By Richard Gonzalez
Editor, DyeStatCal
        WALNUT, Calif. – On a cross-country course renowned for its three challenging climbs, the Western United States’ best prep distance runners continued to knock some of that mystique downhill. Literally.
        Revealing a classic display of how to run Mt. San Antonio College’s 2.91-mile layout, elite harriers continued rehearsing a winning act at the 56th Annual Mt. SAC Invitational this weekend: Hammer that final descent en route to victory.
        Three of the four fastest races were decided when the lead switched hands right as the final downhill arrived, riding that that wave of inertia to the winner’s circle in a meet that served as a showdown for many top athletes in the Western United States and a partial preview of the California state meet.
        Team-wise, very few surprises also unfolded on the big meet weekend as it appeared Marc Bloom’s national rankings pretty much played out to form. Top girls entrant Murrieta Valley rallied late to edge Reno of Nevada, 70-82, in a showdown of America’s #11 and #13-ranked teams, with #20-ranked Sultana (105 points) not too far behind in third. On the boys’ side, #12-ranked Don Lugo was the winner in the Team Sweepstakes category, with all-finally-in-the-lineup Royal taking second in the race after being ranked #22. Don Lugo sported a fine 44-second scoring gap to ruin anyone’s upset plans, which Royal, which had one of its top runners finish out of the scoring,
        But the true highlights here came from the plethora of strong individual performances, causing the meet record books to once again undergo considerable editing.
        The first prime example of the advantages of effectiveness of downhill running here came San Lorenzo Valley High’s Alex Dunn, who captured the Boys’ Division IV Sweepstakes title by smoking the decline along Reservoir Hill in Friday’s late-afternoon portion of the Small Schools Division at the nation’s largest cross-country invitational.
“       "Actually, he pulled away on all the downhills,” said Arcata High’s John Figueiredo, who took a distance second to Dunn. “He really took advantage of those the whole race. It was definitely in his plan.”
Dunn, who was orphaned at a young age when different tragedies claimed the lives of both his parents before junior high school, used his long stride and 6-foot, 3-inch frame to power down the slopes en route to a winning time of 15:11 along the popular course.
“       "Hammer the downhills, and recover on the uphills,’‘ said Dunn, being recruited by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and UCLA, in revealing his strategy.
         Only San Luis Obispo’s Daniel Nunn posted a better clocking on the opening day, achieving a personal best 15:10 in winning the Division III Sweepstakes race. Nunn, a 9:08 performer at 3200 meters in the springtime, had been laying low for much of the season before using this as a coming-out party for the quickly approaching championship phase of the season.
         On the girls side, Harvard/Westlake’s Lindsay Flacks enjoyed her own 2003 coming-out festivities, erasing the lingering effects of injury to run 17:32, the fastest female time of the opening day.
         The same ‘downhill blueprint’ to success was executed during Saturday’s Large Schools portion of the two-day extravaganza, when deeper talent fields and more relief from the smoke-permeated atmosphere (severe fires charred neighborhoods roughly 40 miles from the meet venue throughout the weekend).
          In the Boys’ Team Sweepstakes race, Fountain Valley senior Josh Selley led the group across the mile marker in the high 4:40s, with squads from Don Lugo and Royal already settling into position for the season’s first true showdown of the top teams. The pecking order changed exiting Switchback Hill, with pre-race individual favorite Jonathan Cardenas of Reno (Nevada) leading a string of standouts that included vastly improved junior Dylan Jaedtke of Royal. Both Don Lugo and Royal separated themselves from the pack along the start of the final mile.
          The climax point in the battle up front occurred as the leaders crested Reservoir Hill, with Jaedtke unleashing a sudden swoosh that picked off Cardenas in a split second. The quickly-gained advantage was never erased, with Jaedtke clinching his biggest win ever and a triumph over Nevada’s top runner.
          Afterward, Jaedtke admitted in the team tent he was “real surprised” at netting the victory. The race’s true stunning surprise was third-place finisher Diego Mercado of West Covina, whose 15:10 was the best sophomore time of the meet.
Teamwise, Upland High proved it is healthy again after starting out the season on a real tear. The Highlanders surprised a bit by placing fourth after shaking recent sickness, edging out Murrieta Valley, which was helping to welcome back a recently ill runner that was aiming to improve its team’s chances. Crescenta Valley, the most improved team in the division over the last month, claimed 10th. Dana Hills, which was resting out two of its top five runners, placed 11th. Highland of Palmdale, which very recently lost its top runner for the season to a broken collarbone sustained in a biking accident, took 18th and will fall out of the rankings.
