Photo by Rich Gonzalez
Corona del Mar's girls, currently
ranked #2 in the nation, are unbeaten
so far in 2006! They'll compete Friday in the Division III Sweepstakes!
By Rich Gonzalez
For DyeStat.com
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.
Photo by Dave Casper
Seniors Michael Cybulski and
Hudson Andrews (front two)
are key performers for one of the nation's top teams!
Race
#55, Boys Super Sweepstakes, Saturday @ 9:55 a.m. PST
-- In a new fomat 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 early December. 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 racxing 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.
Photo courtesy of Rene Paragas
Saugus High lit up the sky at the night-time
Woodbridge Invitational!
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 trveling 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
tems 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!
Photo by Kirby Lee
Seen below crossing the finish line in
a landslide victory at FootLocker Nationals,
Mission Prep sophomore Jordan Hasay is simply America's fastest!
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 () 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 junior gem Stephanie Felix
of La Mirada, who set three course records on as many weekends earlier
this fall. Also, L.A. City Section star Kristabel Doebel-Hickok, who
has posted multiple strong hill-and-dale performances this fall, has
been a late add into this exciting race field!
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. ###
Photo by Doug Speck
West Covina High's Diego Mercado was officially
credited
with 14:24 when he set the course record here last year!