The Presentation junior covered the 3.0-mile course in a blistering 18:08 to finish second in the CCS Division 3 race. But that wasn't all—her time was the second best in the entire CCS girls' field.

Michelle Gallagher, a senior from Sacred Heart Cathedral, set the pace in the girls competition with a time of 17:53. Just 15 seconds behind was Grelli, and then came the rest of the 389-runner field—among them, the winners of the other four CCS divisions.

Willow Glen's Cristina Diaz and Ngoan Phan were also outstanding in CCS Division 3 competition. Diaz, a sophomore, was 11th in the girls race, and Phan finished fifth among the boys.

Grelli's effort was enough to lead the Panthers to a team ninth in the CCS Division 3 field. Junior Mandy Williams was 30th in 20:22, with junior Morgan Davies 54th in 21:10, sophomore Sierra Siemer 63rd in 21:23 and soph Lauren Albin 77th in 21:47.

Diaz led the pack of Rams to the finish line. The sophomore was 11th in 19:21, with senior Jennifer Cook 35th in 20:31, junior Eleni Mastorakos 41st in 20:40, sophomore Montserrat Alvarado 56th in 21:13 and freshman Angela Pizzella 96th in 22:42.

Diaz ended up 18th overall in the CCS field.

Phan finished just a little better for the Rams in the boys competition. The junior was fifth in the CCS Division 3 race in 16:21, and he ranked 16th overall in the field of 434 runners.

Phan led the Rams to a team seventh at the CCS meet. Junior Gilbert Rosales was 34th in 17:19, with senior Kamachi Mbawa 65th in 17:49, junior Diego Alvarado 66th in 17:49 and sophomore Jose Cervantes 67th in 17:50.


Rams win it

Willow Glen was coming off of a brilliant showing at the Blossom Valley Athletic League finals, where the Rams won the Mt. Hamilton Division championship in girls competition.

Diaz covered the 2.95-mile course at Crystal Springs in Belmont in 19:45 to finish third overall and lead the Rams to the team title. Mastorakos was eighth in 20:39, Cook was 12th in 20:43 and Alvarado was 24th in 21:39. All four earned all-league honors.

Pizzella was 42nd in the league meet in 22:57 to round out the top five for the Rams. Senior Alejandra Cervantes was 58th in 24:00, and sophomore Kelsey Siebert was 60th in 24:07.

Willow Glen finished with 82 team points to take the crown, with Silver Creek a close second at 88. The Rams (5-1) had finished second to the Raiders (6-0) in the dual meet season but captured the league championship by winning the league meet.

"Cristina Diaz ran yet another fantastic race to capture third place," said Willow Glen coach Victor Santamaria. "Eleni Mastorakos and Jenny Cook were just as critical in this victory, as they both placed very high in the field to help our score tremendously."

Phan had a great day, but the Willow Glen boys wound up fourth in the league meet behind Silver Creek, James Lick and Leland.

Phan ran 16:22 to get second, and junior Juan De Lara was 11th in 16:55, both good for all-league honors.

Senior Luis Varela was 31st in 17:42, with Rosales 35th in 17:47 and Alvarado 58th in 18:26.

"Ngoan Phan ran into a bit of bad luck as he suffered his biggest stomach cramp ever at the end of the race and was forced to considerably slow down his pace," said Santamaria. "As a result, he lost his lead and ended up in second place."

"Phan was clearly having his best race of the season," added the coach. "He had commanded a large lead by the first mile and was running a blistering pace. He was clearly on his way to winning the individual championship when he began to suffer this severe stomach pain, which we learned after the race was caused by an apple Phan ate before the race."

De Lara finished just over 30 seconds behind Phan and "had the greatest cross country race of his career," said Santamaria. "He ran tough the entire race and ended up finishing among the very best runners in the league. He ran awesome."

The Willow Glen frosh-soph team ran to a league title in the boys competition, edging Silver Creek by a single point.

The Rams' top six finishers won all-league honors, with Robert Ramos second in 18:19, Ruben Camacho third in 18:33, Derrek Kulish fifth in 18:45, Jose Montalvo eighth in 19:08, David Wells 11th in 19:25 and Justin McArthur 17th in 19:43.

Willow Glen won a team title in the boys junior varsity division, with five runners gaining all-league spots—Rich Folk, fourth in 18:24; Craig Doleshel, sixth in 18:41; Abraham Gutierrez, seventh in 19:03; Will Howsman, 10th in 19:31; and Brian Eicher, 20th in 20:29.

Four Willow Glen girls won all-league honors in junior varsity action as the Rams claimed third in the team standings. Franchesca McArthur was third in 23:56, with Maria Sosa fourth in 24:00, Sarah Roberts sixth in 24:02 and Emilie Thorburn 17th in 25:45.