ESCONDIDO ---- The pack is back.
At the outset of this season, Poway High cross country coach Dan Schaitel expressed the hope that his boys team, a deep and determined group without a lot of starpower, would be able to quietly fulfill its potential.
He likened this team to some of the groups he had during a five-year stretch from 1986-1990, when the Titans won three consecutive CIF San Diego Section titles and finished second twice.
At the Palomar League championships on Saturday, Poway's Alex Smith and Connor Jaramillo finished first and second, and six Titans were bunched together in the top 11 as they clinched the league title with an impressive display of pack running at Kit Carson Park.
"One of the things about our pack is we have a lot of guys and our depth goes down to about 16," said Jaramillo, who ran 16 minutes, 8 seconds on the 3.1-mile course to finish 1 second behind Smith. "Our top seven is very strong, and there is no real drop off between seven and 16."
After Smith and Jaramillo, the Titans grabbed fifth place (Anton Walker, 16:29), sixth (Michael Romero, 16:30), 10th (Nathan Eazer, 16:39), 11th (Eric Hayen, 16:40) and 14th (Zachary Barber, 16:46). Its team score of 24 points was well ahead of Rancho Buena Vista (50) and Rancho Bernardo (80).
"The hard decisions are next week," said Schaitel, whose team topped the Palomar standings during the dual-meet season, as well. "How am I going to get down to seven? It's a good decision to have, obviously.
"They've been that way all year long. They believe in themselves. They've learned their lessons well. They look forward to competition. There's nothing more I could ask for. A pretty phenomenal day."
All three North County Conference leagues held their championship races Saturday at Kit Carson Park. The results were compared with the standings from the dual-meet season to determine an overall team champion.
La Costa Canyon sophomore Darren Fahy won the Avocado League individual title in 16:02, the fastest time of the day, and Torrey Pines placed three runners in the top seven to grab the team title. Ismael Rodriguez of Valley Center achieved his goal of winning the Valley League individual title in his senior year, but Mt. Carmel claimed the team title.
Rodriguez has run virtually injury-free this season after battling serious tendon problems that limited him to an exercise bike a year ago.
"Coach would give me the keys and I would just go up to the training room and either spin for an hour or hour and a half, or do my hill repeats on a bike," Rodriguez said. "It was horrible, because I couldn't (train) with my team the whole time."
Fahy is a promising runner who has been dogged by injuries. He broke his foot early last season when he stepped in a hole and this year had to take two weeks off because of a thigh bruise. He forced the pace early in the Avocado League race and held on at the end.
"He's got the will of a tiger," La Costa Canyon coach Bill Vice said.
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