Cross Country: Delgado leads Pirates to City crown

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Laura Delgado of San Pedro pulled away in the last mile and won the City Section girls’ cross country championship Saturday morning at Pierce College, clocking a personal best 18:16 to set the tone for a dominating team victory by the Pirates.

San Pedro won its seventh team title in 11 years by a whopping 95 points as the last four of its five scoring runners (Lorena Garcia, Tiana Thorp, Evelyn Gonzalez and Jocelyn Silva) swept places 7-10 for a cumulative total of 31. The Pirates were so deep, in fact, that their sixth runner, Itzel Ramirez, finished 11th.

‘Everyone stepped up huge today and ran big PRs,’ said San Pedro Coach Bruce Thomson, whose team moves on to next week’s state finals in Fresno. ‘I’m really proud of Laura [Delgado]. She’s a senior and it’s great to see all of her hard work pay off.’

Individual qualifers for next week’s state meet in Fresno were Taft senior Fany Alvarado, who finished second in 18:29, Palisades freshman Jacklyn Bamberger (third in 18:32), Venice senior Jaclyn Walles (fourth in 18:43), Los Angeles senior Martha Pena (fifth in 18:46) and Monroe senior Jennifer Mendoza (sixth in 18:55).

Taft and Monroe tied for second in the team competition at 126 points, but Birmingham earned the City’s second state berth based on the sixth runner tiebreaker.

Former San Pedro and UCLA standout Valerie Flores, who won five City titles in cross country and track from 1998 to 2000, was on hand to present the team and individual medals.

-- Steve Galluzzo