November 2, 2010 > Prep gymnastics, cross country recap Prep gymnastics, cross country recap By Sanjna Shukla After an intense season in Mission Valley Athletic League (MVAL) gymnastics, Mission San Jose High School (MSJHS) finished in first place. MSJHS, which has always been one of the top contenders in gymnastics, is the favorite to win MVALS again this year. Mission, with a relatively large varsity/elite team of 13 members, usually sweeps the first five positions at meets. In a meet against Irvington, Mission swept both the JV and Elite categories. Sindhur Rao of Irvington, who placed second in varsity, was the only member of the Irvington team to place in the top five against Mission. Mission was able to clinch the first spot in a meet against American, which they won 140.75 to 111.80. Ariel Cheng of Mission got first place at the meet with 36.75 points. The elite team claimed the top five spots. Julie Griffin of American placed third in Varsity, and was the only American team member to place. Daniel Nguyen of the boys team of American High School has had a successful season. Placing in the top five in a few meets, Daniel Nguyen is the team's X-factor. In the intense meet against Mission, Nguyen placed second, just .05 points behind the first place winner. Cross Country With the final regular season matches taking place last week, teams are getting ready to head to the MVAL playoffs. Some teams are expected to fare well in the off season, but others will not be going on to the North Coast Section tournament. The cross country teams in MVAL are all pretty evenly matched, give or take one or two teams. For example, Logan, Washington and Mission San Jose usually end up vying for first place. This year, Logan clinched the first place spot in the regular season. Washington came in second and Mission San Jose in third. All three teams are expected to fare well in the playoffs, but Logan is expected to advance the furthest. One player to look out for on the Varsity team is Madison Hirsch of Mission San Jose. Currently a junior, Hirsch placed first against Washington, one of the toughest competitors in MVAL. Against the first-place Logan, Hirsch nabbed second place and is expected to be one of the top runners of the off season.