Mt. San Antonio Invitational Girls Preview
By Mike Kennedy

       In the 60th annual edition of the Mt. San Antonio Invitational, nationals largest high school invitational, Saugus and Carondelet (Concord), the top two ranked teams in the State and two of the best in the nation, meet for what might be the only time this year in the Division I-II Super Sweepstakes race Saturday morning at 9:25 a.m. over the hilly 2.95 mile course.
        That is just one of 92 races (including 38 varsity and 11 sweepstakes) scheduled Friday and Saturday. Action begins with small school Divisions III, IV and V, Friday at 12:30 p.m. and continues Saturday with large school Divisions I and II, beginning at 7 a.m. Sweepstakes races Friday are between 4:30 and 6 p.m. and on Saturday between 9:25 a.m. and 11.
      Saturday’s Super sweepstakes race, features many of the top teams and individuals in the State plus two of the best teams from Arizona—Xavier Prep (Phoenix) and Sandra Day O’Connor (Glendale).
      Saugus, led by senior Katie Dunn, and Carodelet, headed up by sophomore Nicole Hood, are just two of a large number competitive teams entered. Both teams are undefeated with Saugus’ best win coming at the Woodbridge Invitational and  Carolelet taking the Jim Danner Nike-Pre Nationals race in Portland and the Clovis Sweepstakes race.
      Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo), the Orange County champion last week, Foothill (Santa Ana), second at Woodbridge and Murrieta Valley, second at the Inland Empire championship and third at Woodbridge, lead at least ten teams with hopes challenging Saugus and Carondelet.
      San Diego Section will be represented by powerhouse teams, Rancho Buena Vista (Vista) and Torrey Pines—second and third at Stanford to Jesuit (Portland), the top ranked team in the Northwest. The Central Coast Section’s Carlmont (Belmont), which might have the strongest team in the State, one through four in the state, is also entered.
     Individually, junior Jordan Hasay of Mission College Prep (San Luis Obispo), will be running only her second “major” race of the season. The two-time State Division V champion and Foot Locker National champion two years ago, won the Clovis Sweepstakes race two weeks ago with a 17:23 for the top time of the day on the State meet course at Woodward Park in Fresno.
       Challenging Hasay will be Claire Collison of Crescenta Valley (La Crescenta), Laurynne Chatelet of Davis and Kauren Tarver of Serrano (Phelan). All three runners are also on strong teams capable of finishing in the top ten.  Other individuals to watch are sophomore Jacque Taylor of Casa Grande (Petaluma), junior Alex Dunne of San Clemente and sophomore Meghan Marvin of Clovis.
      Not all of the best teams have chosen to compete in the Super sweepstakes race. The Individual Sweepstakes race in addition to have outstanding individuals such as sophomore Sierra Vega of Chaparral (Temecula), junior Jessica Nunez of South Hills (West Covina) and freshman Lyndsie Etherton of Bullard (Fresno) also has a number of out standing teams including Redlands, Esperanza (Anaheim) and Dana Hills (Dana Point)—top ten caliber teams in California. Other teams to watch in Saturday’s regular Division I varsity races are Fountain Valley, Buchanan (Clovis), Great Oak (Temecula), La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) and Vista Murrieta.
       Friday has three Sweepstakes races scheduled for Division’s III, IV and V. Corona del Mar, led by standouts Shelby Buckley and Allison Damon is entered in the Division III race along with El Camino (Sacramento), Del Oro (Loomis), Irvine, North Monterey County (Castroville) and Palos Verdes.  Other divisional powers, Lutheran (Orange) and Oak Park, the No. 3 and 4 teams overall at Stanford, along with South Lake Tahoe, featuring Kelsey Smith, and Laguna Hills are entered but not in the Sweepstakes race.
   
      The Division IV Sweepstakes race features La Reina (Thousand Oaks), Oaks Christian (Westlake Village), led by Roseanne Fleming, Maranantha (Pasadena), Half Moon Bay, Laguna Beach and Lassen (Susanville).  Jennifer Bergman of Valley Christian (San Jose), who was second at Stanford in Division IV is also entered. Three individual to watch, not in the race, are Sarah Sumpter of Healdsburg, who won the Division IV race at Stanford and the West Valley duo of Junior Michelle Johnson and freshman Corissa Storms. 
      In the Division V Sweepstakes race, Woodcrest Christian (Riverside), Mt. Shasta (Redding), Chadwick (Rolling Hills Estates) and Flintridge Prep are the teams to watch.   
     

 

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