1991 Mt. SAC Invitational

October 18-19, 1991
Walnut

 

1991 Mt. SAC Invitational

October 18-19, 1991
Walnut

15 Years Ago!!
One Cooking Day - In Many Ways!!
By Doug Speck

The 1991 Mt. SAC Invitational was a cooker in many ways.  A huge heat wave that hung over Southern California during the Fall stayed around through mid-October, and that mixed with some hot running to make the competition fifteen years ago a very memorable one.  California really "got some love" in the National Rankings by Harrier Magazine in those days, with Boys' teams entered at Mt. SAC listed  in the entire nation as #1 (Hart), #3 (Madera), #5 (San Pasqual), with the Girls having Agoura (#1 ranked in the nation, San Pasqual (#4), Edison (HB) (#8), Arroyo Grande (#11), Peninsula (#15), and Arizona's Monument Valley (#17) in the Team Sweeps here!!  As I said, we had "some love" in those days!!!  San Pasqual (Girls also ranked nationally at #4) did opt out of the Sweepstakes race with their squads in 1991, with wily Coach Will Wester one to really hone the team ready to go come end of the season. 

Friday Division III (smaller schools) action had the San Marino Boys and Girls teams, under Coach Phil Ryan, "sweep the Sweeps" contests, with individually, Maribella Aparicio (Fillmore-BYU) 18:34 and Nikki Shaw (Fillmore-Villanova/CP SLO) going 1-2 for the Ventura County school in the Girls big race.  Jason Brown (Bret Harte, Altaville) took the Boys Friday top contest at 16:06.  The course was a tad longer in those days, and with a dry, hot summer and fall, dusty and loose, and not nearly as well manicured as it is today by the Mt. SAC crew.  We will get to Saturday's heat in a bit. 

On Saturday, the Girls Team Sweeps featured the top group ever gathered for an Invitational contest, with six of the nation's top seventeen squads on the line!  Coach Bill Duley's Agoura HS crew was ranked #1 in the nation, and with the lead trio of Kay Nekota, now the coach at Vacaville HS, Laura Hayward, and Kristie Camp, finishing all in the top ten, the squad survived the non-finishing effort of frosh star Amy Skierez (who went on to a fabled prep career and NCAA title for the University of Arizona along the way).  Agoura had 70 (96:51), with Peninsula 100 (98:36), Edison 109 (99:06), Mt. Carmel 159 (101:46 without their #1 runner), with Irvine (who ended 4th in State Div I) next at 162, Arroyo Grande 164, Hart 181, and Monument Valley 159 (the #17 ranked team in the nation MV had finished eighth in the race)!!  Up front, Edison's Shelley Taylor, who went on the University of Arkansas, finished ahead of Nekota, racing 18:13 for the win. 

The Boys' team sweeps event had Hart (Newhall), ranked #1 nationally, charge the third mile in a very strong manner to emerge ahead of #3 ranked in the US Madera 77 (81:13) to 88 (81:32), with Peninsula surprising with its 109 (81:57) in third!! Hoover's Margarita Casillas (Univ Arizona) handled Fernando Mendoza (Channel Islands) 15:15-15:20 individually in that contest.  In the Boys' Individual Sweeps it was Lakewood's TJ Reyes and Jeff Wilson (Newbury Park/BYU) battling through the first mile and a half, with Wilson edging away over "Poop-Out" hill soon after that and racing away to an impressive 15:08 win.  Wilson went on to take the Boys Division I state title, place second in the Kinney Regional (with Casillas winning there), then was second in the Kinney National Finals to Corey Ihmels of North Dakota.  Casillas was fifth in that National Finals run.  It turned out that in an uncrowded Mt. SAC morning contest the San Pasqual actually recorded the day's quickest Boys' team time, finishing their scorers in with 57 points and an 81:05 team time. 

The individual effort of the day came as the heat started to become a factor in the late-morning, with junior Milena Glusac (Fallbrook/Univ Oregon) having set five course records in as many runs this fall as the state's top ranked runner.  Famed Carrie Garritson (Sunny Hills) was also in the talented field.  With the temperature starting to rise up into the 80's, Glusac blasted the first mile in 5:16, leaving all behind, and cresting Reservoir Hill at 14:30, showing the potential to challenge the CR of 17:16, but it was not to be, as she finished in a super 17:18 in the heat and on a dusty, loose course.  Milena went on to win the State Division I title, the Kinney Western Regional title, then unfortunately had problems in the pressure-cooker Kinney National Finals, finishing thirty-second. 

The day became a bit crazy in the afternoon, as the heat just continued to rise.  Races were run, one after another, and the paramedic and medical crews moved around to take care of athletes who started to have some problems with the heat conditions that were up into the 90's.  Between two and three o'clock I remember the head paramedic coming into the meet headquarters office and stating that all of his people were currently working on athletes, with the situation getting to a point where he did not feel confident in any more races taking off, as they did not have the manpower to deal with further serious problems.  No one would argue at all with his assessment, and the final half hour of races this day was called off.  A great Friday and Saturday morning of action had taken place, with the health of athletes always taking top priority, so in 1991 the Invitational had an interesting close.  

LINK TO OUR PDF SUMMARY OF THE 1991 MT. SAC INVITATIONAL