          The featured Boys Individual Sweepstakes Race, showcasing 14 of the 28 top-rated runners in the Western United States proved to be the treat of the day. From the gun, it was former California state 800m champion Michael Haddan of Woodbridge who sped to a torrid – if not ill-advised – pace. Coming across the half-mile mark at 2:08, the large crowd lining the course gasped. Haddan’s lead was a good 40 meters by that point, but surely it would not last. By the mile, it was the expected contending pack of Duarte’s Mohamed Trafeh, Loyola’s Mark Matusak, Mar Vista’s Troy Swier, Redwood’s Jake Schmitt, and Jesuit’s John Wihtol in the lead pack.
           Then as they begin their ascent of Switchback Hill at the start of the second mile, it was Trafeh and Swier charging up. Unlike his past races this season, Trafeh was caught doing the work! Soon, the true race would begin to unfold. It was along the lengthy descent of Switchback Hill that Matusak noticed a possible chink in Trafeh’s armor: his pace struggled on the declines, opening the door for others. Matusak was the only one to respond, seizing the lead and carrying the pacesetting toward and into Poop-Out Hill.
            Matusak, whose fitness had carried him to a string of massive course improvements this fall compared to a year ago, carried the lead until about 2.2 miles. As they approached the base of the final hill – Reservoir Hill – Matusak later said that Trafeh actually made a concerted effort to seize the lead (“I knew I had to stay with him”), but Matusak covered the move, as the tandem made the sweeping right turn and escalated up Reservoir.
           Matusak ‘jumped’ Trafeh at the summit, cresting the top with a sudden transition to the downhill segment and toward the final 800 meters that remained (a short and steep descent, followed by a gradual decline, then closing with about a 425-meter flat portion). Both athletes gathered themselves for a kick during the final 300 meters, but it was Matusak who closed best to extend his lead an additional two seconds from there, winning in a junior class record. Trafeh, no doubt doing more work than he would have liked in such a strong field, matched his time of a year ago to finish in 14:38.
           The Girls Team Sweepstakes was an immensely exciting affair between a pair of national powers separated by state lines. Reno of Nevada, ranked 13th nationally, set a torrid pace from the get-go. At the mile, the red-clad Reno group stormed up Switchback Hill with three runners in the lead pack, while local favorite Murrieta Valley remained within striking distance. It was exciting down Switchback Hill that the race began taking a dramatic turn, as Reno stunned onlookers with a sensational 1-2-3 placing just beyond the halfway point. Murrieta Valley, however, spearheaded by Liza Pasciuto arriving at the crossover in eighth place or so, also had a trio in the top 20.
           The hard early pace might have been Reno’s undoing, as a very determined Murrieta Valley crew made them pay the price along the final mile. It was Pasciuto’s valiant close which sparked the comeback, with freshman teammate Liana Boucher also ‘stepping up’ big time. The crucial development saw MV put both scorers ahead of Reno’s #3, with Murrieta Valley’s superior depth then taking shape along the final stretch. Once the points were tallied in chute, the Nighthawks prevailed over Reno, 70-82. Sultana, which entered here as the #20 team in the nation, beat the rest of a very fine field to place third with 105 despite finishing only five runners.
            The Girls Individual Sweepstakes was truly a shocking display at the close, with Laguna Creek’s Rachel Bryan motoring away from the competition after sharing much of the lead for 2.4 miles. Bryan, San Pasqual’s Claire Rethmeier and Seabury Hall’s (Hawaii) Tia Ferguson were among those chugging away at the outset, carrying a strong pace well past the race’s midpoint. At one point, San Pasqual’s Lorin Scott also moved up well, given the school two runners in the top 5. Through the final two hills, however, it turned into a match race with Bryan and Rethmeier. Rethmeier appeared to have an ever-so-slight lead cresting Reservoir, but the Bryan threw down the hammer in an amazing spurt which left the competition in shock. Bryan raced away unchallenged to the finish, with Ferguson also catching a possibly shell-shocked Rethmeier (yes, the move was that sudden by Bryan) at the finish. Bryan won in 17:14, with Ferguson and Rethmeier clocking 17:36 and 17:38, respectively.