MT. SAN ANTONIO CROSS-COUNTRY INVITATIONAL : Edison Girls Finish Third Before Heat, Smog Stop Meet

For the first time in the 43 years of the Mt. San Antonio Cross-Country Invitational, the meet was ended Saturday because of weather.

With temperatures hovering in the 90s and an inversion layer covering the much of the Southland, several athletes were stricken with heat exhaustion--including two who were diagnosed as having heat stroke. Six athletes were transported to local hospitals. All were treated and released.

Los Angeles County batallion chief David Stone ordered the meet stopped at 2:45 p.m.; four of the 55 races were not run.

The Mt. SAC Invitational, with 8,000 athletes competing over two days, is the largest high school invitational in the western United States. The three-mile course is run almost entirely on dirt.

Saturday’s races began at 7:45 a.m. with little indication of the impending problems, but as the temperature soared, local paramedics were summoned at 1 p.m. for the first cases of heat-related illnesses. Eventually, 13 fire department personnel and eight ambulances arrived to help the meet trainers treat approximately 40 athletes.

“The paramedics said they were not quite able to handle this number of athletes,” said meet director Don Ruh, who has run the meet for the past 29 years. “They were worried about heat stroke.”

Stone, who said he hadn’t experienced as severe a problem with a meet in his 10 years as chief, said the weather conditions were not conducive for the invitational.

“It’s extremely hot and the inversion layer is as low as it gets,” said Stone.

Among the athletes treated were three Saddleback runners. Saddleback Coach Mel Silva said he instructed his athletes to pour water over their heads before they ran and drink plenty of water, but the precautions were not enough.

In the day’s top race, the Edison High School girls’ team placed third in the team sweepstakes race, upsetting San Diego Mt. Carmel, which is ranked seventh in the nation. Agoura, ranked No. 1, won the race with 70 points and Palos Verdes Peninsula was second with 100. Edison, the top Orange County finisher, was third with 109 points. Mt. Carmel placed fourth with 159 points and Irvine was fifth with 162.

The sweepstakes race had five teams ranked nationally by The Harrier cross-country magazine and featured a long-awaited showdown between the county’s best teams. Edison, ranked eighth in the nation and second in state Division II, hadn’t faced Irvine, ranked seventh in Division I, or Mt. Carmel before Saturday.

Edison senior Shelley Taylor won the race in 18 minutes 13 seconds, defeating Agoura’s Kay Nekota by nine seconds. Edison’s Jennifer Formosa was next for the Chargers in 17th place (19:55). Teammate Janna Evans was 18th (19:57).

San Diego Fallbrook’s Milena Glusac had the top girls’ time, missing by two seconds the course record of 17:16, set by Agoura’s Deena Drossin last year. Sunny Hills sophomore Carrie Garritson was second in 18:05, the day’s second-best time.

In the boys’ competition, Esperanza took fifth in the team sweepstakes race for the top county finish and Katella, led by sophomore Mike Moreno and junior Mike Love, placed second in the individual sweepstakes race. Chris Lynch of Laguna Hills turned in the top county time, 15:47. La Habra was second and Laguna Hills third in the race.