Depth keeps BHS cross country team running for another title

I will be traveling to Walnut, Ca. this Saturday to support Coach Duarte and the High School Cross Country team. I want to wish them luck! I am confident the team will win Southern Section CIF. JOE

By DAVID HELDRETH Staff Writer BARSTOW — Jim Duarte knows that a win often requires more than the starting line up. The Barstow High School cross country coach’s 13 years of experience have given him plenty of first-hand knowledge about creating depth on a team. Duarte witnessed Ventura, a Division I team that was ranked No. 1 in the state at the start of the season, fail to advance past the CIF-Southern Section Preliminaries Saturday. Ventura’s season ended when they lost the tie breaker for the final spot in their heat to Corona. In cross country the top five of the seven runners score and the tie breakers come down to the sixth runner, Corona’s finished in 41st while Ventura’s was 49th. Ventura’s first runner came in seventh and Corona’s was 10th. “A team can tie points wise, but lose on the sixth runner rule,” Duarte said. “You want to have as strong of a runner as you can in the six position because they might decide the meet. Secondly, everyone doesn’t always have a good race. Someone might have an off day. Our six, seven or eight man could easily get the five spot, and the team won’t be losing anything at all.” The Aztecs shouldn’t face the same problem Ventura had this weekend. Barstow’s six and seven runners, Josh Ow and A.J. Kanczel, had faster times than the No. 2 runner for all but five of the teams in their heat. On top of that the Aztecs didn’t even run, Josh Gomez, their normal seven man on Saturday. Kanczel, who is normally an alternate, ran the race instead. Duarte said Gomez will be back in the line up and Kanczel will be an alternate when Barstow takes the course at Mt. San Antonio College for the CIF-SS Finals at 9:25 a.m. on Saturday. Duarte said that although some of Barstow’s runners don’t always score for the team, he expects them to push themselves for more. “I always hope that as a coach these guys don’t settle for six or seven,” Duarte said. “You have to want to be a scorer, to beat your teammates and improve. I’ve told kids before that if they want to just be the seven man or on the traveling squad they should go out for another sport.” All seven runners Barstow puts on the course on Saturday will benefit from a little weight loss. The Aztecs didn’t diet, they switch from training shoes to running flats this weekend. Running flats are lightweight shoes that have little or no tread and are used primarily in distance running. The Aztecs first wore the flats during the Desert Sky League Finals on November 1, but switched back to the training shoes for the CIF-SS preliminary meet. “I like our flats a lot better,” Jeremy Trujillo said. “They seem faster because they’re lighter. We planned on us all having the same shoes, but Andrew Romano’s feet are too big and Anthony Solis got another color.” The Aztecs may not be wearing the same shoes on Saturday, but they will all have the same goal—an eighth CIF-SS title.