Huge Fields are Loaded Here
98 Races, 525 schools, 19,000+ runners - But lots of quality, too!
By Rich Gonzalez, DyeStatCal/DyeStat
WALNUT, CA -- The fields are set -- and what mega-sized fields they are!
The 59th running of the Mt. SAC Cross-Country Invitational has sized up as the largest ever, with over 525 high schools and 19,000-plus high school runners now registered to compete in America's largest prep invitational, taking place this Friday-Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.
Don't worry, plenty of quality teams will be here as well.
Nine of the top 10 boys teams in last week's NTN California Region rankings are in the field and all in the same race, headlined by U.S. # 2 Royal High of Simi Valley.
For the girls, 9 of the top 10 teams in last week's NTN Regional poll will be competing, albeit spread across four different races.
Individually, New Mexico's Matt Tebo and Nevada's Marie Lawrence are top out-of-staters making the trek to Southern California to partake in attractive matchups.
There are 94 races scheduled over the course of two days, with most starting 6 to 8 minutes apart. There are often three races on the hilly, 2.91-mile course at any given time -- one that is beginning, another that is midway through, and a third that is finishing. It's a dizzying display of efficient madness!
Here's our take on the top races (in chronological order) to watch for national aficionados:
Race #30, Girls Division III Sweepstakes, Friday @ 4:20 p.m. PST -- # 2 U.S.-ranked Corona del Mar is the overwhelming favorite in this opening-day affair designated for medium- and small-sized schools. The Sea Kings are unbeaten thus far in 2006, including blowout victories by 70 points over NTN California Region # 3-ranked Torrey Pines at the Stanford Invitational three weekends ago and by 44 points over NTN California Region # 4-ranked Fountain Valley at last weekend's Orange County Championships.
Although CdM has graduated super successful Annie St. Geme on to Stanford remain strong up front and very deep, a lethal combination that does not figured to get seriously challenged in this race.
Race #55, Boys Super Sweepstakes, Saturday @ 9:55 a.m. PST -- In a new format put into play for this year's meet, the very best teams AND individuals are being combined into a single race, with the ensuing lineup being a sensational jawdropper.
Royal, ranked # 2 in the U.S. and only beaten by national # 1 Ferris of WA this year, is the top team entered here with five outstanding talents led by All-American candidate Michael Cybulski, all-state honoree Hudson Andrews and NTN surprise Jun Reichl. But the Highlanders will have their hands full. Trabuco Hills (second to Royal at Woodbridge, winners at Firman and Orange County) has improved at the #4 position and, if all in its top three can regain previous form, is capable of drawing close to or beating Royal.
El Toro, which has been inconsistent this fall but did perform very well with a fourth-place finish at Stanford, looks to rebound on this weekend's national stage, with a very deep group. Upland (winners of the Inland Empire Championships), Madera (winners at three invitationals this year) and Arcadia (winners at three invitationals this year are three other squads entered that have been in the NTN CA Region ranking all year.
Individually, New Mexico's Matt Tebo (Eldorado HS) is making the trek here to tackle an abridged version of the FootLocker West Regionals course before his return here in late November. As the # 3 returnee from last year's FootLocker nationals (where he placed 16th in 2005) and the nation's top returnee at two miles in track, Tebo is the favorite.
Co-headlining the field are Big Bear's Chad Hall and Royal's Cybulski. Hall absolutely torched the Woodbridge Invitational course in a stunning 14:00 course record a month ago, taking down Diego Mercado's year-old course record of 14:13. Mercado, of course, went on to set a Mt. SAC course record of 14;24 at the Mt. SAC Invitational a month later. Cybulski, the two-time defending CA state champion at 3200 meters in track, is fresh off winning the Clovis Invitational in 15:03, a lifetime best on the state meet Woodward Park course and the second-fastest midseason time in history there.
Trabuco Hills frontrunner J.T. Sullivan (the Orange County champion), Upland's Ryan Gamboa (the Inland Empire champion), La Sierra's sensational twins combination of Dylan and Spencer Knight and Bonita's Eric Avila are also confirmed to compete. Additionally, the Clovis duo of Mikel Thomas and Jonathan Peterson may be in the fray. They are officially entered, but Clovis coach Rob Brenner indicated at last weekend's Manhattan Invitational (where Thomas and Peterson ran among the fastest times overall) of his concerns for racing the Mt. SAC course on the heels of big races at Clovis and Manhattan in the prior two weekends. He said a final decision would be made late in the week.
Race #56, Girls Division I & II Team Sweepstakes, Saturday @ 10:20 a.m. -- Although many of the top teams have elected to avoid the sweepstakes races altogether for various reasons, plenty of good talent will still clash. Nationally ranked lineups from Saugus and Torrey Pines spearhead this 12-team challenge, which showcases six squads listed in last week's NTN CA Region rankings and two others found in the NTN Southwest Region listings.
Saugus, ranked 10th nationally, has super senior Shannon Murakami leading a crew that blistered the Woodbridge Invitational course in meet record time last month and also won the Jim Danner Invitational in Oregon against top-ranked Northwest Region squads two weekends back. Torrey Pines has been dominating Southland teams this fall and finished a distant second to U.S. # 2 Corona del Mar at Stanford.
Reno of Nevada and Carroll of Arizona are two top teams traveling in for the fun, with the former ranked #6 in the NTN Southwest Region and led by three-time All-American Marie Lawrence and the latter ranked #7 in the NTN Southwest Region. Northern California power Davis, Central California juggernaut Buchanan (led by Lauren Saylor), and Southland forces Ayala and Warren are remaining NTN regionally ranked teams in the field.
Although Reno's Lawrence is the individual favorite, the pace up front should be a hot one as Saylor and Glendora's Christy Adamyk will help flare up the pace!
Race #57, Girls Division I & II Individual Sweepstakes, Saturday @ 10:45 a.m. -- With Murakami, Saylor and Adamyk all competing in the Team Sweepstakes race, some heavy hitters will be unavoidably missing here. Regardless, the biggest name of all will be toeing the line. Mission Prep sophomore Jordan Hasay, who stormed onto the scene to win the FootLocker Nationals championship a year ago, is the marquee attraction in the girls field.
Hasay set the frosh course record here last year with a blistering 16:48 clocking for 2.91 miles, then returned several weeks later to run 17:14 on the 5k version at FootLocker West Regionals to tie that course record. Hasay, who has upped the mileage this fall while racing less sparingly, breezed to a big win in the fastest time of the day (17:17) on the state meet course at the recent Clovis Invitational.
Serrano's Kauren Tarver, a past FootLocker nationals finalist and Team USA World Juniors qualifier, is conservatively returning from a pair of unrelated injuries and looks to fare very well here. Simi Valley's Anna Sperry, one of the most talented runners on the West Coast, will be back on familiar ground ground along the friendly hills of Mt. SAC and will be super sophomore Stephanie Felix of La Mirada, who set three course records on as many weekends earlier this fall.
Runners will be arriving from near and far for this one, with two athletes actually participating from outside the 'continental' U.S. (although Canada is attached). Canadian Jessica Fulcon, a reported sub-2:10 800-meter runner from Dr. Martin Leboldus HS, will compete in this race along with West Valley High's Crystal Pitney, who was the Alaska state champion in 2005. ###
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