Mt. SAC Invitational : San Diego Runners Get Top Marks; Lugo Is Seventh

The Mt. San Antonio College Invitational--with its tortuous hills--is an exercise in survival for high school cross-country runners.

The race doesn’t always go to the swiftest; rather, it is survived by the fittest.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the runners in Saturday’s race were forced to deal with 90-degree temperatures and a decent dose of smog.

San Diego’s Marc Davis survived. So did Kira Jorgensen of Vista.

In fact, they survived better than anyone else on the three-mile course in Walnut. Davis defended his title, winning the varsity boys’ individual sweepstakes race in 15:08. Jorgensen, a sophomore, won her race in the varsity girls’ team sweepstakes with a time of 17:59.3.

“Davis is in a class by himself,” Valencia’s Chris Lugo said, shaking his head.

That’s all Lugo and the rest of the field could do. Lugo finished seventh in the individual sweepstakes in 15:40, the best time among Orange County runners. He also had the best time in last week’s Orange County Championships at Irvine Park.

Davis, who was battling the flu, took the lead in the race’s first 600 yards and expanded it on the hills during the final two miles. Lugo stayed in a pack of about six runners in the beginning, then lost some ground on the hills.

“It was OK,” Lugo said. “I wanted to run an easy race. I was trying to recover from last week. At the beginning, I felt kind of flat today. I’m trying to use this as a rest week before CIF (the Southern Section meet).”

Valencia is ranked No. 1 in the county and No. 2 in the Southern Section 2-A. The Tigers didn’t get the chance Saturday to race head-to-head against Walnut, the No. 1-ranked team in 2-A. Walnut finished fourth with a time of 80:51 in the team sweepstakes; Valencia was fourth in the individual sweepstakes at 83:44.

However, Valencia’s time was affected when its No. 2 runner, Brett Kalleen, dropped out with an injury.

“This was a good team race,” Valencia Coach Mike Cummins said. “It wasn’t a great team race, though. Hopefully we will be 100% for CIF.”

Although most of the county runners said they were using the race to prepare for league finals and Southern Section championships--rather than shooting for top times--Kirsten Quigley of Dana Hills surprised her coach and herself in the girls’ team sweepstakes.

“She ran the race of her life,” Dana Hills Coach Ron Buchheim said. “She’s the fastest girl we’ve ever had on the course.”

Quigley finished 14th in the varsity team sweepstakes with a time of 19:08.7. Sita Jones of La Habra was 17th, Shannen Karpel of Ocean View 18th and Kathy Karpel of Ocean View 19th. The Seahawks, ranked No. 1 in the county, finished sixth in the varsity team sweepstakes with a time of 101:38.

Buchheim said Quigley runs better on a hilly course.

“We’ve been working a lot more on the hills this year,” Quigley said. “I think I’ve gotten a lot stronger on them.”

Cross-Country Notes

Laguna Beach took second in the varsity girls’ individual sweepstakes with a time of 104:53. The Artists were led by Megan Barnett’s 13th-place finish in 19:48. Brigid Freyne of Riverside Poly won in 18:03.2. Julie Cooper of El Dorado finished 11th in 19:41.7. . . . Palos Verdes was clearly the class of the varsity girls’ team sweepstakes, placing five runners in the top 10. Tracy Leichter led with a third-place finish in 18:30.1. Kira Jorgensen of Vista won the race by 22 seconds as Christy Farrell of Thousand Oaks placed second. Dana Hills (102:03) finished 7th, Canyon (103:47) 9th and La Habra (106:37) 13th. . . . Sophomore Eddie Lavelle of Corona del Mar won his varsity boys’ division race in 16:03. . . . In the varsity individual sweepstakes, Capistrano Valley’s Jamie Oman finished 17th in 16:03 to tie Lavelle for the second-best time among county runners. Chris Hobson of Costa Mesa (16:05) finished behind Oman in 18th place. . . . In the boys’ varsity team sweepstakes, Casa Roble won with a time of 80:13, Arroyo placed second in 80:18 and La Habra (83:12) eighth.