Local cross country teams gearing up for state championships

Area cross country programs will be well represented at Saturday's CIF State Championships in Fresno.

Royal High captured the Division I boys' championship during last weekend's CIF-Southern Section finals at Mount San Antonio College.

The Highlanders were led by Michael Cybulski (14:54), Hudson Andrews (14:27) and Jun Reichl (15:18).

Cybulski and Andrews finished first and second, respectively, while Reichl was 10th. In addition to Saturday's upcoming team race, all three qualified as individual runners at state.

"Having three guys in the top 10 was absolutely awesome," Royal head coach Ryan Luce said. "For Hudson to break 15 minutes and for Jun to get in the low 15s, that was really great."

In Fresno, Royal will attempt to become the second Division I boys' team in California history to win three consecutive state titles, Luce said. Hart of Newhall was the first team to accomplish the feat.

"When I went to school, Hart was the school," Luce said. "They'd jog by you and you'd bow down and say, 'We're not worthy. We're not worthy.' It would be really cool to be in that caliber."

The Highlanders also expect to have Danny Benson back on Saturday. Benson, one of the team's top runners, has been sidelined with a leg injury.

In boys' Division II action, Agoura High's Chris Baird finished in sixth place at Mt. SAC with a 15:40. Baird will run as an individual this weekend.

Oak Park High qualified as a Division III finalist. It's the Eagle boys' ninth trip to the state championships in the last 10 years, Oak Park head coach Kevin Smith said.

"It's the greatest level of excitement," Smith said. "When we start out each season, that is our No. 1 goal-we want to get to state and compete at that level."

Oaks Christian will run in the Division IV race. The Lions, led by individual qualifiers Charlie Petrie and Ethan Long, finished sixth at Mt. SAC.

On the girls side, Royal also qualified for the Division I final. The Lady Highlanders finished seventh last Saturday, but will have to run much better this weekend, Luce said.

"We know the girls can do a lot better than they showed," Luce said. "I think you're going to see a different team this Saturday."

Simi Valley High senior Anna Sperry finished second in the Division II girls' race with a time of 17:14. Behind Sperry's effort, the Pioneers qualified as a team for the first time since 2001.

Oak Park also had both of its teams qualify for state. The Lady Eagles finished second to Corona del Mar in the Division III race. OPHS has made the CIF finals every year since 2000, Smith said.

Oak Park had five individual runners finish in the top 10 at Mt. SAC. Bre Strenkowski and Marissa Diehl tied for fifth place with times of 18:40. Melissa Skiba (18:47) was seventh and Suzanne Scrimenti (19:04) finished 10th.

"I don't look at it individually," Smith said. "That may be disappointing to some, but our focus is on the team. They'll race as a team, and we'll compete as a team.

"They will do very, very well. I'm not concerned about that, and I'm not trying to downplay it," Smith said. "I know they will run very well, but our focus, our execution, is based on running as a team-not as individuals."

Behind a fourth-place finish from freshman Sarah Pearson (18:46) in the Division IV girls' race, La Reina qualified as a state finalist. The Regents finished third last weekend.

Luce said the unique thing about state is that the local schools can all cheer for each other to do well.

"We battle against each other in the dual meets," Luce said, "but we're family when we're going up to the CIF championships and the state championships. You want to see the other teams in our area do well because it represents all of us."