Local Runners Expected to Shine at State Meet

Seven teams and four individuals from the Southland are favored to win titles at the state cross-country championships today at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Los Angeles Loyola, the No. 11-ranked boys’ team in the nation by Harrier magazine, is favored to win its first Division I championship.

In other boys’ races, Barstow is tabbed to win its second consecutive Division III title, Oak Park is picked to win its first Division IV championship and La Canada Flintridge Prep is favored to win its third Division V title in five years.

Hesperia Sultana and Murrieta Valley, the Nos. 3- and 11-ranked girls’ teams in the nation, are favored to win the Division II and I titles, respectively.

In addition, Oak Park is picked to win its second consecutive Division IV girls’ championship.

Michael Poe of Etiwanda, Phillip Reid of Oxnard Rio Mesa, Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte and Bessie Hatch of Ojai Thacher are the individual favorites from the Southland.

Poe is tabbed to win the Division I boys’ title with Reid picked to win Division II and Trafeh favored to win Division IV. Hatch is picked to win the Division V girls’ championship.

Trafeh and Hatch are favored, but Poe and Reid are expected to be challenged. Poe, the Southern Section Division I champion, will face competition from Kyle Alcorn of Clovis Buchanan and Manuel Ruiz of North Hills Monroe.

Alcorn is the defending state track champion in the 3,200 meters.

Ruiz, the two-time defending City Section champion, is trying to become the first runner from his section to win a state cross-country title.

Reid handed Michael Haddan of Irvine Woodbridge his first loss of the season in winning the Southern Section Division II title last week. But Haddan, two-time defending champion Yong-Sung Leal of San Lorenzo Arroyo and Troy Swier of Imperial Beach Mar Vista are also viewed as potential winners of the Division II race today.

Loyola had two runners among the top five finishers, and three among the top 15, in the Division I boys’ race of the Southern Section championships. Yet the keys to the Cubs’ runaway victory were the performances of sophomore Matt Miller and senior Ryan Foresta, their Nos. 4 and 5 runners.

Loyola had a strong trio all season in sophomore Mark Matusak and seniors David Torrence and Micah Tyhurst. But Coach Lalo Diaz figured that Miller and Foresta needed to reduce the time gap between themselves and Loyola’s top three runners for the Cubs to win their first title since moving to the Division I level in 1987.

“We knew it wasn’t about our one, two and three runners,” Diaz said. “It was about our four and five.”

Matusak placed second in 15:07, Torrence finished fifth in 15:11 and Tyhurst was 15th in 15:26 for Loyola. But it was the performance of Miller, 28th in 15:40, and Foresta, 51st in 15:58, that capped the Cubs’ 80-124 victory over second-place Dana Point Dana Hills and gave them their first berth in the state championships.

John Ortega

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Long Beach Wilson and Los Alamitos meet in a Southern California Division I semifinal in the state volleyball playoffs tonight at Los Alamitos.

Wilson (34-3), The Times’ top-ranked team all season, was beaten by the Griffins (30-7) in the Southern Section Division I-AA championship match last Saturday. Tonight’s winner advances to the Southern California final on Tuesday against the winner of Encinitas Torrey Pines (25-6) and Clovis Buchanan (31-5).

Other head-to-head matchups of Southland teams include South Torrance (23-9) at Newport Harbor (27-6) in Division II, Temple City (25-0) at Torrance Bishop Montgomery (26-8) in Division III and Flintridge Sacred Heart (21-5) at L.A. Marymount (27-4) in Division IV.

Other area schools playing are Santa Ana Mater Dei (29-8) playing host to Bakersfield Liberty in Division II, North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake (28-5) at University of San Diego (31-10) in Division III and San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s (23-4) playing host to San Diego Parker in Division IV.

All matches start at 7 p.m.