Mt. SAC Cross-Country Meet : Predictable Group of Winners but for All Different Reasons

Almost 7,300 runners from 300 high schools got together this weekend in Walnut, not to watch things change, but remain the same.

Kira Jorgensen, the junior from Rancho Buena Vista of Vista in the San Diego Section, is still the best girls’ distance runner in the state. Palos Verdes proved again it is the No. 1 girls’ cross-country team in California. Arroyo of El Monte, after a subpar performance in winning last weekend, regained the look as the top-ranked boys’ team in the state. That much was proven, or reinforced, Saturday on the second of the two-day Mt. San Antonio College Invitational.

All three victories were impressive, though for different reasons.

Palos Verdes won the girls’ team sweepstakes on an overcast day by placing its top five runners in first (Ashley Black), third (Tracy Leichter), fifth (Heidi DiLibero), seventh (Leslie Fill) and eighth (Dana Sublett). The Sea Kings’ 28 points easily beat second-place Arroyo Grande (96) and third-place Reed, Nev. (106).

In winning its fifth straight invitational this year, Arroyo dominated the boys’ sweepstakes in much the same way. But the Knights, a 3-A school led by Jaime Ortega (second), Derrick Powers (third), Jeff Gilkey (10th) and Gerardo Puentes (11th) needed the bunch up front to score 69 points and beat the two best 4-A schools, Palos Verdes (76) and Corona del Mar (106). David Scudamore of Palos Verdes won the three-mile race in 15:17.0.

Jorgensen won the girls’ individual sweepstakes in one of the best distance fields in a while, running a 17:27 to 17:42 by Agoura’s Deena Drossin.

Goshu Tadese of San Diego Crawford won the boys’ individual sweepstakes in 15:15, with Loui Quintana of Arroyo Grande second in 15:27