HIGH SCHOOLS : Mt. Carmel Dominates N.Y. Race

They had to raise more than $10,000 to make the trip. Once there, they had to deal with inclement weather, a new course and a 28-team field.

But the Mt. Carmel girls exceeded their No. 9 national ranking by defeating No. 3 Palos Verdes to win the Eastern States Championship race Saturday at the 18th annual Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational at Van Courtland Park in New York City.

It was the Sundevils’ first appearance at the invitational, which, with more than 8,000 runners, is the largest cross country race east of the Mississippi River.

The day before the race, it rained three inches, but the Sundevils negotiated the soaked 2 1/2-mile course and finished with 100 points. Palos Verdes had 114.

Six Sundevils finished in top 30, led by sixth-place Susan Scott with a time of 15:52. Other finishers were Rita Hermiz (19th), Jennifer Vergith (21th), Charaighn Foss (26th), Marcia Larson (28th) and Kathleen Carl (29th).

“The challenge of going out there in a foreign environment with a different layout and in the rain is a real positive, rewarding thing,” Mt. Carmel Coach Dennis McClanahan said. “The girls, how they ran, is probably one of the better days we’ve ever had. They dominated everything.”

McClanahan’s request to enter two varsity teams was denied, so he had one team in the first of two junior varsity races and then entered the two remaining girls in the second race. Mt. Carmel won the first junior varsity race by 50 points by placing all six runners in the top nine. The Sundevils’ Sara Smith won in 17:24. In the other JV race, the two Sundevils entered placed first and fourth.

Ramona was picked by every Avocado League coach to win the league, but now it’s struggling just to make the playoffs. After being shut out, 41-0, Friday by El Camino, the Bulldogs are 3-3 overall and 1-2 in league.

Ramona, which had 17 of 22 starters returning from a team that last year advanced to the 2-A semifinals, has lost two consecutive games since assistant coach Jack Campbell was suspended indefinitely for directing a practice drill that resulted in a player suffering a shoulder injury.

El Camino coach Herb Meyer, one of many who jumped on the Ramona bandwagon before the season, offered his perspective on what has gone wrong with the Bulldogs: “I’m sure there’s been some chaos over the coaching situation. Outsiders don’t understand how much that can affect a program. Another one of the major problems is, it’s hard to be as good as everybody expects you to be. When you read all those great things about you in the paper, it makes it real hard to get your kids to focus.”

Meyer also said Ramona’s line, which averaged 250 pounds, might have been overrated.: “When you start getting gigantic size, it really cuts down on your mobility. We watched them against San Marcos. That kind of size in high school, unless that person is a tremendous individual, can be offset by quickness.”

There will be a plot within a plot when La Jolla (5-1) meets Kearny (5-1) at 7 p.m. Friday at Mesa College in a football game many believe will determine the City Western League. That’s because La Jolla running back E.J. Watson, the county leader in touchdowns with 17, and Kearny’s Darnay Scott, who led the county with 13 touchdown receptions last season, will be on the same field.

Scott, a receiver/kick returner whose explosive speed has produced 11 touchdowns and attracted Division I college recruiters, met Watson two years ago after Scott moved from St. Louis to Clairemont. Scott, a senior, quickly grabbed the spotlight over his neighbor last year, compiling 903 receiving yards for a 20.1-yard average. Now this may be Watson’s year.

“I can’t wait to play against him,” Watson said of Scott. “It’s going to be fun.”

Rancho Buena Vista’s Markeith Ross rushed for three touchdowns against Torrey Pines on Friday, giving him 15 for the year and a San Diego Section-record 58 for his career, eclipsing the previous record of 56 by Sweetwater’s Terry Rodgers (1983-85).

Ross was a slow starter this season. He didn’t rush for a touchdown until the fourth game of the season, when he scored a Section-record seven times against Poway.

Through six games, he has gained 1,079 yards, but 761 of those have come in the past three Palomar League games.

Dana Haddad, Martin Henderson, Jim Lindgren and Dave McKibben contributed to this story.