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If it was a horse race, it would have been a photo-finish when the teams of the Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division raced down the home stretch in a cross country meet last week.
But there was no camera at the finish line when the Mustangs of Pioneer won by a nose against Oak Grove and the Bruins of Branham High lost by even less to Evergreen Valley.
Pioneer nosed out Oak Grove 28-29 in the league meet, but Branham lost by a tiebreaker after racing Evergreen to a 28-28 tie. In another dual meet score in the same meet, Pioneer outran Branham 20-39.
Sean Lopes and Steven Delay each finished in the top 10 to lead the Pioneer effort (individual results are taken from the league as a whole).
Lopes was sixth in 16:58 on the 2.95mile course at Alum Rock Park in East San Jose with Delay ninth in 17:20. Ken Rose was 11th in 17:24 for the Mustangs with Jeff Higashi 15th in 17:42, Ken Earl 17th in 18:06, Sean Sakamoto 27th in 19:07 and Ricky Messeman 29th in 19:12.
Kevin Cunningham was the top finisher for Branham, running 12th in 17:32. Jason Hatakeyama was 14th for the Bruins in 17:42 with Anthony Russell 30th in 19:14.
In the girls varsity race the same day, Branham sprinted past Pioneer 16-39 but lost 15-48 to Evergreen Valley. The Mustangs lost 22-33 to Oak Grove.
Branham's Allison Whitney was 15th overall in 22:35 to lead the list of local finishers. Alice Durand was 22nd for the Bruins in 23:52 with Laura Kassovic 27th in 25:48 and Sabine Durand 28th in 25:58.
Elizabeth Bolender of Pioneer finished 19th in 23:45.
In the boys junior varsity division, Pioneer's Wyatt Ptak was 20th in 23:08.
In Mt. Hamilton Division competition, Leland lost to Willow Glen in both boys and girls competition.
The Rams outran the Chargers 22-36 in the boys varsity division. Willow Glen finished the dual meet season with a 6-1 record, second only to Silver Creek's 7-0. The Chargers ended up fourth at 4-3.
Leland's Alex Ramon finished fifth in the Mt. Hamilton pack in the final regular season meet, running 15:22 on the 2.73mile course at Montgomery Park. Close behind in eighth was teammate Ken Elkabany in 15:55.
The Leland girls lost 19-36 to Willow Glen the same day. Like the boys, the Rams were 6-1 in the division, second to Silver Creek's 7-0. The Chargers, meanwhile, tied sixth place at 1-6.
The top Leland finisher in the meet was Katie Buckley, who ran 14th in 20:56. Monica Song was 15th in 20:57.
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