Anzar's Aaron Hsia-Coron recorded a personal best time of 16:54 at the Division V CCS Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Hsia-Coron will lead his team to state in two weeks.
When Anzar sophomore Aaron Hsia-Coron crossed the finish line of Salinas' three-mile Toro Park course on Saturday in 10 minutes, 54 seconds, some spectators were actually both fooled and floored by what would have been a world record time.
It wasn't, of course, but despite an electronic malfunction that was posting times six minutes fast, Hsia-Coron still managed to shatter records of his own Saturday at the Central Coast Section Cross Country Championships.
Having run a 17:02 just two weeks ago at the Coastal Athletic League Championships, Hsia-Coron shed another eight seconds off his time Saturday to finish first overall in 16:54, a personal best.
"I actually felt really good going around this first loop," said Hsia-Coron, who didn't even notice the clock malfunction when he finished. "But on the hills, that's where I did the best I think and I really widened it."
It was Hsia-Coron's goal coming in to break the 17-minute mark, and he beat second-place finisher Michael Young (17:13) of St. Francis by 19 seconds in the process.
"He ran great. It was the highlight of the meet, as far as I'm concerned," Anzar coach Doug MacKinnon said. "He set his goals, he achieved them, he ran strong and he ran from the front for the whole second half of the race against a real strong runner in Michael Young.
"Michael Young has been 15 seconds in front of [Hsia-Coron] all year long, and Aaron peaked at the right time and ran a great race."
As a team, although the Hawks will be heading back to the state meet in two weeks, they were unable to successfully defend last year's CCS title. They finished in third place overall with 82 points, behind first-place Crystal Springs Uplands (51) as well as CAL rival York (82), which won a second-place tiebreaker as their sixth runner finished ahead of Anzar's.
The Hawks were without Izzy Parra, though, who has been suffering a knee injury for the last two weeks, while another runner, Andre Melicdam, collapsed at the finish line due to the excessive heat, which reached the low 90s on Saturday.
MacKinnon said Melicdam should be okay. He finished in 38th in 20:45.
"We had a couple of injuries coming in, but that happens in sports," MacKinnon said. "I thought the kids ran as well as they could today. The heat was hard for everyone, not just us.
"So, I'm disappointed we didn't repeat as CCS champs, but I'm happy we're going to state and have another crack at the teams that finished in front of us."
The state finals will be held at Fresno's Woodward Park on Nov. 29.
Jacob Wilkenson was 12th overall in 18:28; Armando Zepeda was 16th in 18:46; Christian Heath was 27th in 19:36; Albie Albertson was 32nd in 20:05; and Josiah Garza was 33rd in 20:05.
On the girls side, Lauren Bellone led the Hawks with a 26:29 that placed her 30th, while the Anzar girls finished fifth with 145 points.
Naomi Frenzel finished in 30:01 and Kelly Gomez recorded a 32:38, which placed them in 34th and 36th place, respectively. Jessica Goodman and Cathy Chen rounded out Anzar with a 33:50 and a 36:45, placing them in 37th and 38th.
The Anzar boys, though, will have a second shot to improve upon last year's 13th place at state, last weekend's third-place at CCS.
"Hopefully, our team will get healthier," Hsia-Coron said. "It's not over yet."
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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