Arroyo Grande's boys and girls cross country teams were on top of the PAC-7 League standings when the PAC-7 League Finals started Thursday. They were still there when the meet ended.

The Eagles boys won the finals at Cuesta College's hilly 5K Fairbanks course easily with 37 points to runner-up Paso Robles' 66. Arroyo Grande's girls tied San Luis Obispo for meet honors with 41 points, but were far enough ahead after the mid-season meet to edge the Tigers 16 points to 15 for first place.

Nipomo senior Andrew Garcia repeated as PAC-7 League boys champion by winning in 16:03.4. Kathleen Uytewaal of San Luis Obispo won the girls race in 19:05.8.

Arroyo Grande's girls were without sophomore Hannah Stevens. Stevens, one of the Eagles' top runners, was ill. "We expect her back for (the CIF Southern Section Preliminaries) though," said Eagles sophomore Emily Johnston.

Johnston said wistfully, "(Hannah) was itching to be out here today." Johnston finished fifth Thursday. Katie Lewis led the Eagles with a fourth-place finish.

Arroyo Grande's boys squad won easily thanks to superior balance. Hugo Gutierrez finished second in 16:18.1, Cullen Cali ran fourth and Daniel Smith came home sixth.

Arroyo Grande's girls squad three-peated as league champ. AG's boys repeated. The top four boys and girls teams in the final PAC-7 standings qualified automatically for the CIF Southern Section Preliminaries which take place Nov. 14 at Mt. San Antonio College.

Boys teams advancing automatically included, in order, Arroyo Grande, Paso Robles, SLO and Atascadero. The Greyhounds passed Righetti for fourth place Thursday.

Girls squads advancing automatlcally included, in order, Arroyo Grande, SLO, Atascadero and Paso Robles. Those were the top four teams going in.

"This is huge for us, to repeat as league champs," said Cali, who's a senior.

"We hope to build on this and go all the way to the state meet. We were without Hugo at the CIF Preliminaries last year and didn't advance past there."

Gutierrez has been Arroyo Grande's top runner each of the last two years.

Garcia pulled away over the last 800 meters Thursday. "I'm very excited to repeat as league champion," he said afterward. "Hugo's a good friend and he ran a heck of a race."

Garcia chuckled. "I knew Hugo has a good kick. I did not want to get in a footrace with him at the end." That's what happened at the mid-season meet, and Gutierrez pulled away to win. Garcia finished second.

Gutierrez said, "I'm disappointed that I couldn't win today, but our team's looking forward to the CIF prelims."

Uyttewaal passed Madison Cline of Paso Robles in the last half mile and won the girls race in 19:05.8. Atascadero's Mimi Petersen came up for second place. Cline finished third.

Lewis said, "I thought we did really well today. We usually run in a group, and we tried to stay close together today.

"It gives us confidence to know that we can do this well without one of our top runners." McKenzie Goldman (sixth place) and Lupita Leon (ninth) cracked the top 10 for Arroyo Grande.

Jacob Moore of Paso Robles finished third in the boys race. Atascadero's Luke Tillmann rounded out the top five. He finished fifth.

Steven Youngblood led Pioneer Valley's boys Thursday. He finished 13th. Manuel Perez (15th) paced Righetti.

Cynthia Vasquez of Righetti (25th place), Jasmine Ruvalcaba of Pioneer Valley (34th) and Veronica Ferreira of Nipomo (38th) were area girls team leaders.

Sean Pringle of Arroyo Grande won the boys junior varsity race in 17:43.8. Meghan Arigo of San Luis Obispo took the girls JV race in 21:35.7. Arroyo Grande's Kylie Herlihy and Brooke Ranes finished fourth and fifth respectively.

Girls tennis

PAC-7 League Preliminaries

Pioneer Valley sophomore Caitlyn Brown, Arroyo Grande's Mia McKinstry and two area doubles teams moved into the semifinals at Nipomo High School.

Brown rallied past Maria Petiy of Paso Robles 1-6, 6-1, 10-7 (pro set) in the quarterfinals. She will face top-seeded Tori Troesch of San Luis Obispo in one semifinal. The semis start at 9 a.m. today at Nipomo.

McKinstry downed Katy Veroski of Righetti 6-2, 6-1 in the quarters. Meanwhile, Laura Wong and Lauren Nguyen of Righetti upset second-seeded Lauren Redberg and Lauren Hynes of Paso Robles 0-6, 7-6, 10-8 in the doubles quarterfinals.

The Warriors duo will play Arroyo Grande's Kimmy Turner and Brianna Flood in one semi. Turner and Flood defeated Rhiannon Dudley and Marissa Jordan of Atascadero 6-4, 6-2 in the quarters.

Lompoc 9, Santa Maria 9 (80-77 Lompoc, games)

The Braves (3-8-1 Los Padres League) edged the Saints (1-11, 2-13) in a regular season finale thanks to winning 80 games to the Saints' 77 at the Minami Center.

Korina Esqueda and Asucena Villalobos helped the Braves win by sweeping three sets at No. 1 doubles. Danielle Rivas and Glenda Polancos (singles), and the doubles team of Mitzi Estevez and Mae Roma all earned two points for the Saints.

Boys water polo

Righetti 18, SLO 8

The Warriors (9-1, 17-10) wrapped up a share of the PAC-7 League championship with ease at Sinsheimer Pool in San Luis Obispo.

Righetti has won or shared a league title 14 of the last 15 years. The Warriors and Arroyo Grande are co-champs this year just as they were last season.

Matt Johnson popped in seven goals for the Warriors Thursday. Jeremiah Morales scored four times. Goal keeper Kyle Stevens made 11 saves.

The Warriors play a non-league game against Westlake Village Oaks Christian at 1 p.m. Saturday at Righetti in their last tuneup before the playoffs.