WALNUT >> The El Rancho High School cross country team will train for another week.
That's because the Dons' Gefry Sarco earned a berth in next Saturday's CIF state meet in Fresno.
Sarco finished 15th in Saturday's CIF-Southern Section Division 1 finals on the hilly 2.92-mile Mt. SAC course. He was the fourth-fastest individual, which earned one of five berths. He ran a 15:10, a personal best by 27 seconds.
"I'm just happy to make it for another race," the senior said.
He beat Del Rio League champion Samuel Bautista of California by 14 seconds. Bautista was 27th.
He was the first El Rancho individual to advance to state sine 2006.
The Dons finished 11th and California, which was second in state last year, finished 12th.
De La Rosa, who also said the pace was too fast, finished third in 14:44 and sophomore Phillip Rocha was fifth in 14:50. Senior Josue Gonzalez was 11th in 15:05 and Jarrick Wenslow finished 24th in 15:23. But it was the No. 4 and 5 runners that gave Warren the division title by eight points over Arcadia. The Bears' 1:15:31 team time was the second-fastest in course history and Arcadia's 1:15.:38 was third-fastest.
Four teams and eight individuals from the entire Valley and Whittier area advanced. Flintridge Prep won the boys and girls Division 5 titles and Arcadia saw its three-year reign as Division 1 champions end with an eight-point loss to Warren.
Bosco Tech's Ruben Dominguez and La Canada's Anna Frederich also advanced to state. Dominguez finished second to Big Bear's Caleb Webb in the Division 4 race in 14:58. Frederich was third in Division 3 in 17:57.
Amat finished fourth with 139 points. The top five Lancers are underclassmen.
Freshman Ally Palomino was 12th in 18:24 and freshman Ashley Garcia was 29th in 18:50.
In the same race, Bonita's Creese finished 16th in 18:35 to earn the final individual berth, but her team was ninth and failed to advance. Los Altos, led by Kristen Camarena, finished 14th. Camarena was 19th in 18:37 and Azusa's Roxanne Valle was 40th.
Glendora junior Jeff Kirwin moved up two spots near the finish to take third in 14:55, the same time as winner Garrett Corcoran of Villa Park and Wes Walsh of Anaheim's Canyon. The Tartans finished 10th in Division 2 points.
Bonita freshman Beckum qualified in the No. 5 spot by finishing 16th in 15:26 in Division 3, but the Bearcats were a surprising 10th.
Bishop Amat was 14th in the race.
Glendora's girls finished 15th in Division 2.