Stevens’ Kick Takes Him to Top at Mt. SAC

Appearances can be deceiving.

Just ask cross-country runners Steve Smith of Chino Hills Ayala High and Ronnie Buchanan of Santa Maria Righetti.

Those two looked well within themselves while leading most of the boys’ team sweepstakes race in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut on Saturday. But it was tired-looking Jon Stevens of Fremont Mission San Jose who powered away from both of them in the final 100 meters of the race to clock a winning 15 minutes 2 seconds over the three-mile course.

Stevens won the Division II race of the prestigious Stanford Invitational on Sept. 27, but there were points Saturday when it appeared that he was struggling to keep pace with the smooth-running Buchanan and Smith.

“This course is really hard,” Stevens said. “But I also had two guys in front of me who seemed like they wanted to lead and that was fine with me.”

Buchanan, who upset Isaiah Festa of Morro Bay in the Cuesta College Invitational the previous week, pushed the pace from the one- to two-mile mark with Smith on his shoulder and Stevens a stride or two back.

Smith began to gradually pull away from Buchanan at the 2 1/4-mile mark, but he couldn’t shake Stevens, who stayed behind him until the final 100-meter straightaway on the course.

Smith, who won the Division I title at Stanford, placed second in 15:06 with Buchanan third at 15:08.

Carmichael Jesuit edged Long Beach Poly, 75-76, for the boys’ team title; Grass Valley Nevada Union was third with 112 points.

Senior Chad Durham placed seventh in 15:33 for Long Beach Poly and his sophomore brother Aaron was 15th in 15:49.

Yucaipa, the No. 2-ranked team in the country, won the girls’ team sweepstakes race with 78 points. Anaheim Esperanza was second with 141 points, followed by Quartz Hill with 195.

Senior Kimi Welsh paced Yucaipa with a winning time of 17:29. The time cut 26 seconds off her previous best at Mt. SAC and was the fastest of the meet along with Santa Rosa junior Trina Cox, who won the individual sweepstakes race.

Gabriel Hernandez of Rubidoux defeated Danny Lee of El Toro in the boys’ individual sweepstakes.