PREP CROSS-COUNTRY : Newhall Hart Wins Mt. SAC

Newhall Hart High, the defending state Division I champion, reaffirmed its No. 1 national ranking by winning the team sweepstakes race at the Mt. San Antonio College invitational on Saturday.

Led by Keith Grossman’s fourth-place finish, Hart, the top-ranked team by The Harrier magazine, placed four runners among the top 19 to win with 77 points.

Madera of the Central Section was second with 88 points, followed by Palos Verdes Peninsula (109) and Concord De La Salle (186).

Margarito Casillas of Glendale Hoover held off a late charge by Fernando Mendoza of Channel Islands to win in 15 minutes 15 seconds over the hilly, three-mile course. Mendoza was second in 15:20 and Ryan Wilson of Agoura was third in 15:43.

Hart, which has won eight consecutive Foothill League titles, has not lost a meet since Madera won the Mt. SAC meet last year.

Hart and Madera finished first and second, respectively, in last year’s state meet.

“I didn’t worry too much,” Grossman said of Madera, which the Indians defeated two weeks ago at the Stanford invitational. “I thought we would win if everybody ran a decent race.”

Although temperatures in the 90s did not affect the morning sweepstakes races, six runners were hospitalized because of heat exhaustion. The final four races were cancelled by the Los Angeles County Fire Dept.

Fallbrook’s Milena Glusac won the girls’ individual sweepstakes race in 17:18, narrowly missing the course record of 17:16 held by Agoura’s Deena Drossin and Kirsten O’Hara of Palos Verdes. Carrie Garritson of Sunny Hills finished second in 18:05.

Kay Nekota, Laura Hayward and Kristie Camp placed second, fifth and ninth, respectively, to lead Agoura to its third girls’ team sweepstakes title in a row.

Jeff Wilson of Newbury Park pulled away in the last mile to win the boys’ individual sweepstakes by 18 seconds in 15:08.