Comeback Trail Brings Victory for Burroughs

The resurrection of the Burroughs High boys’ cross-country program continued Saturday when the Indians won the title for the first time in the Division II race of the Bell-Jeff Invitational at Griffith Park.

Burroughs was the doormat of the Foothill League for most of the decade. Last year, they fielded a two-runner varsity boys’ “team” in the league final. But the Indians have made great strides since.

Burroughs placed four runners among the top 11 finishers on Saturday to finish with 61 points. South Torrance was second with 86 points, followed by North Torrance with 144 and Torrance with 200.

A glimpse of the Indians’ potential came last spring during track season. Brian Anderson ran a career best of 4:19.25 in the 1,600 meters during track season and several younger teammates turned in times.

“Our coach [John Peebles] saw it during track season,” Anderson said. “He could see that we had some good young runners and he used that to motivate us in training this summer.”

Burroughs opened the season with a fourth-place finish in the Seaside Park Invitational at the Ventura County Fairgrounds on Sept. 10 and followed that with a victory in the Burbank city meet five days later.

The Indians turned in another solid performance in the Woodbridge Invitational in Irvine on Sept. 18.

“We really wanted to win,” Anderson said when asked about the team’s goal. “We looked through the [meet] program before the race and saw that no Burroughs team had ever won this meet [in its 25-year existence].”

Anderson, a senior, finished sixth in 15:37 over the 2.9-mile course that started and finished near the the Greek Theatre, and junior Tony Ahr was seventh in 15:44.

Junior Mike Navarro placed 10th in 15:49 for the Indians, with sophomore Travis Patterson 11th in 15:49 and sophomore Gary Anderson, Brian’s brother, 27th in 16:43.

Burroughs didn’t have a runner among the top 12 places after the first half-mile, but the Indians worked their way though the pack in he next mile and a half.

“Our coach told us not to go out crazy,” Brian Anderson said. “He said to start out under control because in the past, we had a tendency to go out fast at the start and feel like blah.”

Burroughs was one of five teams from the region to win division titles.

The Burbank girls, led by freshman Erika McCarthy’s third-place time of 19:09, won the Division II title with 101 points, followed by Moorpark with 127.

Louisville defeated McFarland, 39-53, for the Division IV girls’ championship behind the 3-4-5 finish of sophomore Erica Hanson (18:32), senior Rosemary Muller (18:38) and junior Natalie Elias (18:58).

Lancaster Desert Christian swept the Division V titles as the Knights defeated Maranatha, 53-67, for the boys’ championship, and Chadwick, 50-56, for the girls’.

Juniors Tom Kubler of Viewpoint and Natalie Stein of North Hollywood had the fastest times by runners from the region.

Kubler, runner-up in the state Division V final last year, won the Division V race in 14:57.

Stein, eighth in the state Division I final last year, took the Division II race in 18:00.

Junior Thomas Harley of Burbank finished second in the Division II boys’ race with a 14:59 clocking.