The season really started to heat up this past weekend in California, as many of the top teams and individuals in the state headed to the Woodbridge Invitational and Mt. Carmel Invitational. Check out our race summaries, along with meet pages and results, in our weekend round-up.
Woodbridge Invitational (CA)
Many of the top teams and individuals in California traveled to the Woodbridge Invitational Saturday to take part in one of the best west coast invitationals seen throughout the cross country season. With U.S. ranked Buchanan (CA) leading the boys field and U.S. #1 Saugus (CA) leading the girls field, there was much to talk about when the results were made final.
Saugus dominated the girls race, beating The Woodlands (TX) 44-117. The squad placed four runners in the top eleven, while running a 37 second split 1-5. Once again sophomore Kaylin Mahoney led the way for her team, placing fourth in 17:03, while senior teammate Brianna Jauregui placed fifth in 17:11.
The Woodlands earned a one point at the top of their team scoring, as junior Sarah Andrews continued her dominating ways this fall by winning the race by 27 seconds in 16:17. Andrews beat one of the best out west in Alex Dunne (Sr., San Clemente, CA), as Dunne finished second in 16:44. Christine Adams (Jr., Esperanza, CA) placed third in 17:01.
While Buchanan was the top boys team on the day with a close fought 117-121 victory over Vista Murrieta (CA), the top performance seen by many was that of Mac Fleet (Sr., University City, CA). Fleet outkicked in-state rival Zack Torres (Sr., Crescenta Valley, CA) in the closing phase of the race, winning with an overall time of 14:22 for the three mile course. Torres finished four seconds back in 14:26.
Meanwhile, Buchanan finished atop by running a 50 second spread from 1-5. The difference came up top against Vista Murrieta, with their top two runners finishing tenth and fifteenth respectively. Vista Murrieta's top runners finished a ways back, but their 1-5 split was a mere 29 seconds.
Mt. Carmel Invitational (CA)
With varsity line-ups being broken down into classes races (i.e. freshman race, sophomore race, etc.), some of the top pack teams had their top runners run on their own for the first time this season. This seemed to phase U.S. #2 Dana Hills (CA) Saturday, as they lost to Loyola (CA) 73-94 when all the finishing times were added and team scores figured.
Loyola (CA) ran exceptionally strong up top, placing three scorers in the top seven, with their fourth runner making the difference with a 17th place finish. The strength of Loyola seemed to surprise Dana Hills, who ran well, but simply couldn't match Loyola.
Sophomore Elias Geydon (Loyola, CA) (pictured left by Andrew McClanahan) led his squad in second with a 15:22 finish over the 5k course, while Tyler Valdes (Sr., Dana Hills, CA) finished third overall with a 15:31 finishing time. Joey Ruelas (Sr., Rancho Cucamonga, CA) won the senior boys race in 15:14, stamping him as the top performer on the day.
On the girls side Torrey Pines (CA) beat a strong Rancho Bernardo (CA) team 115-141, following the lead of front runner Megan Morgan, who won the junior race with the second fastest time of the day in 15:26. Molly Grabill (Rancho Bernardo, CA) finished as the top individual of the day by winning the sophomore race in 15:00. Grabill's performance showed once again why she is considered one of the top runners in the state.
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