Photos

By Keith Peters
Palo Alto Online Sports Staff

In just one week, the top runners in the Central Coast Section will gather at Crystal Springs in Belmont and race over the hilly 2.95-mile layout to decide who goes to the CIF State Meet in cross country and who does not.

That leaves little time for local teams to prepare and, most importantly, get back to full strength. If there one common foe in these days of H1N1, it's poor health.

As Gunn coach Ernie Lee said following the SCVAL El Camino Division finals on Tuesday at Crystal Springs: "It sucks having people sick."

While both the Gunn and Palo Alto boys and girls had their share of illness or injury (or both), all four varsity squads still qualified for the CCS finals on Nov. 14.

The big question mark now is how healthy will they be in just over a week?

The Gunn girls ran without Emma Dohner, who was out sick. Lisa Fawcett, the team's top finisher a year ago at the league finals, also was sick but still ran. She finished 33rd in 23:05. Last season when she was healthy, Fawcett finished third in a personal record of 18:45.

Gunn senior Claire O'Connell, who normally runs as the team's fourth or fifth scorer, was the No. 2 finisher Tuesday in 19:06, trailing only junior Erin Robinson's third-place time of 18:55.

Despite the health issues, the Gunn girls were second with 61 points while Mountain View defended its crown with 27. Palo Alto was third with 77 as Kathleen Higgins (20:10), Susan Heinselman (20:28), Gracie Cain (20:32) and Leigh Dairaghi (20:38) all finished among the top 16.

The Gunn boys also finished second to defending champ Mountain View, scoring 56 points to the Spartans' 22. Senior Paul Summers led the Titans with a second-place finish of 15:09 with senior Alex Johann seventh (16:03) and senior Robert Chen 10th (16:08).

"Very few of my kids ran faster than they did three weeks ago," Lee said. "That's a little concerning."

Summers missed a sub-15:00 time that would have gotten him on the all-time list at the course, but the warm weather ruined his attempt. Still, he was upbeat with his effort.

"I wanted to stay with the top pack," said Summers, who was fifth last season. "It would have been nice to get under 15:00, but it was hot. So, it was just a matter of feeling out the course and seeing what kind of shape you're in."

While Summers was happy with his fitness, Palo Alto senior Philip MacQuitty was not. He finished fifth in 15:57, hobbled by a right knee problem. Last season he took second despite recovering from a sprained ankle.

"My fitness is a problem," explained MacQuitty, who said he went out for a long run a short time ago and had to stop three times. While he wasn't fit enough for a fast race Tuesday, he hopes to be ready for the CCS meet, where the top three teams will advance to the state meet along with handful of individuals.

MacQuitty led five Vikings to the finish line, all among the top 20. Senior Josh Newby was ninth in 16:06 and senior Peter Wilson was 12th in 16:15. Paly scored 63 points while finishing third.

Mountain View, meanwhile, put all five of its runners among the first 10 and scored just 22 points for the title. Senior Garrett Rowe of Mountain View defended his individual title with a solid 14:58, slowing at the finish line to allow a girl from a previous race to finish ahead of him

BOYS
SCVAL El Camino Division Championships
At Crystal Springs, Belmont (2.95 miles)
Team scores -– 1, Mountain View 22; 2, Gunn 56; 3, Palo Alto 63; 4, Los Altos 118; 5, Milpitas 126; 6, Wilcox 149; 7, Santa Clara 201.
Individual leaders
1, Garrett Rowe (Mtn. View) 14:58
2, Paul Summers (Gunn) 15:09
3, Ian Myjer (Mtn. View) 15:26
4, Parker Schuh (Mtn. View) 15:39
5, Philip MacQuitty (Palo Alto) 15:57
6, Bryan Crook (Mtn. View) 16:01
7, Alex Johann (Gunn) 16:03
8, Aubrey Myjer (Mtn. View) 16:05
9, Josh Newby (Palo Alto) 16:06
10, Robert Chen (Gunn) 16:08
11, Chris Wells (Mtn. View) 16:11
12, Peter Wilson (Palo Alto) 16:15
13, Yohannas Estifanos (Milpitas) 16:27
14, Alex McGuirk (Mtn. View) 16:44
15, Benjamin Schneider (Los Altos) 16:46

Other Gunn -- 17, Aaron Guggenheim 17:01; 20, Daniel Damian 17:11.
Other Palo Alto -- 18, Ben Sklaroff 17:07; 19, Alex Voet 17:09.

GIRLS
SCVAL El Camino Division Championships
At Crystal Springs, Belmont (2.95 miles)
Team scores -– 1, Mountain View 27; 2, Gunn 61; 3, Palo Alto 77; 4, Los Altos 115; 5, Santa Clara 127; 6, Wilcox 144; 7, Milpitas 164.
Individual leaders
1, Erin Hicks (Los Altos) 18:29
2, Martina De Geus (Mtn. View) 18:39
3, Erin Robinson (Gunn) 18:55
4, Allison Sturges (Mtn. View) 18:59
5, Zoe Pappas (Mtn. View) 19:02
6, Claire O'Connell (Gunn) 19:06
7, Sarah Wells (Mtn. View) 19:31
8, Lalida Maokhamphiou (Wilcox) 19:59
9, Carol Passarelli (Mtn. View) 20:02
10, Kathleen Higgins (Palo Alto) 20:10
11, Izzie Baney (Mtn. View) 20:15
12, Kieran Gallagher (Gunn) 20:22
13, Sadie Navarro (Mtn. View) 20:26
14, Susan Heinselman (Palo Alt) 20:28
15, Gracie Cain (Palo Alto) 20:32.

Other Gunn -- 19, Rachel Wittenauer 21:03; 21, Loubna Faiez 21:31.
Other Palo Alto -- 16, Leigh Dairaghi 20:38; 22, Erin Kiekhaefer 21:36.