On a day when all of the top-ranked teams cruised into qualification, Katella’s Abraham Gonzalez was perhaps the county runner who stood out the most with his performance in the CIF-SS Preliminaries on Friday morning.
Gonzalez won his Division 1 heat and posted the second-best time of the day to join 18 teams and three more individuals from the county that qualified for the CIF-SS Finals at Riverside City Cross Country Course.
Gonzalez, coming off setting an Orange League Finals record last week, posted a first-place time of 15:01.7. That was a 43-second improvement on what he ran on the same course at the 2015 prelims. Last year, he finished 75th with a time of 15:44.8.
Valencia came in second as a team in Gonzalez’s Division 1 heat. The Tigers’ top-six runners finished within an eight-place gap. Trabuco Hills and Aliso Niguel also qualified out of the heat.
Dana Hills won its heat comfortably with Brandon Hough leading the way with a second-place time of 15:07.7. El Toro finished second to also qualify for finals.
Stuart Kendall of Foothill and Santa Ana’s Jorge Suarez advanced as individuals. They finished fifth and eighth, respecitvely.
Dana Hills qualified easily on the girls Division 1 side along with Foothill and Los Alamitos in their heat.
In the second heat, University’s Cecilia Langlois qualified as an individual in ninth place, while El Toro and Fountain Valley finished in third and sixth to also advance.
In Division 4, Anthony Grover continued his stellar freshman season with a second-place time of 15:59.9 to help JSerra win its heat.
Costa Mesa, with Elliot Hachac’s fourth-place finish, Laguna Beach and Crean Lutheran also advanced.
Costa Mesa got in by the slimmest of margins in the first Division 4 girls heat, finishing in 12th, the final qualifying spot, by five team points over South El Monte.
JSerra also qualified on the girls side along with Laguna Beach.
The CIF-SS Preliminaries continue Saturday morning in Riverside with Divisions 2, 3 and 5.
For CIF-SS Prelims results go to https://registration.finishedresults.com/meets/285
