Seniors from Coastal League and Division 5 in San Diego Section will conclude prep cross country careers at familiar venue at Balboa Park's Morley Field after joining Ayers and Sannes among four California male qualifiers at West Regional at Mt. SAC; First time since 2010 host city will have two local boys at nationals

By Landon Negri for DyeStat/Chuck Utash Photos

It’s one thing to be excited to qualify for the Eastbay Cross Country Championships as a runner from the San Diego area.

It’s another to take ownership of that fact and set it as an ultimate goal.

Kenan Pala did. So did Mark Trammell. And now both will enjoy the fruits of their achievements.

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Pala and Trammell, two Division 5 runners not only from the San Diego area but from small schools from the same league, made it all the way home after Saturday’s Eastbay West Regional meet at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Calif.

Pala, a Francis Parker senior headed to Yale, finished as the West’s individual runner-up after covering the 5-kilometer course in 15 minutes, 12 seconds. Trammell, a senior from Solana Beach Santa Fe Christian signed with Wake Forest, enjoyed a benchmark race by placing eighth in 15:20. The top 10 boys and girls in Saturday’s races moved on to next week’s national meet at Balboa Park's Morley Field in San Diego.

In all, four California boys advanced, as Davis Senior’s Zach Ayers and Big Bear’s Max Sannes also moved on.

To earn a berth in this national race in their hometown is something that is always special for the San Diego runners, and it especially was for Pala and Trammell, who became the first pair of San Diego boys qualifiers to represent the West in the same season since Matt Carpowich of Torrey Pines and Darren Fahy of La Costa Canyon in 2010.

“I’m very excited,” said Pala, who last week won the California Division 5 state championship at Woodward Park in Fresno.

“This has been a dream of mine since freshman year, to race at Nationals. To race at Nationals, to finally have that dream come true, it just adds to it that it’s in San Diego, somewhere we’re very familiar with. I’m speechless, but in a good way.”

Added Trammell: “I knew from the summer that I’d be able to do it. I was training hard, getting fit and it’s nice to be able to have a hometown crowd. I’m really excited because I’ll have a lot of people out there supporting me.”

Both boys hail from campuses within just a few miles from the Pacific Ocean. Their respective schools compete in the Coastal League. Two weeks ago, at the San Diego Section finals – also run at Balboa Park’s Morley Field – they finished 1-2 in the Division 5 championship race.

But to reach next week’s meet that is also just a few miles away, they had to get through a meet contested in a very non-San Diego like environment.

Mt. SAC and its three legendary hills offered  true tests to make it to Nationals.

Pala won Division 5 last week at Woodward Park in 14:51 – the fastest time of that day by anyone not with “Newbury Park” attached to their name and the all-time division record on the 5-kilometer layout in Fresno.

On Saturday, he challenged  Tyrone Gorze of Crater High in Oregon, before settling for second place. Gorze, who won in 15:10, was the Oregon 5A state champion.

“I love the hills, so Mt. SAC is kind of my favorite course,” Pala said. “I wanted to use those (hills), so it was a nice battle with Tyrone. Unfortunately, he got me right at the end.”

Trammell was third last week in 15:12.9 while leading Santa Fe Christian to a second-place finish as a team. Saturday was a different type of race for him, as he really had to be cognizant of his placing with just the 10 qualifiers moving on. In fact, only 15 seconds separated Gorze and Sannes, the last qualifier.

“I wanted to go out pretty controlled due to the hills and the bad air quality,” Trammell said. “I knew there would be some carnage, so I could pick people off. On the second hill, Poop-out Hill, I was in about 12th and feeling all right. I got to pick off a couple more people.

“At the top of the third hill (Reservoir Hill), I was in ninth or 10th, and 11th was pretty far behind,” he added, “so at that point, I knew if I just finished, I’d be able to make the (West) team.”

So they’ll look to next week. A win by either would bring San Diego County’s first Eastbay/Foot Locker boys winner since Oceanside El Camino’s A.J. Acosta in 2005. California’s last boys winner was Big Bear’s Chad Hall in 2006.

There is also a regional team competition between qualifiers from the West, Midwest, Northeast and South. Pala likes the West’s chances.

“It would be great to win it as a West region,” he said. “I think we’ve got a pretty stacked team this year, so that’s definitely something all 10 of us are going to be going for. And then individually, (my goal is) to rank top five. A top-five finish would be really nice, I know that won’t be easy.

“But then again, nothing worth having ever is.”