Monroe, Poly Lead the Way at Preliminaries

The North Hills Monroe High boys’ team and the Sun Valley Poly girls’ squad turned in the top performances Thursday in their respective divisions in the City Section cross-country preliminaries at Pierce College.

Monroe, led by the 1-2-3 finish of Juan Guzman, Manuel Ruiz and Daniel Guido, defeated Woodland Hills Taft, 30-82, in its heat. Monroe, runner-up to Belmont in the last two City finals, is trying to win its first section title since 1973.

Poly, which has never won a City girls’ title, won its heat by a 27-45 margin over Birmingham. Belene Mendoza, Josalyn Viers and Andrea Banuelos finished second, third and fourth for Poly.

Hot, dry and dusty conditions on the three-mile course hampered runners’ performances and resulted in nine girls requiring medical attention for ailments ranging from fainting to dehydration to hyper-ventilation.

Eight of the nine girls were taken to area hospitals for observation before being released later in the night. The other girl was released at the meet after receiving oxygen for about 30 minutes following her race.