. Peninsula is ranked No. 12 and Palos Verdes continues to hold the top spot in Division 3.
Kayla Ferron (19:37.98) finished 5th for Redondo while Mira Costa runners Lauren Hagedorn (7th, 19:54.74), Emma Lautanen (9th, 20:01.64) and Natasha Brunstein (10th, 20:06.93) rounded out the top finishers.
The Mustangs were aided by Lauren Inouye (11th, 20:08.26), Kellie Jeong (19th, 20:34.30) and Leora Tofler (30th, 21:25.59).
Other finishers for Redondo were Paige Sullivan (15th, 20:18.83), Alexis Thibodeau (23rd, 20:55.25), Nicole Pederson (24th, 21:00.41) and Erin South (33rd, 21:31.41).
The boys and girls teams from Redondo and Mira Costa will compete in the prestigious Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut on Saturday where they will gain valuable experience running the course that will be the site of the CIF Prelims on Saturday, Nov. 10 and the finals on Saturday, Nov. 17.