Barstow win 3rd straight cross country title

This was my 10th year supporting the Barstow High Cross Country team at the state championships and it was awesome to see this great team dominate the field. Former great Barstow runners, Jim Ortiz, Arturo Gonzales, Ted and Alvin Gomez, Vernon Morris, Ray Perea and Curtis Barela traveled to Fresno to cheer on one of Barstow's best team ever. Congratulations! JOE

By MATTHEW PETERS Nov 24, 2007 11:07 pm FRESNO — If there are three things Anthony Solis knows, they are heat, cramps and championships. The Barstow High School senior cross country runner battled cramps for a second straight week but still led the Aztecs to their third consecutive CIF Division III state championship on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno. Solis, who brought his other two championship rings to the meet, became the first Barstow runner ever to compete on three championship teams. The Aztecs continued their reign of dominance, winning their fifth CIF title in seven seasons. “(It felt) wonderful,” Barstow coach Jim Duarte said. “We kind of felt it was coming, it was going to happen. Of course we didn’t know how dominant we could be until CIF-SS Finals.” Solis battled cramps during last week’s CIF-Southern Section finals, and the cramps returned during the first mile of the race Saturday. Solis dropped as far back as 10th place, but recovered as the race went on. “I just fought through it and tried to catch up,” Solis said. “There were a couple people that passed me and Isaac (Chavez), but I said ‘I’ll get them in the second mile.’ ” Solis also said he thrived as the midday temperatures began to rise into the high 60s. “I like it when it’s warm because we train up in the heat so we’re not real uncomfortable in it,” Solis said. Still up in the air is Barstow’s bid for a trip to the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Ore. next Saturday. California has two automatic bids for nationals. All the races and times are merged into a database and runners are assigned points based on their times. Duarte said he didn’t think Barstow made it, but the Aztecs wouldn’t be far away either. Barstow could also go as an at-large selection. There are four at-large berths available for the entire country. As runners came in, Duarte knew his top three runners’ performances tremendously helped their title hopes but worried about his last few runners’ scores. “I thought our first three guys were in the best of positions to be able to defend the title,” Duarte said. “I thought our fourth, fifth and sixth guys were up a bit further than I hoped they would be.” Ian Barba, Josh Ow and Jeremy Trujillo finished within 10 seconds of each other in 26th, 30th and 32nd place to secure Barstow’s title. Barstow’s closest competition, Oak Park, finished 51 points behind the Aztecs. The Eagles’ title hopes took a blow earlier in the week when they learned that their No. 5 runner was done for the season with a fractured hip. Oak Park coach Kevin Smith said the extra runner would have helped but called Barstow’s effort “phenomenal.” “In no way do I want to sound like sour grapes,” Smith said. “Barstow was the clear, clear champion. We are thrilled to share the podium with them.” The Aztecs came off a dominating performance at CIF-SS finals and continued to set records in Fresno. Barstow set the best team time ever for a Division III school at the meet with a mark of 79 minutes, 53 seconds. The Aztecs kept three runners in the top 10 for almost the entire race. Solis was followed by Chavez and Andrew Romano. It was the second time the Aztecs placed three runners in the top 10. The 2001 state championship team had Kalan Ray, Adam Rodriguez and James Tawney accomplish the feat, but Barstow’s current trio each beat their times. Duarte said he thought his team could have been even better in more mild conditions. Duarte said the Aztecs could have run as much as 40 seconds faster collectively if the temperature was just 10 degrees cooler.