It wasn’t a surprise that Claire Collison, Rachel Lange and Sadee Martinez finished in the top three.
What turned out to be amazing was how Collison, a star Crescenta Valley High girls’ cross-country athlete, won by such a large margin.
Collison clocked 17 minutes 52 seconds to win by 44 seconds and help the Falcons easily win Pacific League Meet No. 1 at Crescenta Valley Park on Wednesday afternoon.
“I didn’t feel tired because I ran relaxed and wasn’t pushing it too much,” said Collison, the area’s reigning Female Athlete of the Year. “I thought we made a statement because this league is very competitive and there’s a lot of depth.” advertisement
Lange finished second in 18:36 and Martinez took third (18:58). The Falcons, who are ranked seventh in CIF Southern Section Division I, had five top-10 runners. Crescenta Valley also turned to Michelle Callister (fourth, 19:35), Megan Doeding (fifth, 19:46) and Carlotta Pham (seventh, 20:26).
The Falcons are looking to win their fifth straight league title and make their third consecutive trip to the CIF-State Meet.
Crescenta Valley captured the boys’ varsity race after senior Eric Kleinsasser clocked 15:36 to win the three-mile event.
The Falcons, ranked sixth in Division I, had four top-10 finishes to upset second-ranked Arcadia, the defending league champion.
Kleinsasser said he took control just past the halfway point of the race.
“The last two miles are the ones that count,” Kleinsasser said. “Things shifted around the half-way point.
“I have to keep in mind that nothing is set in stone. I still know that I’m going to have to work as hard as everybody else to get the league championship.”
Crescenta Valley also received good outings from Brett Matejka (fourth, 15:53), Zack Torres (fifth, 15:54) and Mike Sheridan (10th, 16:23).
