A fine day for a tribute

It was quite a day at the park on Saturday.

A “lovely day” to hear Bellarmine-Jefferson High cross-country

Coach Jim Couch tell it.

For the Guards’ coach, who found himself immersed in handling all

the festivities as much as coaching, the 32nd Annual

Bellarmine/Griffith Park Cross-Country Invitational was as much a

successful event as it was a showcase of stellar cross-country

talent.

“It was a lovely day, today. We had a deserving dedication to Paul

Suzuki,” Couch said.

“The race has gone well; we had 3,000 athletes participating today

and over 90 schools. [It was a] major feat, but we got it done.”

The dedication to Suzuki, a longtime official at the event who

died in a freak and tragic shot put accident earlier this year, began

the day as his wife, children and grandchildren were there to accept

a plaque as the event’s starting line was officially renamed in his

honor.

The event also fell upon the 50th anniversary of Laszlo Tabori

becoming the third man ever to run a sub-four-minute mile. Tabori,

who’s the proprietor of a Burbank footwear store, donated running

shoes to every first-place finisher on the day and T-shirts or tote

bags to second-place finishers.

It was also the first event in some time that varsity standouts

Katie Vahoviak of Burroughs and Gerard Herkey of Bell-Jeff weren’t

poised to prevail in the local invitational, so it wasn’t a huge

surprise that no Burbank-area athletes won themselves new running

shoes. Nevertheless, there were good showings from every area varsity

squad.

Herkey, who was in attendance as was Vahoviak, watched as his

sister, Amber, led the Guards’ girls’ team to a fourth-place team

finish in the Division V race, and Joshua Lepe established himself as

the new leader on the Bell-Jeff boys’ team.

Both Burbank and Burroughs also faired well, highlighted by the

Indians notching top-10 finishes in both the boys’ and girls’ races.

“I thought we had a good day,” said Indians’ Coach John Peebles.

“It was kind of tough to have [the first Foothill League meet] two

days [earlier] and come back for this. We put a lot more into the

league meets, the mental effort, in particular, but they did

[comeback].”

Indeed, the Indians did.

Two top-five finishes in the girls’ Division II/III race

highlighted the Indians’ day, as Sadee Martinez and Michelle Martinez

battled each other to the end with Sadee edging to a fourth-place

finish and Michelle settling for fifth. Both were credited with a

time of 18 minutes and 35 seconds.

“We just push each other,” Michelle said, “and whatever happens,

happens. We’re still teammates.”

Brenda Santana placed 19th for Burroughs in 19:45, but it was the

Burbank girls’ team that tallied a better overall mark, taking fourth

place.

Led by Natasha Christoffersen’s 11th-place mark (19:20), the

Bulldogs also got 14th- (Michelle Horgan, 19:31) and 24th-place

(Nelly Shamirian, 19:59) finishes. Nonetheless, the top finish was

spearheaded by Christoffersen, who said she realized, midway through

the race, she was in 21st place and made up 10 spots before the

finish.

Burbank’s boys’ team also did well, as four Bulldogs, led by Matt

Carey (15:51), came in between 21-29 places to secure a fifth-place

mark.

It was Burroughs which left with bragging rights, though, as it

finished a slot ahead thanks in large part to the seventh-place

finish of Morgan Walker (15:23).

“My goal coming in was top-10,” Walker said. “I also wanted to get

a team trophy, that’s more important to me.”

The top-three teams get trophies, so Walker’s team goal came up a

bit short, but teammates Adrian Harrison (15th; 15:32) and Alex

Sandoval (28th’ 15:58) still ran well.

Bell-Jeff’s girls’ team came just shy of winning a trophy, as

well, with its fourth-place finish. It wasn’t for lack of effort from

Amber Herkey, though, as she ran to a fifth-place mark in 19:36.

Gabrille Gonzalez (10th; 20:04) also notched a top-10 mark and Nikki

Taylor (26th; 22:00) did well, too.

As for the Bell-Jeff boys, an eighth-place team mark was as good

as it would get, but Lepe’s finish stood out.

“We don’t normally practice here, but I know the course pretty

[well],” said Lepe (seventh; 16:22) of the Griffith Park course that

his team calls home. “It really feels good because my family and

friends are all here.”