Flintridge Prep cross-country wears two crowns at CIF

Cross-Country: Rebels capture both Division V titles, while La Cañada's Anna Frederich, Crescenta Valley boys advance.

November 23, 2013|By Andrew J. Campa, andrew.campa@latimes.com

Flintridge Prep senior Alan Yoho captured the program's…

WALNUT — Given the circumstances and distractions that surrounded the Flintridge Prep boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams before and during the CIF Southern Section divisional championships at Mount San Antonio College, Saturday morning could have very well been disastrous.

PHOTOS: Locals in CIF Southern Section cross country finals

Yet, instead of collapsing or falling short, Flintridge Prep may have turned in the finest hour in the program’s history as both the boys and girls captured divisional championships and earned CIF State Finals berths all while senior Alan Yoho captured an individual crown on an afternoon that produced memorable results for the Crescenta Valley boys, La Cañada’s High’s Anna Frederich and the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy girls.

“We had a lot of things happen today that perhaps we weren’t quite ready for and to still win is amazing,” said Rebels Coach Ingrid Herskind, whose team claimed its fifth Southern Section title and first since 2004. “I mean this is great because we got these mistakes out of the way and now we’ll be ready for next week.”

The Rebels entered top-ranked in Division V and rolled to a 56-79 victory over third-ranked Ojai Thacher in a race that began with two false starts and included one Rebels runner vomiting midway through, while another fell toward the back end.

Those incidents, though, didn’t stop the one-two punch of Yoho and sophomore Jack Van Scoter, who at times appeared on their own island in finishing first and second in 15 minutes, 10 seconds and 15:19, respectively.

The next closest finisher was 20 seconds away in Brentwood’s Cosmo Brossy.

“We’ve been training together a lot and this went exactly as planned,” Van Scoter said.

Yoho, the Rebels’ first-ever boys’ individual Southern Section champion, appeared on cruise control.

“I wanted to help out Jack the first two miles, so I paced him,” Yoho said. “The last mile, I put the hammer down.”

Flintridge Prep’s championship squad also included sophomore Nikhil Poole (13th, 16:26), senior Tyler Fong (14th, 16:26), freshman Riley Coan (30th, 17:05) and sophomores Rab Moran (48th, 17:21) and Sham Patel (54th, 17:30).

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