There were only a few feet left in the 2012 Central Coast Section Division III boys cross country race on Saturday, but Sobrato’s Ryan Corvese couldn’t stop himself from an early celebration. Raising his arms in triumph as he crossed the finish line with a personal best time of 15, minutes 27 seconds, Corvese won the section championship by a mere five seconds over Saratoga’s Steven Sum. The victory, which sends Corvese to the California Interscholastic Federation State Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 24, was a culmination of hard work and defeat for the Sobrato senior, who missed a chance to go to the state championship a year ago. This year, though, he will go there as a champion. “It was so exciting,” he said after the race Saturday. “In the past four years so much work has gone into this. I couldn’t have done any of this without any of my coaches and teammates. I have to give credit where credit is due.” But Saturday it was all Corvese. Along with Sum, Corvese shot to the front of the pack after the first turn. From there, he stayed within striking distance of the lead, trading the top spot with Sum. “By the time we settled into the pace at the start … it was just too slow,” he said. “So I took the lead. I knew I was going to have to push for a good time if I was going to get rid of Sum from Saratoga. So I pushed the pace until about a mile and a half maybe. But before the last hill I let him pull away and I just sat right on him.” In the final 800 meters, Corvese found another gear, passing Sum and extending his lead down the final sprint. It was then, Corvese knew the championship was his as he raised his arms. “I started my kick, and 500 (meters) out I knew I had it,” he said. “It was so exhilarating because this is my biggest win.” The rest of his team fared well too, as the Bulldogs placed fifth as a team behind champion St. Ignatius. After Corvese, freshman Nolan Dozier (16:58) placed 17th, Kevin Felt (17:13) placed 27th and Cody Hulme (17:26) took 37th place. “Everyone PR’d,” Sobrato head coach Tony King said. “It’s a big step for Sobrato and increasing the number of kids that will come out next year. Hopefully we will get more of them. Ryan is going to be a big stepping stone for us to attract more kids.” For Live Oak, though, junior Kalum Bergstrom couldn’t follow up his state championship berth from a year ago. Bergstrom slowed down after a fast start and finished more than 20 seconds from advancing to the next stage with a time of 16:46 – good for 13th place. “It’s a perfect day to run, but I didn’t do what I was expecting,” he said. “I went out a little too fast on the first mile and from there I was trying to sustain it throughout. It was hard race today, but I didn’t do what I wanted.” Bergstrom got caught in the fast pace set by Corvese, he said. “I knew it was going to be a pretty fast race, but I lost my mind in there so I went out too fast with all the fast people, which wasn’t what I was expecting to do,” Bergstrom said. “It hurt me in the end.” Teammate Eddie King also ran well for the Acorns, placing 22nd with a time of 17:06. No other Acorns participated in the boys race. On the girls side, Live Oak freshman Shannon Hoyle was the only Morgan Hill girl to participate in the CCS championship. Hoyle ran well, but missed qualifying for the state tournament, finishing in 30th place with a time of 20:52.
