Chiara Dailey (left), Jialian Mackey, and Gioana Lopizzo (right) were in stride early in the Girls Division 3-4-5 Team Sweepstakes race on Friday afternoon at the Mt. SAC Invitational high school cross country meet. (Stacy Soriano photo)
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WALNUT -- The clock stops a little quicker for the boys than the girls in cross country, but whatever the difference, both Team Sweepstakes champions were pleased at the 74th Mt. SAC Invitational Friday.
Running in the combined Division 3-4-5 races, Dana Hills' Evan Noonan and La Jolla's Chiara Dailey each won in their game of "Beat the Clock."
Noonan, a sophomore, captured the boys' race in 14-minutes, 49-seconds -- one of only two runners to eclipse 15-minute barrier on the 42-race first day of the country's largest prep cross county meet -- while Dailey, a freshman, was the lone girl to dip under 17-minutes over the hilly 3-mile course at 16:58.0.
Those times proved to be the fastest of the day after Bishop Amat's Emma Arredondo captured the girls' Individual Sweepstakes in 17:43.0 and Templeton's Joshua Bell cruised to victory in the boys' race at 14:50.
Noonan got an added bonus by leading Dana Hills (SS) to the team title while the girls from Cathedral Catholic (SD) swept to an impressive victory, scoring just 63 points despite the temperatures topping 90 degrees.
"I wanted both -- to win and to break 15 minutes," said Noonan who scored the victory over Division IV standouts Emmanuel Hernandez (14:52) and Emmanuel Perez (15:00), both from Los Angeles Cathedral (SS). "I can't value one over the other."
The trio was even at the mile before the Cathedral duo surged ahead over the second mile. Noonan, who had slipped to fourth at the 2-mile split, stormed back late for the win.
"I was pumped to hear people cheering for me," he said. "Having fans like that always helps."
Noonan, who was flooded by teammates and fans who wanted individual and team pictures to capture the feat, says winning this meet gives him a boost in confidence looking ahead to the State Championships at the end of November at Woodward Park in Fresno.
"I think I have a good chance to win State," he said, quickly adding, "but I'm not the favorite. I just have to get things done to make it happen. Today was good because I'm a hill guy but the State course is pretty flat (in comparison) and people can make moves better when it's flat."
Noonan said he made his move coming down the last hill and once he got the lead, he was confident he'd be able to hold it, having saved a little for a strong finish.
As for Dailey, since she's just a ninth-grader, this is just the first time she's run this course but she had familiar company to push the pace. Four times this season she and Carlsbad La Costa Canyon's Gioana Lopizzo have gone head-to-head and the two pushed the pace the entire way.
Despite the huge vociferous crowd, Dailey was able to pick out her father Adam's words.
"He said 'she's (Lopizzo) right behind you,' " said the soon-to-be 15-years-old. "But I knew I'd broken her at the bottom of the hill. I did this for my brother (Jett) -- today's his birthday."
Lopizzo, a junior, and Dailey were racing step-by-step until the final hill, where Dailey literally sprinted down to take a commanding lead.
"I was moving so fast I thought I was about to fall, my form was not good," said Dailey, who took a 3-1 lead over Lopizzo in the series. "One of the things I thought about was I didn't want her to make it 2-2."
Lopizzo, however, had won the most recent match at the Clovis Invitational, where she placed second against a quality field.
And, her second place time of 17:14 was almost two minutes faster than the 19:09 she ran a year ago.
With Lopizzo in Division III and La Jolla Division IV, the two will not meet in the San Diego Section or State Championships.
As for Cathedral Catholic's team, it was at this meet a year ago that the Dons were so impressive they jumped to the top of the state Division 3 rankings by MileSplitCA. Their hopes of proving were squashed when the entire team was weakened by the flu, finishing third at State.
For some that would be cause for celebration but it just fired up the team heading into this year.
"We ran better as a team this year," said coach Dan Geiger. "We ran pretty well but Dana Hills didn't bring their A team. We go 11 deep so our 5-6-7 runners have to continue working hard. Beating (SDS rivals) La Costa Canyon, Sage Creek and La Jolla was huge."
Cathedral Catholic's Alexandria Pena place fourth in 17:49, Scarlett Martin was 8th at18:25, Keira Rall 10th at 18:35, Chiara Bonomi 15th at 18:58 and Madelyn Basinet 26th at 19:29 out of 114 runners.
Just as impressive, Cathedral Catholic went 1-2-3-4 in the JV Sweepstakes.
"We wanted to run conservatively, but that didn't happen," said Pena. "I wanted to run a 5:45 for the mile and came across at 5:36. That first mile just flew by. I really felt it on Poop-Out Hill and I slowed down a little, but picked it up again at the bottom of the hill.
"I was hoping to break 18 minutes and finish in the top five, so I'm very pleased."
Meanwhile, Dana Hills' boys rallied behind Noonan to top Division IV Cathedral 97-113 with La Canada St. Francis (SS) third at 130 as Garrett Woodruff improved five places over the last mile to finish 13th.
"Hopefully the team and I will continue to improve and possibly qualify for Team Nationals or the EastBay championships (now called Champs)."
The boys' Division 3-4-5 Sweepstakes races might have been even more competitive but San Juan Capistrano's Everett Capelle, the top returning D5 runner, opted to compete in one of the varsity races, easily winning in 16:25 as his teammates finished second to Canada's West Point Grey, 38-84.
"I wanted us to get ready for the next few weeks when we run this course for (the Southern Section championships)," said Capelle. "We'll try to work strategically as a team, so I wanted them to learn every turn, every downhill to excel."
Steve Brand is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to MileSplit
Photos by Stacy Soriano and Jeffrey Parenti