Mt SAC Recap

Fri, Oct 19th - The Lions took a partial squad to the 60th Annual Mt SAC Invitational. The largest high school invitational in the United States. The weather was pleasant leading into Friday, but in the tradition of Mt SAC the heat came back although slightly less than last year. Temperatures in the mid-90's welcomed the early races with some moderate relief for the evening races.

The afternoon kicked off for the Lions with the freshmen . Ryan Huning (20:20), Devin Long (22:57) and John Gonzales (23:03) debuted on the traditional 2.91 mile course in the boys frosh race. Then the frosh girls ran next led by Cristina Garcia who tallied her third victory of the year in a very relaxed paced 20:54. On the season Cristy has not been beat by a freshman (in the same race). Brittani Gardella placed 6th with a fine 22:08 and Niki MacWhirter was 24th with a 24:46. The three girls rank 4th, 6th and 13th respectively on the OC frosh list in their first run on the course.

The sophomores were next led out by Nick Colarossi who was pace to set a personal best and place in the top 3, but tripped just past the 2 mile mark. Nick elected to withdraw. Kevin Sutman ran a personal best 25:58. Fallon Cislo (26:38) and Genesis Goma both debuted on the Mt SAC course.

After a short break the action continued with Jennifer Philen (30:10) racing in the JV race and then the boys in the division 4 JV national championships. The boys squad was short-handed due to academic conflicts with this being the end of the quarter. Had the team been in tact, they would have cruised to a "national title" but had to settle of 4th as a team. Maybe next year. Bobby Nordlund led the charge with a debut 19:42 followed by Nick Matra's 19:51 personal best on the course. Greg Sadler (20:12 PB), David Goeser (20:25), Anders Reimer (20:28 PB) and Tyrel Borowitz (28:52 Debut) rounded out the team.

The varsity athletes were represented in the sweepstakes races by Emily Fuld (20:48 PB)Ethan Long (16:58), Rafael Garcia (17:41) and Justin Sullivan (17:46 PB) who ran for the workout. Emily led the all OC girls and improved her personal best by 4:10 while Justin carved 40 seconds from him previous best. Emily ranks as the #3 all time OC junior, and Ethan (#3), Rafael (#4) and Justin (#5) joined the all time OC senior list.

OC All Time Lists - MtSAC 2.91 mile course:

Frosh Boys
#13 Ryan Huning

Frosh Girls
#4 Cristy Garcia
#6 Brittani Gardella
#13 Niki MacWhirter

Soph Girls
#13 Fallon Cislo

Junior Boys
#13 Nick Matra

Junior Girls
#3 Emily Fuld
#14 Jennifer Philen

Senior Boys
#3 Ethan Long
#4 Rafael Garcia
#5 Justin Sullivan
#11 Bobby Nordlund
#12 Greg Sadler
#13 David Goeser