Rancho Cucamonga Cross Country

Junior Erin Holton and senior Brittani Matthews concluded super seasons with 26th and 30th place finishes respectively at the California State Cross Country Championships. Holton, who has battled minor setbacks this season, rebounded well over the final half to earn a return trip to historic Woodward Park. Matthews who put in a solid summer of training, saw her hard work pay off with a spot on the line in Fresno. Holton clocked 18:24 over the 5 kilometer course with Matthews right behind at 18:26. The dynamic duo went one-two at the Baseline League finals and than a third and seventh place finish at the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals at 17:57 and 18:04 to punch their tickets to the Central Valley for state.

The RCHS boys concluded a super season by placing 11th in the state of California in division 1. Rancho scored 290 points to edge out Southern Section rival Burroughs of Burbank by 1. RCHS was the 6th best team from the Southern Section and was only 14 points out of 10th. The Cougars were led by sophomore Darius Riley who clocked 15:47 for 36th place to lead the squad. Riley’s time was the tenth fastest among sophomores in the entire state meet. Joey Rutherford Del Valle was the next Cougar at 16:01 for 54th place followed by Daniel Dolen (84th 16:19), Chris Weiland (98th 16:25)and Daniel Chavez (102nd 16:27) to round out the scoring five. Jacob Burch was 109th at 16:31 and Eliot Sanchez was 178th at 17:37 to complete the team of seven. The Cougars finished the season ranked 14th out of all teams in the state in the Dyestatcal poll. Things look promising for next year as the Cougars return Riley, Rutherford Del Valle and Weiland plus a handful of other underclassmen who could help the Cougars make it back to Fresno in 2016.

The RCHS boys are ranked 10th in division 1 heading into the biggest meet of the year, the California State Championships this Saturday, November 28. The rankings provided by PrepCal Track, position the Cougars at tenth after a super showing at the Southern Section Finals. In the dyestatcal poll, the Cougars are ranked as the 14th best team regardless of division in the state.

On the girls side, Erin Holton and Brittani Matthews are both ranked in the top 25 individuals by dyestatcal, with Holton at 16th and Matthews at 25th. Both hope to finish off the 2015 cross country season with super efforts on the 5k Woodward Park course.

The boys race at 11:15am while the dynamic duo of Holton and Matthews race at 12:50pm.

The  Cougars boys team ran better than anyone projected and that is just fine with them as they nabbed the final state qualifying spot out of the tough CIF Southern Section in the Division 1 finals. The Cougars scored 210 points for 7th and were three points out of 6th and 13 out of 5th. Rancho was led by Darius Riley (19th 15:41) and Joey Rutherford Del Valle (28th 15:53). Daniel Chavez (42nd 16:05),  Daniel Dolen (65th 16:20) and Jacob Burch (70th 16:23) rounded out the scoring five. Also competing were Chris Weiland (80th 16:42) and Marcquise Holcomb (106th 17:21). Junior Erin Holton took third at 17:57 over the 2.93 mile Mt. SAC course, while senior  Brittani Matthews took 7th at 18:04 to earn individual spots to the state meet this Saturday, November 28 at Woodward Park in Fresno. The low finish of Holton and Matthews led the Cougars to a tenth place team finish. Senior Megan Maretti ran 20:16 (79th), Ivy Vollaire clocked 20:41 for 96th and frosh Lanie Schemenauer nabbed 103rd at 21:00 to round out the scoring five. Also competing were Sarah Gillen  (23:15) and Emily Osborn (24:00).

The boys race at 11:15am over the 5K Woodward Park Course while Erin and Brittani will toe the line at 12:50pm. Good luck Cougars!!!

Congratulations to both the boys and girls varsity squads for advancing to the CIF Southern Section Championships this Saturday, November 21 at MT. SAC. The boys advancement came down to the 6th runner as the Cougars and Long Beach Poly both totaled 197 points for their five scoring runners. Senior  Jacob Burch (89th at 15:52)  finished 8 spots ahead of the 6th Long Beach Poly runner to help the Cougars reach the finals. Leading the team was the duo of Joey Del Valle Rutherford and Darius Riley who finished 16th and 17th out of nearly 200 runners with both clocking 15:08 over the three mile Riverside City Cross Country course. Daniel Chavez finished in 50th at 15:27, Daniel Dolen was next at 15:29 for 54th and Chris Weiland rounded out the scoring five at 15:43 for 73rd. Grant Sipos ran 15:55 to finish 96th. The boys had an impressive 35 second 1-5 gap.

