Vaunted Long Beach Poly Boys Don’t Believe Hype

Rankings don’t mean squat.

They’re not worth diddly.

Until the end of the season.

Then they’re good indicators of how well teams have performed in the championship meets.

So say the 17th-year coach of the Long Beach Poly High boys’ cross-country team and the Jackrabbits’ top runner.

Poly is the nation’s top-ranked team in Harrier magazine’s preseason poll, but Coach George Wright and senior Bryan Durham are downplaying that..

“The only ranking that counts is the one at the end of the season,” Wright said. “If rankings were the only thing that mattered, then you would only have to show up for the meets. You wouldn’t have to run.”

Durham, starting his fourth varsity season, agreed. .

“It’s always fun to be No. 1,” he said. “But we can’t get too wrapped up in that. If we start thinking, ‘We’re No. 1 so we don’t have to work that hard,’ it’s only going to hurt us.”

Eight of Poly’s top nine runners return from a team that won its third state Division I title in four years last season and its fourth Southern Section championship in five, yet the Jackrabbits aren’t a shoo-in to win either title again.

Canyon Country Canyon, 16th in the national poll, could snap Poly’s dominance at the section level.

Canyon, 24th-ranked Clovis Buchanan and defending state Division II champion Carmichael Jesuit--moving up to the Division I level this year--should also be formidable foes for the Jackrabbits when the state championships are held at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 24.

Poly eked out a 152-153 victory over Buchanan in the state meet last year.

The Jackrabbits were heavily favored before the meet and ranked second nationally, but they turned in a subpar performance as Oscar Mendez ran with a stress fracture in his leg and Durham, section champion Ozzie Pina and Kevin Brulois were sick.

“We knew that we were in for a fight the day before the meet,” Durham said. “We knew we weren’t at full strength, but we thought we could still pull it off.”

Pina, now at Mt. San Antonio College, is the only one of Poly’s top nine runners not back this season.

Durham placed sixth in the section final last year and ran career bests of 4 minutes 23.26 seconds in the 1,600 meters and 9:31.06 in the 3,200 during track season.

Mendez, a senior, finished 19th in the section cross-country final last year and ran a noteworthy 1:54.45 in the 800 in track.

Brulois, a junior who finished 180th in the state final while weakened by flu, competed for Long Beach Poly’s swim team during the spring, but has looked strong in running workouts this summer.

So did junior teammates Luis Ruiz, Ed Giles, Kevin Ward and Johnny Villarreal and sophomore Eulices Pina, Ozzie’s brother.

“We have the potential to be very good,” Wright said. “We’ll have a lot of depth and we should be very strong in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh positions.”

Nonetheless, Wright knows it will take some luck to win a mythical national championship.

“You have to be right on at the right time,” he said. “And you never know what’s going to happen at the end of the season.”

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Canyon Country Canyon might lack Long Beach Poly’s overall depth, but the Cowboys could have the best trio in the state in seniors Luke Llamas and Jameson Mora, and junior Ryan Morgan.

Llamas finished second and Mora was sixth in the Southern Section Division II final last year. And Morgan was expected to contend for a top-10 finish before coming down with flu.

Furthermore, they’re coming off superb track seasons during which Llamas clocked 9:09.73 for 3,200 meters, Mora ran 9:14.29 and Morgan timed 9:22.98.

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Senior Henry Hagenbuch of Carpinteria Cate and junior Erick Maldonado of Chino Don Lugo top the list of returning individual runners in the Southland.

Hagenbuch placed second in the Southern Section Division V final last year, third in the state meet and a surprising 12th in the West regional championships. In track, he ran a career-best 9:09.98 in the 3,200 and placed fifth in the state meet.

Maldonado set a sophomore course record at Mt. SAC with a 15:12 clocking over the 2.91 mile layout while finishing third in the Southern Section Division I final. He was 17th in the state meet and 31st in the West regional.

The City Section title could go to a runner named Ruiz. enior Marlon Ruiz of Belmont finished fifth in the section final last year and junior Manuel Ruiz of North Hills Monroe was seventh.

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BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY

A look at the top 10 programs in the Southland

1. Long Beach Poly (SS-Moore) Can the Jackrabbits win a record fourth state Division I title?

2. Canyon Country Canyon (SS-Foothill) The Cowboys are well stocked for their move from Division II to I.

3. Riverside Rubidoux (SS-Sunkist) Senior Lino Flores paces a team that will also move up to Division I.

4. Dana Point Dana Hills (SS-South Coast) Junior Tyler Kastorff leads a deep Dolphin squad.

5. Lake Forest El Toro (SS-South Coast) Dual meet Oct. 3 against Dana Hills should be a doozy.

6. Temecula Valley (SS-Southwestern) The Golden Bears might have 14 runners vying for seven varsity spots.

7. Placentia Valencia (SS-Orange) Junior Juan Robles should battle Kastorff for Orange County title.

8. Belmont (City-Northern) The Sentinels are favored to win eighth consecutive City title.

9. Bellflower St. John Bosco (SS-Serra) Five of the Braves’ top seven runners return.

10. Costa Mesa Estancia (SS-Pacific Coast) Top seven runners are back, including junior Humberto Rojas.

t10. Thousand Oaks (SS-Marmonte) A tightly bunched top five will be the Lancers’ strength.