Willow Glen opened the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division season by running past Yerba Buena and Evergreen Valley by matching 22-35 scores on the Montgomery Hill course on Sept. 16.

"Even though this team is very young, it's the strongest team in my five years of coaching at Willow Glen," said Santamaria after the double win.

Sophomore Marcos Corona raced to a win in 15:45, tying the sophomore BVAL course record.

"He ran an exceptional race, taking the lead at the midpoint, and running away from the top returning runner in the BVAL," said Santamaria. "His time of 15:45 is especially good considering it's his first cross country race since he didn't compete as a freshman."

Junior Robert Ramos was third with freshman Mohamed Abdalla sixth in 16:52, a new freshman BVAL course record.

Junior Ruben Camacho (eighth in 17:04), Justin McArthur (11th in 17:28) and Jose Cervantes (12th in 17:48) and senior Derek Kulish (21st in 19:55) were other top finishers for the Rams.

"I was very pleased with the team performance and excited about their chances to have a strong season," added the coach.

Willow Glen split in girls varsity competition, beating Yerba Buena 22-35 but losing 22-35 to Evergreen.

Senior Cristina Diaz was the top Ram placer, running fourth in 21:08. Montserrat Alvarado, also a senior, was sixth in 21:57.

Freshmen Hayley Tharp and Kari Server each finished strong, Tharp running seventh in 22:06 and Server finishing 10th in 22:44. Junior Maria Sosa ended up 15th in 23:27.

"The girls are still developing with several first year runners, and so were not quite ready for the Evergreen girls who are very strong," said Santamaria. "But the girls really came together well and exceeded my expectations for this first race."

"We had very strong leadership from seniors Cristina Diaz and Montserrat Alvarado, and freshmen Hayley Tharp and Kari Server ran outstanding debut races."

Willow Glen opened the boys frosh-soph season with wins over YB (23-36) and Evergreen (19-38). The Rams are defending division champions at the frosh-soph level.

Sophomore Evan Bishop was second overall in 18:12 with sophomore Brian Chunn a close third in 18:13. Soph Oscar Vazquez ran fifth in 18:22 with freshman Eyuel Galato seventh in 19:36 and sophomore Rafael Barriga 10th in 20:12.

Sophomore Samson Galato finished first in 18:30 to lead the Willow Glen boys junior varsity to wins over Yerba Buena (20-27) and Evergreen (23-33). Junior Steven Eicher was fifth in 20:13 with senior Brian Eicher sixth in 20:19 and freshman Grant Keith seventh in 20:38.

In the girls JV division, sophomore Natalie Groft was sixth in 24:05, freshman Haide Esteban was seventh in 25:20 and soph Claribel Soto was eighth in 26:00.