The girls were once again led by one of the best duos in the Southern Section in junior Erin Holton and senior Brittani Matthews. Holton won the race in 17:18 while Matthews was just behind in 4th at 17:31. Sophomore Ivy Vollaire was next in at 84th running the three mile course in 19:14. Freshman Lanie Schemenauer ran 19:30 to claim 96th place and senior Megan Maretti took 107th in 19:37 to help the Cougars total 277 points and secure the 8th and final team spot to the finals from their heat. Sophomore Emily Osborn ran 21:39 to round out the Cougars six finishers.

The boys will race at 9:25am this Saturday while the girls hit the course at 10:25am. 

Under dark skies and cold conditions at Glen Helen Park, the RCHS Cougars turned the 2015 Baseline League Finals into a blazing exhibition of talent and depth. The boys varsity captured the league title with their best performance of the season, placing six runners in the top ten. Junior Joey Del Valle Rutherford led the way taking second with sophomore Darius Riley close behind in third and senior Daniel Chavez right on his heels in fourth. Senior Daniel Dolen took sixth with juniors Chris Weiland in ninth and Grant Sipos in tenth. The Cougars scored a minuscule 24 points to defeat their league foes handily. The JV Boys team raced to a perfect score of 15 points in sweeping the top five positions to claim the league title. Leading the way were Julian Gutierrez, Eliot Sanchez, Aaren Cortez, Marco Campos, Marquise Holcomb and Christian Sanchez. The dynamic duo of Erin Holton and Brittani Matthews went one-two in the varsity girls race, but that was not enough as the girls fell to Chino Hills for the league title. Holton won her third straight Baseline League individual title, this after not racing for nearly three weeks.

Full results to come.

RCHS took to the daunting hills of Mt. SAC for the first time this season and looked like they had run there all season. Senior Brittani Matthews ran the challenging course in 17:55 to break the Cougars senior girls record. Her effort placed her 11th in the individual sweepstakes race. Also running well for the Cougars was Megan Marietta finishing in 30th place at 19:18. The boys varsity ran well in taking second place in the Sub Sweepstakes Varsity race totaling 92 points to the 85 score by Monte Vista of San Jose. Junior Joey Del Valle Rutherford clocked 15:34 to take 4th place, with senior Daniel Dolen and sophomore Darius Riley close behind at 15:43 (9th) and 15:47 (12th). All three were big PR’s! Junior Chris Weiland ran 16:15 to finish 30th and Daniel Chavez took 37th at 16:20, with his shoe half on for nearly two miles. The boys showed their depth by winning the JV boys division race over 26 schools amassing just 50 points. Senior Jacob Burch led the Cougars charge with the individual win at 16:29. Eliot Sanchez took third at 16:51 and Julian Gutierrez ran 17:09 to claim tenth. Rounding out the scoring five were Marco Campos (14th 17:13) and Christian Sanchez (22nd 17:23). Full results can be found here.

Rancho Cucamonga boys varsity ran to a second place finish at the Inland Empire Championships Sweepstakes race Saturday. RCHS scored 87 points to finish behind national power Great Oak who scored 22. This was the Cougars 7th San Bernardino County title in the last eight years! The Cougars had an impressive 1-5 gap of just 25 seconds. Joey Del-Valle Rutherford took 8th at 15:22 followed by Darius Riley (13th-15:30), Daniel Dolen (15th-15:31), Daniel Chavez (24th-15:40) and Chris Weiland (31st-15:47). Rounding out the varsity seven were Marquise Holcomb at 16:33 (69th) and Jacob Burch 16:34 (70th). The Cougars also ran another varsity squad that took third in their race scoring 122 points to finish behind Great Oak (50) and Vista Murrieta (107). Grant Sipos lead the Cougars clocking 16:07 for 13th place. Aaron Cortes (21st-16:23), Marco Campos (23rd-16:25), Julian Gutierrez (30th-16:37) and Elliot Sanchez (36th-16:46) rounded out the scoring five for RCHS. Brittani Matthews took 6th in the girls sweepstakes race running the three mile course in 17:47 which was the fifth fastest time for a senior girl. Megan Maretti ran 18:44 which was good for 24th.

Full results can be found at runnercard.com under the 2015 Inland Empire Challenge.

Great job to all of the Cougars who ran and the parents who helped make the meet run so smoothly.