SPORTS SCOPE : Best of State’s High School Harriers Will Race in the Mt. Sac Invitational

Most of the top boys and girls high school cross-country teams in the state will compete in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational on Friday and Saturday in Walnut.

About 300 schools and 7,300 athletes will compete in the meet, the largest invitational prep cross-country meet in the nation.

The boys meet is headed by Arroyo, ranked No. 1 in the state Division I poll by International Sports Exchange. Arroyo, impressive in winning the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto three weeks ago, is led by Jaime Ortega, Derrick Powers, Jeff Gilkey and Gerardo Puentes.

But the Knights are expected to receive strong competition from CIF Southern Section powers Palos Verdes, Corona Del Mar and Walnut. Palos Verdes is ranked No. 1 in the 4-A Division, Corona Del Mar is No. 2 in 4-A and Walnut is No. 1 in 2-A.

The top girls team in the meet is Palos Verdes, regarded as the best team in the nation. Among the top girls competing are Tracey Williams of Mountain View, Brigid Freyne of Riverside Poly and Kira Jorgenson of Rancho Buena Vista.

After playing three straight road games, the Claremont-Mudd College football team returns home to face a strong University of San Diego team in a non-conference game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Claremont, 3-2, was ranked No. 12 in NCAA Division III, but that was before the Stags dropped a 13-9 decision to No. 20 Menlo College last Saturday in Atherton.

The Stags will try to rebound against San Diego, but the Toreros are having one of their best seasons in recent years. San Diego has a 4-1-1 record and its defense has three shutouts and has allowed only 42 points.

San Diego, which routed Pomona-Pitzer (42-6) last week, is led on defense by junior free safety Brian Day, the team’s top tackler.

Claremont will counter with strong rushing led by senior Chris Dabrow, who scored his team’s only touchdown against Menlo on a 19-yard run, and quarterback Mike Pembroke.

In other games matching four-year colleges Saturday, Azusa Pacific visits St. Mary’s and Pomona-Pitzer is at home against UC Santa Barbara at 1:30 p.m. and Occidental visits Redlands and La Verne travels to Whittier at 7:30.

Azusa Pacific slipped to 2-4 with a 31-24 loss to Occidental last week, but the Cougars turned in one of their best rushing performances, 301 yards. Leading the way was tailback Jay Johnson, who rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown in 17 carries. That offset sub-par passing by quarterback Rich Jimenez who completed only one of nine passes for 17 yards.

Occidental, which snapped a two-game losing streak in last week’s win over Azusa Pacific, will take a strong offense into its game against struggling Redlands (1-4). The leaders are quarterback Mark Krajnik, a former Rosemead High standout, and running back Mike Sandlin, who played at Arcadia High.

La Verne and Pomona-Pitzer are underdogs Saturday. Pomona-Pitzer (1-4) faces a strong Santa Barbara (5-1) squad that crushed La Verne, 35-12, last week. La Verne is 1-4 heading into its game against Whittier (3-3).

Azusa Pacific University, Cal State Los Angeles and host Cal Poly Pomona are among the cross-country teams in the Bronco Invitational men’s and women’s meet Saturday at Bonelli Park in San Dimas.

The women’s 5-K starts at 9 a.m. and the men’s 8-K meet at 9:30.

With one week before the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. championships, the meet is a tuneup for Pomona and Cal State. The CCAA finals are next week at Cal State Northridge.

“We would like to get a little sharpness on a fast course that has lots of pavement,” Pomona Coach Jim Sackett said.

The Broncos are led by senior David Loud, an NCAA Division II All-American from Covina who had a season best of 32:16 at the 10-K Aztec Invitational.

In the women’s meet, Pomona figures to be led by junior Krista Wendt and freshman Jodi Rempel.

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s soccer team, which has won five of its last seven matches, will play host to UC San Diego in a non-conference game at 5 p.m. Friday.

The Broncos, who hold a 5-2 series lead over San Diego, improved their record to 8-6 with a 4-0 victory over Chapman on Monday in Orange. Pomona has been led by freshman Kristin Harkins with 5 goals and 10 points.