Cross-country: Coronel, Mather win city again

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Ivan Coronel knew what people were saying about him and didn’t much care for it.

So the Mather senior just let his feet do the talking in Saturday’s Public League cross country meet at Washington Park.

"Coming out here, there was doubt for me to win," Coronel said. "I wanted to prove something. I won last year; I wanted to prove it again. Don’t forget about me."

That’s unlikely after Coronel repeated as city champ in impressive fashion, covering the 3.06-mile course in 15:19.

Lane’s Kulayifi Haji finished second in 15:31. Two more Rangers joined Coronel in the top five and that was enough for Mather to win its third straight Public League title, 37-45 over runner-up Northside. Lane (47) was third.

"The whole world was surprised by the individual winner," Mather coach Dale DeVinney said. "But we weren’t. We see the boy in practice every day.

"He's just a smart, strong, steady runner. His plan all year was to break 15 minutes and he seems on the way [to doing that]."

Ditto for teammates Omar Caban (15:34) and Abdurahim Haji (15:45), who were third and fifth respectively. Northside Prep's Charlie Mesimore was fourth in 15:37.

"We knew it was going to be a close [team] race," Coronel said. "We know how to pace, how to take control of a race. Little by little, we just kept picking it up."

That's also the the long-term goal for the Rangers, who could see Northside and Lane each of the next two weeks at the Class 3A Young Regional and Niles West Sectional.

"The focus of our season is [the] state sectional," DeVinney said. "We focused on this meet only this week."