CROSS COUNTRY: C.V. WON'T BE ELBOWED OUT.

Byline: KEVIN CONNELLY  Special to the Daily News

LA CRESCENTA -- Zack Torres hates when people say cross country is not a contact sport.

One of the top sophomore runners in the state, the Crescenta Valley High of La Crescenta standout teamed with Highland of Palmdale junior Jeremy Acosta to prove otherwise Saturday morning in the 39th annual Kenny Staub Invitational.

Wayward elbows landed as the runners jockeyed for position on the hilly three-mile course at Crescenta Valley Park, where Acosta pulled away in the final 100 meters to win the boys' Div.I varsity race with a time of 15 minutes, 55 seconds.

Torres, who finished second in 16:02, was even with Acosta as late as the two-mile mark, when a retaliatory shove sent the Bulldogs runner briefly off the course and into a nearby bush.

That encounter -- not entirely uncommon in cross country -- was set off by the back-and-fourth physical contact that took place in the previous 3,200 meters.

``You wouldn't believe how common elbowing is in cross country. But I love it,'' said Torres, the 15-year-old son of Crescenta Valley baseball coach Phil Torres. ``Elbows are thrown in every race, and I told (Acosta) that if he was going to use his elbows, I was going to use mine right back. But I respect that about him.''

But while Acosta took the individual honors, Torres' Falcons team finished first in the team event with a five-person combined time of 83 minutes flat. Crescenta Valley, ranked No. 2 in the area by the Daily News, scored 61 points to narrowly defeat No. 3 Loyola of Los Angeles (69 points, 83:31).

In the girls' Div.I varsity race, Crescenta Valley rode Rachel Lange's second-place time of 18:33 to a first-place team time of 97:33. The Falcons held off second-place Highland by more than three minutes.

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