A week that started with health issues ended on a positive note for Buena Park senior Gilbert Solorza.
Solorza overcame a sore and swollen left knee to finish second overall and help the Coyotes to a fourth place team time finish at the 2012 Brea Invitational Saturday at Carbon Canyon Regional Park.
Solorza won the senior race at last week’s Sunny Hills/Wayne Walker Invitational and was the only runner to finish in under 15:00.
But he acknowledged being bothered by knee pain for most of the week, including during Wednesday’s dual meet against Troy where he placed second to teammate David Ramirez.
“I started feeling pain on Monday, but thought it was nothing,” Solorza said. “During our dual meet on Wednesday, I definitely felt it and took Thursday and Friday off.”
However Solorza looked solid during his race Saturday, which featured teams’ designated No. 1 and No. 2 runners. He moved into second place early in the race and maintained that place throughout remainder of the race.
His time of 15:36 trailed only Rowland senior David Galvez, who clocked the fastest time of the day at 15:33.
“I came out and didn’t think that I would do as well as I did today,” Solorza said. “My goals now are to get through the early invitationals and try to make CIF. I want to work on maintaining a 5:00-5:30 mile pace during workouts and just have to be more careful about my body.”
Buena Park senior Danny Ramirez was the county’s second best finisher, recording the 10th best individual time of the meet at 16:29.
Beverly Hills had the fastest overall team time at 1:23:41. Rubidoux (1:23:54), Rowland (1:23:58), and Buena Park (1:24:16) rounded out the top four.
At The Sunset League Preview:
The Marina girls cross country team posted a perfect 5-0 record against their fellow league rivals at Central Park in Huntington Beach.
Senior Kylie Nishisaka (18:00) and junior Eileen Stressling (18:32) finished second and fifth respectively, as No. 3 Marina edged Fountain Valley 27-28 in head to head dual scoring to clinch to overall win.
The Barons (4-1) were second with Newport Harbor (3-2) finishing third.
Sailors senior Paige Tennison was the individual race winner, clocking a time of 17:11.
On the boys’ side, Fountain Valley posted a perfect 5-0 mark. Senior Thomas Duckson (15:44.5) junior Hunter Gulino (15:44.7) and senior Max Chern (16:10) each finished in the top five. Edison senior Jeff Thies (15:42) was the individual race winner.
