DANVILLE — Chris Simpson successfully defended his East Bay Athletic League boys cross country title Saturday during a final run on his home course at Oak Hill Park, next to Monte Vista High.

Livermore freshman Diana George, meanwhile, showed in her first EBAL championship race she is going to be a force to contend with the next few years.

George took an early lead and added to it, winning in 18 minutes, 47 seconds, ahead of runner-up Alexis Nordine of San Ramon Valley by 34 seconds.

"I was really nervous," George said. "This was a really important meet. I thought I could have waited a little longer to take the lead, I didn't know if that was the right thing to do."

As it turns out, George had a healthy lead heading into the hills, where she then widened the gap significantly.

"The flats make me nervous," George said. "Some people are really good at sprinting. I thought they could catch me there. I feel very confident up and down the hills."

Simpson, on the other hand doesn't have the same comfort on the hills, although that is exactly where he made his move Saturday. The boys race was close until Simpson pulled away in the hills.

"I'm not really a fan of this course, just because I really don't like the hills," Simpson said. "I just have to force myself to mentally push through those points. It is nice being on this course because at least I know how to take each hill. I know where the weak points are, where different obstacles are."

Simpson's time of 16:24.73 was a personal best and nearly 26 seconds faster than San Ramon Valley's Brett Gunari, who finished in 16.50.35.

"Chris may not like the hills, but he's good at them," Monte Vista coach Mike Huntsman said. "He's a smart runner and ran even better than I thought he would. He was so relaxed and had confidence in himself. He knew what he needed to do to win."

In the team races, Livermore's boys won with 35 points, beating second place San Ramon Valley (59) and third-place Granada (82).

Livermore's top finish was cemented by placing four runners in the top 10. Austin Orth was fourth and teammates Roman Roque, Alex Collins and Nicholas Leslie were fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

On the girls side, San Ramon Valley athletes finished second, fifth, 11th, 12th and 13th to top the team scores with 43 points. California came in second with 78, and Livermore rounded was third with 89.

"The girls are very demanding on themselves," San Ramon Valley coach Tim Hunter said. "They stuck to what we talked about and ran really well. Everyone performed how they do in practice. Today was one of the good days."

Nordine was the highest finisher for the Wolves, taking second place. Teammate Allie Colaco was fifth.