South Bay runners turned in strong performances last weekend competing among a record number of state-ranked teams and individuals at the 66th edition of the Mt. SAC Invitational which has grown to become the nation’s largest cross country invitational meet.
Redondo’s boys and girls teams won first place in the Division 1 race and Mira Costa’s girls team finished second in the Individual Sweepstakes competition.
The 3-mile course that includes “Valley Loop,” “Switchbacks,” “Poop Out Hill” and “Reservoir Hill” has become part of cross country legend.
Redondo’s boys squad had five top-20 finishers among the field of 134 runners. Ethan Comeaux led the Sea Hawks with a second-place finish at 15 minutes, 23 seconds. Redondo’s 53 points bested runner-up El Camino of Oceanside (83) and Santa Rosa (117).
Following Comeaux were Harrison Fox (6th, 15:57), Nick Elias (10th, 16:00), Andrew Zavala (15th, 16:22), Benjamin Tait (20th, 16:34) and Etienne Doidic (60th, 17:35).
Redondo’s girls easily outdistanced the competition scoring 74 points with four runners placing in the top 20 in the field of 121 finishers. Golden Valley (Santa Clarita) tallied 146 points to edge third-place Quartz Hill by two points.
Taylor Beaudoin finished third in the race at 18:28, leading a Sea Hawk team that included Isabella Landry (12th, 19:01), Nicole Beaudoin (14th, 19:03), Trinity Leonard (19th, 19:29), Jeanette Echevarria-Herrera (26th, 19:39), Sara Bilotta (37th, 19:59) and Isabel Ramirez (63rd, 20:40).
Mira Costa also had impressive performances competing in Sweepstakes divisions. Mira Costa’s girls squad placed second with 114 points, sandwiched by winner Monte Vista (Danville) who recorded 70 and third-place Clovis (123).
Melia Chittenden led the Mustangs finishing 10th among 106 runners with a time of 17:48. Also running for Mira Costa were Alexis Johnson (22nd, 18:45), Brooke Inouye (26th, 19:08), Emily Jones (32nd, 19:19), Amanda Han (39th, 19:34), Anna Guerrero (48th, 19:57) and Sierra Andrade (80th, 21:11).
Competing in the elite Team Sweepstakes race, Mira Costa’s boys finished 11th with 273 points. Great Oak (40) beat Dana Hills (87) with Burroughs of Burbank placing third with 160 points. Great Oak and Dana Hills entered the meet tied for the No. 1 spot in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll while Burroughs was ranked No. 4.
West Torrance (164) finished fourth and is ranked No. 1 in CIF-SS Division 2 followed by No. 2 Mira Costa.
Competing for Mira Costa in the field of 122 runners were Xavier Court (31st, 15:32), Caleb Llorin (40th, 15:41), Ethan Williams (49th, 15:47), Michael Yaskowitz (76th, 16:08), Scott Healy (79th, 16:12), Ty Garrett (84th, 16:14) and Quinn Satow (98th, 16:25).
In the Division 3 Sweepstakes races, three runners from the South Bay placed in the top ten with Palos Verdes teams finishing in the top three.
Palos Verdes’ girls team placed second with 94 points, losing to San Diego area powerhouse La Costa Canyon (51) and finishing ahead of Esperanza (162). South Torrance finished 7th with 182 points. Palos Verdes is ranked No. 1 in CIF-SS Division 3 while Esperanza holds the No. 3 spot in the same division. South is ranked No. 13 in CIF-SS Division 2.
Palos Verdes was led by Jacquelyn Smith (6th, 18:25) while South’s top finisher was Grace Catena (10th, 18:39).
Robert Franklin finished fourth at 15:11 pacing Palos Verdes’ boys team to a third-place team finish with 165 points. Ranked No. 3 in CIF-SS Division 3, the Sea Kings finished behind division foes top-ranked Brea Olinda (44) and fifth ranked Baldwin Park (99).
The regular season concludes when Peninsula High School hosts the Bay League finals on the course at Cloyden and Palos Verdes Drive West beginning at 12:45 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5.
Complete results available at prepcaltrack.com.
