Ever since Liberty Charter High School relocated to Alpine, the school’s cross country team has made headlines, and it continues to do so.
The Lions won their division at the 2022 San Diego Section championship meet en route to a seventh-place finish at the state championships. Last year, Liberty Charter finished third in the section finals en route to a sixth-place finish at the state meet.
The Lions climbed the hill once again by winning the Division V boys team title Saturday at Balboa Park’s Morley Field. The next stop was a return trip to the state championship course at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 30.
That’s two division championships in three years and three consecutive trips to the state meet for those counting.
“We set out a plan to win CIF and to place top three in the California state meet this year,” Liberty Charter head coach Daniel Sanchez said. “We have qualified for the California state meet the last three years. We hope to place in the top three this year.”
The Lions scored a division low 67 points to top the field of 15 scoring teams. Francis Parker finished runner-up with 72 points, followed by Santa Fe Christian with 100 points. The top four teams in the division qualified for the upcoming state meet. Maranatha Christian was fourth with 114 points.
Among East County teams, Christian was 10th with 225 points while Mountain Empire was 15th with 458 points.
High Tech High North County senior Maxwell Gibbons finished on top of the 132-deep field with a winning time of 15:44.3 — five seconds ahead of runner-up finisher Kai Rottier, a junior from High Tech High Mesa.
Santa Fe Christian senior Evan Smith finished third in 16:03.9. The Lions made their presence felt shortly thereafter.
Liberty Charter senior Aiden Burr placed fourth in 16:16.0 as the team’s No. 1 scorer. Sophomore Sam Rohrer was ninth in 16:52.1, followed by senior Luke Mapes in 13th place in 17:01.4, junior Marcos Heers in 18th place in 17:13.0 and senior Noah Hogan in 32nd place in 18:07.4 as the team’s No. 5 scorer.
Sophomore Ethan Acosta finished 38th in 18:19.1 while junior Caleb Acosta was 39th in 18:20.6 to round out the Lions’ complement of seven runners on the 2.96-mile course.
“Our mindset coming into the meet was to run aggressively and not take anything for granted,” Sanchez said. “A championship is never given; it is always earned. We won a hard-fought race where every guy on the team mattered.”
The Lions have four returners from last year’s team and two returners from the first CIF championship team.
The top 20 place-finishers at the section finals receive medals while the top 10 finishers are honored as First Team All- CIF.
Burr and Rohrer earned All- CIF recognition while Mapes and Heers also received medals.
“Our school only has 380 students, and we train in the hilly environment of Alpine,” Sanchez noted. “Most importantly, all these boys are great young men of character. They are more than runners. They will be making a difference in the world as they get older because they are learning how to embrace the value of hard work and commitment. Cross country is a very difficult sport. My program aims to build young men and women of character. I’m very proud of this group.”
Liberty Charter’s girls team placed fourth in Division V. The top three teams qualified for the state meet.
“Our girls program missed state by three points and almost made history as well,” Sanchez said. “They were much improved from last year.”
The Lady Lions had three medalists: senior Cambira Sanchez (13th, 20:51.4), junior Cadelyn Belasco (14th, 20:54.4) and sophomore Cambrey Belasco (18th, 21:25.3).
State of mind
Liberty Charter was hoping for a top three finish at the state meet to build on its sixth-place- finish from the previous year but the Lions found a few unexpected obstacles in their path.
“The boys came to the state meet with a competitive mindset to run tough and to finish on empty,” Sanchez said. “Although they ran as best they could, depleting every ounce of energy they had, sickness and lingering injuries hampered their efforts as they finished 14th in the most competitive division of the entire state meet.
“They were still the No. 1 team representing San Diego that day but went home battered and bruised. The boys had a great season and made some lifelong memories. The coaches and I are very proud of all our runners. They are truly great young men of character.”
Burr led Liberty Charter across the finish line in Fresno in 53rd place in 16:40.6, followed by Heers (90th) in 17:04.7, Mapes (104th) in 17:18.1, senior Benjamin Wagnell (125th) in 17:32.3, sophomore Sam Rohrer (132nd) in 17:39.5, Ethan Acosta (151st) in 18:00.8 and Caleb Acosta (152nd) in 18:00.8.
Woodcrest Christian senior Eyan Turk won the race in 14:32.5. Santa Fe Christian’s Smith was the top section finisher in 14th place in 15:47.5.