Mt. SAC Invitational : San Diego High’s Davis, Vista’s Jorgensen Win

Marc Davis of San Diego High School just couldn’t wait to get into the lead at the Mount San Antonio College Invitational cross-country meet in Walnut Saturday.

Once he got in front, Davis went on to win the boys’ individual sweepstakes race in 15:08, the fastest time of any of the 7,000 runners who competed in the two-day meet.

But for Davis, just running was a victory.

Davis had contracted a 24-hour flu bug Friday morning and was worried he wouldn’t be able to run to defend his Mt. SAC individual title. He won last year in 14:58.

Meanwhile, Kira Jorgensen of Vista won the girls’ team sweepstakes title, running 17:59.3 and giving San Diego County runners a sweep on the fastest times of the meet.

Jorgensen won by 22 seconds over Christy Farrell of Thousand Oaks. Vista finished fourth behind Palos Verdes--which had five runners in the top 10--Thousand Oaks and Arroyo Grande.

Davis’ illness, coupled with the hot, smoggy weather, slowed him down, he said.

“Going up one of the hills I thought, ‘Come on, guy, you’re supposed to be sick,’ ” he said. “I got mono after the state (track) meet last year and the last thing I need was to have it act up again. I was so scared before the race.

“My mom told me not to run, but I’ve never missed a race.”

Davis never missed a beat in running away from Aaron Mascorro, of Rosemead, who was second in 15:17.0, and Mason Myers of Vacaville (15:19.0 for third). Robbie Lopes of Monte Vista finished fourth in 15:20.

But neither Lopes nor the others threatened Davis. He took the lead after 600 yards and opened a 15-yard gap on the pack. He stretched it to between 50 and 65 yards thereafter. Despite that, he was worried that Mascorro might catch him on one of the steep hills.

Davis was monitoring his lead by listening to the spectators lining the route. He heard varying accounts on how large his lead was, and that confused him.

“Aaron was surging on the uphills,” Davis said. “And the people were screaming 50 yards, 30 yards, 20 yards, then 50 yards again. I didn’t know where he was.”

Mascorro never got closer than 50 yards in the final mile, however, as Davis ran strongly down the last downhill of Mt. SAC’s hilly three-mile course.

“I’m pretty confident now that I’ve won (Mt. SAC) when I was sick,” Davis said.

Jorgensen, a sophomore, never thought she’d win Mt. SAC on her second attempt. Last year, she finished fourth in the team sweepstakes race. Before Saturday’s race, someone had mistakenly told Jorgensen that highly regarded Melissa Sutton of Newbury Park would be competing.

“Before the race, I saw her doing a hard workout,” Jorgensen said. “So I didn’t know what to expect. I knew if I took off in front, I’d see her. She wasn’t there, so I figured I’d have to do it on my own and set the pace. Luckily, it was a good pace.”

As they approached the final hill, Farrell cut Jorgensen’s 15-second lead to less than 10 seconds. Jorgensen caught a glimpse of Farrell and knew her lead had dwindled.

“When I could see her, I thought it (the lead) was less than 10 seconds.,” Jorgensen said. “I knew I’d better get going.”

Other top San Diego County performers:

--Nicole Nugent of Torrey Pines was third in the girls’ individual sweepstakes race in 18:19.8. Nugent finished behind Brigid Freyne of Riverside Poly, who won in 18:03.1, and Jamie Park of Santa Barbara, second in 18:15.8.

--Vista’s boys, led by Mike Regis, placed 10th in the team sweepstakes race. Regis ran 15:59 for 10th place. Casa Roble of Orangevale (near Sacramento) won.

--El Camino won its boys varsity heat of the small schools division Friday.