A number of local cross country teams have been sprinting for the finish line as the 2009 scholastic season winds down. At La Jolla High, the Lady Vikings recently finished third in the Western League finals. La Jolla was led by senior Tatevick Simavoryan with a personal record (pr) in 19:46, junior Zoe Wescoe in 20:15, junior Catherine Russell with a pr of 20:41, junior Ilanna Fricks in 20:50, senior Jeanine Mejares with her best time this year in 21:03, freshman Megan Carroll in 21:11, and freshman Mele Johnson in 21:12. Elsewhere, the Coastal Conference finals were held recently at Kit Carson Park in Escondido. The La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) varsity boys came into this race as the favorites to clinch not only the Coastal North title for the fourth straight year, but also the conference championship for the second year in a row. Standing in their way was San Dieguito, hoping to reclaim another championship before they exit the conference next year. From the outset of the race it was clear that LJCD was the dominant team, with four of its runners in the front pack and a fifth not far behind. LJCD finished ahead of SDA by a 42-57 score to claim the conference crown. As expected, Will Botta and Patrick Hoagland of Bishop’s were in the mix with Country Day’s Lee Klitzner (junior), Dennis Roth (senior), Alex Fleischhacker (senior) and Noah Wolfenzon (sophomore), along with Francis Parker’s Duncan Tomlin, San Dieguito’s Brendan Junge and Santa Fe Christian’s Andy Kramer. Most of this group remained intact for the first half of the race, and then groups of two and three began to separate in the last mile. Botta slowly began to pull away from Klitzner just before the last set of hills, and then used the hills to secure his lead. Botta would indeed finish as the conference champion, in 16:49. Klitzner was second in 16:58, which is remarkable considering he had mono less than a month ago. Tomlin would finish third, Roth fourth in 17:09, a course pr for him. Hoagland, Junge and Kramer finished fifth, sixth and seventh, with Fleischhacker and Wolfenzon coming in together in 17:24, eighth and ninth. Both boys set course pr’s, by 17 and 71 seconds, respectively. LJCD sophomore Jake Mack also improved by nearly a minute over last year’s effort, finishing 19th in 18:35. Freshman Josh Pooley finished in 18:47 and 23rd place, while junior Phillip Poyhonen finished in 19:48 and 36th. LJCD’s girls squad entered the race without their captain and top runner Sam Staszak, out with the flu. “This was a huge loss, but still the girls were hoping to show improvement over last year’s conference and league results, and gain some momentum heading into CIF next week,” LJCD head coach Scott Sanders noted. “It is a testament to the character of our girls that several of them ran their best race of the season and of their careers.” Sophomore Maggie Taylor finished 12th in 22:13, a 5K personal record for her, and earned all-league honors. Freshman Lily Wolfenzon was 15th in 22:36, only slightly slower than her 5K pr, which was set on a very flat course. Sophomore Alina Wong ran her best race of the year and set a 5K pr in finishing 21st in 23:03. Sophomore Emily Domanico improved over last year’s finals time by 17 seconds and finished 41st. And senior Lisa Felber, running in her last cross country race, went out on a high note in setting a 5K pr of 23:52, which put her in 33rd place. Despite the absence of their top runner, the girls also accomplished their team goal of improvement, finishing third in the league and fourth in the conference, one spot better in each than last year. After easily winning the last Coastal South League cluster meet, the LJCD boys junior varsity squad was looking to win the conference junior varsity race. The LJCD boys turned in several strong performances, including pr’s by senior Garrett Schneider (20:16, 23rd), sophomores Trevor Alexander (20:02, 16th) and Aaron Mak (22:48), and freshmen Alex Rapeport (22:11), Ariel Smotrich (22:21) and Alex Garcia (22:55). Sophomore Johnny Edman also ran his best race of the season in finishing in 22:40. The Torrey scoring was led by freshman Jeff Clancy (19:55, 11th), who is also the LJCD varsity alternate. He, Trevor, and Garrett were joined by junior Chase Mertz (20:37, 28th) and Max Rudolph (21:27, 41st). Alas, the boys’ efforts came up a little short in the league standings, as they took second place to The Bishop’s School.