Mt. San Antonio College Invitational
Saturday's Division I-II Girls Review  

By Mike Kennedy
    Two years ago, one long-time observer (named Mike Kennedy) of the Southern Section cross-country action scene stated soon after Corona del Mar (Newport Harbor) had won the Division III team title with a course record of 89:42 over the storied 2.91-mile Mt. San Antonio course, "now there's is a record that is going to last for a while."
    WRONG!!!!!!
    Running in the Super Sweepstakes race of the 60th Annual Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut, Saugus, located in the Santa Clarita Valley of Southern California, took on many of the best teams in the State and came away with a resounding win scoring just 62 points and running a team time of 89:34 to break the two-year old record.
     The Centurions, ranked No. 1 in California and No. 4 in the nation, were led by senior Katie Dunn, eighth in 17:27 and freshman Kaylin Mahoney, ninth in 17:31. Saugus' other three scorers were senior Nina Moore 15th at 17:59, junior Brianna Jauregui in 24th at 18:18 and sophomore Amber Murakami, 25 at 18:19. Junior Anne Randall was the sixth Centurion finisher in 27th at 18:25.
     Torrey Pines (San Diego), the No. 10 ranked team in the State, was a surprise second with 144 points followed by Carondelet (Concord), ranked second in the State and  eighth in the nation, with 124 points. The two teams were separated by just four seconds, 91:59 to 92:03, with Carondelet holding the  advantage. Torrey Pines was led by sophomore Megan Morgan, 13th in 17:54, freshman Alli Billmeyer, 17th in 18:01 and junior Erin Gillingham, 18th at 18:02. Carondelet was led by super consistent sophomore Nicole Hood, seventh at 17:27, junior Kellie Houser, 23 at 18:11 and sophomore Heather Cerney, 27th at 18:22. 
       Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo), fresh off winning the Orange County championship last week and ranked fourth in the State, was fourth with 143 points and a time of 93:13, followed by Rancho Buena Vista (Vista) with 185 points (94:27), Serrano (Phelan) with 188 points (94:33), Foothill (Santa Ana) with 189 (94:43), Carlmont (Belmont) with 194 (35:01) and Davis with 196 (94:47).
      Individually, sophomore Jordan Hasay Mission College Prep (San Luis Obispo) was dominate from the start--running splits of 2:34 for 800, 5:10 for a mile and 11:13 for two miles. What was even more impressive than her winning time of 16:42, which ranks fourth on the all-time Mt. San Antonio College course, was the fact that she never seemed tire at any point during the race. Running up the Air Strip and on to the Gauntlet over the final 400 she look just as strong as she had in the first mile. 
     Jessica Tonn of Xavier Prep (Phoenix), who joined Hasay on the West Regional team that completed at the Foot Locker national championships as a freshman last year, was second at 17:05, followed by senior Laurynne Chetelat of Davis at 17:15, sophomore Jacque Taylor of Casa Grande (Petaluma) at 17:16, senior Claire Collison of Crescenta Valley (La Crescenta) at 17:19 and sophomore Meghan Marvin of Clovis at 17:20.  
       The Individual Sweepstakes race was won by sophomore Sierra Vega of Chaparral (Temecula), who led from the start with splits of 5:22 and 11:43 for the first two miles. At one point she had a lead of almost 100 meters at the top of the switchbacks (about 1 1/4 miles into the race) but then had to hold off the late charge of . Simi Valley sophomore Liberty Miller who was able to close to within four seconds of Vega, 17:29 to 17:33. Junior Jessica Nunez of South Hills (West Covina) was third at 17:41 followed by Megan Fairley of Peninsula (Rolling Hills Estates) at 17:42, Hillary Hayes of Edison (Huntington Beach) at 17:43 and Diana George of Livermore at 17:52.
       In the team race, Dana Hills (Dana Point) and Redlands, two teams that would have fit very well into the Super Sweepstakes race, were separated by just two points, with Dana Hills prevailing, 116 to 118 and 93:48 to 93:50.  Dana Hills was led by freshman Alaina Alvarez in ninth at 18:11 and Redland was paced by senior Elizabeth Ramos in 12th at 18:18.      
       Fountain Valley, Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo), Great Oak (Temecula) and La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) all chose not to enter Sweepstakes races but were in the same Varsity race and all ran under 96 minutes. Fountain Valley won the race with 56 points and a time of 93:12 but when you factor in Carmille Garcia's 18:15 in winning a freshman race the Barons time drops to 92:41 for the fourth best time on Saturday. It is also interesting to note that Saugus' second five runners totaled 93:48--equal to the sixth fast team.  
     The weather was a bit cooler than the 90-degree temperatures on Friday afternoon and did not seem to overly effect the morning Sweepstakes races.

 

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