Eagles have an ‘even’ look

Bryce Alderton

For the first time in 13 years of coaching cross country at

Estancia High, Coach Charlie Appell didn’t take the boys and girls

cross country teams to running camp this summer.

With a work schedule that didn’t allow time for a trip and

difficulty with runners’ work and vacation plans, Appell said this

summer proved more difficult to get runners together to train.

“We really had to work to get runners to meet two or three times a

week,” said Appell, who has led the Estancia boys to six state meets

in his prior 12 seasons at Estancia and has a stacked team this year

of nine returners, including the Pacific Coast League Champion and

CIF Division II individual champion in Humberto Rojas, who will be

Appell’s No. 1 runner.

The senior ran to a fifth-place finish in CIF Division III at last

season’s State Finals (16:15), the best finish by an Estancia runner,

to help the Eagles to a sixth-place finish at the meet.

After Rojas, the Nos. 2 through 5 spots are up for grabs,

according to Appell, but should get several looks from a slew of

returners which include probable team-captain and senior Aaron Van

Geem, seniors Sean Zich, Geraldo Orozco, Aaron Flores, Abel Flores,

Francisco Morales and juniors Matt Zich and Panfilo Elias.

Orozco finished 36th (16:49.5) at the CIF Division III Finals,

while Van Geem finished 41st (16:54.9). Matt Zich finished 95th

(17:51) while Elias took 101st (17:54) and Abel Flores finished 106th

(18:02). Abel Flores was the fourth man for most of last season,

Appell said.

Newcomers Alex Cahuantze (sophomore) and junior Martin Diaz should

also make an impact for the Eagles as they prepare for their first

season in the Golden West League. Appell said he expects to have 15

boys compete, which is a smaller amount that other teams in the

league, due to the size of Estancia’s student body, he said.

“(The smaller student body) hurts a school in cross country in

terms of numbers,” Appell said. “One injury could be traumatic for

the whole situation.”

Rojas suffered a sprained right ankle while training three weeks

ago and Appell doesn’t know when he’ll be back to 100%.

With little time training together to record runners’ times,

Appell said he hasn’t decided on lineups for particular races yet.

“You can never say, it’s like a chameleon,” Appell said. “I can

never tell who will produce for a day. It’s very evenly matched

presently, anyone can produce. They are a little bit closer-knit

group than we’ve had in the past.”