Brandt, Alonzo are fastest, with Valle saving her best for last at 32nd Rosemead Invitational

By Erik Boal, DyeStatCAL Editor

Loyola’s Robert Brandt and Marlborough’s Bianca Alonzo ran away from the competition Saturday night at the Rosemead Invitational.

As for Azusa’s Roxanne Valle, she had just enough energy and adrenaline present to produce one well-timed surge and run past Marlborough’s Katherine MacCary in a thrilling final 100 meters to the girls senior race.

Brandt, a Cal commit, set the 3-mile course record by clocking 14 minutes, 1.14 seconds – eclipsing the former standard of 14:18 set by St. John Bosco's Danny Martinez -- to produce his second invitational win of the season, following a Sept. 6 victory at the Great Cow Run at Cerritos Regional Park.

Brandt's victory was one of two during the meet for Loyola, along with Charlie Sherman prevailing in the sophomore race in 15:07.27.

 
Alonzo -- a returning all-state Division IV honoree -- posted the fastest girls time of 17:18.02 to capture the junior title, leading four athletes under 18 minutes in the race. Huntington Beach's Cassie Durgy (17:38.02) was second, followed by Torrance's Jessica Nakahira (17:40.99) and Los Altos' Josie Keener (17:41.43).

Valle secured the narrowest margin of victory in any of the eight races, edging MacCary 17:29.43 to 17:30.14. Torrance's Rachel de la Cruz also eclipsed the 18-minute barrier by taking third in 17:59.93.

It was an uplifting start to Valle's final season following a junior year that was cut short by an IT band injury, along with Achilles' tendinitis.

Burroughs triumphed in the first three races, with Emily Virtue winning the freshman girls title in 18:39.08, followed by Alexander Hirsch securing the freshman boys championship in a ninth-grade course-record 15:32.44.

Heidi Eligio took the sophomore girls race in 18:13.24 for the Indians.

Walnut's Dominic Gonzales, who didn't race at Rosemead last season, won the junior title in 14:44.40.

Burroughs seniors Garrett Boulais (14:27.74), Shane Thompson and Elias Hoxsie (14:56.71) all finished in the top 15 behind Brandt, helping the Indians win the heat and produce a tie for the fastest team time overall with Loyola at 74:47.

Preston Ortiz (15:06.90), Nicolaus Jakowec (15:16.87) and Jonathan Pinon (15:17.78) supported Brandt and Sherman for Loyola. Justin Villagran (15:18.43) and Jack Howe (15:28.43) rounded out Burroughs' top five.

Perhaps even more impressive is both teams had No. 6 runners that clocked 15:32, with Loyola's Will Antonopolis edging Hirsch by 0.42.

Loyola held a 27-28 edge over Burroughs in dual-meet scoring and had the results of all grade races been merged and scored as one invitational, the Cubs would have prevailed again by a 92-93 margin.

Mayfield, which had four girls place in the top 20 in the junior race, plus another athlete in the top 10 of the sophomore race, led all girls teams with a combined time of 93:23.