Area stars shine at Staub invite

LA CRESCENTA — While having garnered their share of area accolades, success for Crescenta Valley High's Claudia Pham and Burroughs' Anthony Monroy has often understandably been overshadowed by those that finished ahead of them.

But on a humid Saturday morning at Crescenta Valley Park, there was nobody in front of Monroy or Pham at the Staub/Barnes Invitational.

Both runners claimed victory in their respective Division I races, while Pham led an impressive overall effort for the Falcons, who took first as a team with a 31-point tally.

"I didn't expect it to go like that, I didn't think I was gonna be able to take it in the end," said Pham, like Monroy a reigning All-Area Cross-Country Runner of the Year, who won the Division I race in 18 minutes 55 seconds. "It's definitely really exciting."

Like Pham and the Falcons, Monroy has run plenty of races at CV Park, but usually had to contend with former Crescenta Valley standout Zack Torres or current Arcadia standout Amaar Moussa. On Saturday, the course was Monroy's for the taking, as he ran away from the field with a first-place run of 15:33, 19 seconds in front of the second-place finisher.

"I was feeling good, I was like, 'I should get out there and get it,'" said the Burroughs junior, who led the Indians to a fourth-place team finish with 113 points and was the first Indian to ever win a race at Staub. "It feels good, I don't get many first places."

The day's other area first place went to Flintridge Prep's boys' squad, as the Rebels used some stellar pack running that saw their scoring five finish eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th en route to 50 points and a Division III race victory.

"We're happy with how we ran as a team today," said senior Jesse Redding, who took eighth in 17:43.74, stepping up to take his team's top spot with normal No. 1 Jason Bunn finishing sixth among the Rebels, as he's nursing a leg injury. "That was my job today. I think everyone [stepped up]."

Prep fended off L.A. Baptist (69 points) for the win. Following Redding was fellow senior Taylor Beith (ninth, 17:44.84), junior Jake Johnson (10th, 17:51.83), junior Eli Weinstein (11th, 17:52.67) and sophomore Elias Ellison (12th, 17:53.94).

After taking second in its first Prep League meet, also at CV Park, the Rebels believe they're heading in the right direction.

"We're using these last couple races to get in shape," Redding said, "and we think we'll have a really good league finals and postseason."