Poe’s Tell-Tale Race Is This Week at Mt. SAC

Michael Poe of Etiwanda High has gone from unranked to sixth in the state Division I individual cross-country rankings, thanks to his victory at the Inland Empire Challenge last week.

The undefeated junior figures he’ll get a better indication of where he stands in relation to the state’s top runners on Saturday when he competes in the individual sweepstakes race of the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut.

Poe spurted away from seventh-ranked Erick Maldonado of Chino Don Lugo and ninth-ranked Tom Whelan of Redlands East Valley with 150 yards left in the three-mile race of the Inland Empire meet at Guasti Regional Park in Ontario. But he says neither he, Maldonado nor Whelan put forth an all-out effort in the inaugural meet that featured some of the top runners and teams from San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

“I just kind of kicked it the last 150 yards,” Poe said. “It’s a victory, but it’s not too important because the three of us were just trying to make sure that San Bernardino County took the top three places. Mt. SAC will give me a better idea of where I stand.”

The boys’ individual sweepstakes is always one of four featured races on the second day of the Mt. SAC meet, but it is particularly strong this year because some of the state’s top Division I and II teams opted to run in the individual sweepstakes instead of the team sweepstakes.

As a result, the individual sweepstakes will include five of the top 10-ranked Division I runners in the state, four of the top seven-ranked Division II runners and the two top-ranked Division V runners.

“There are going to be some studs up in there,” said Poe, who ran 70-90 miles a week during the summer while training with Maldonado. “I’m just glad I was able to get in that race.”

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Looking forward: The Anaheim Esperanza girls’ team remained unbeaten against teams from California with a runaway victory in the Orange County championships Saturday. But Coach Rich Medellin didn’t want his charges getting carried away with a win that came against a field that included runner-up Irvine Woodbridge, the top-ranked Division II team in the state, and third-place Dana Point Dana Hills, the No. 9-ranked team in Harrier magazine’s national poll.

“We’re going to [enjoy this] for two days,” Medellin said. “But on Monday, it’s going to be time to get back to work.”

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Flaw in the system: The sweepstakes races of the Orange County championships are designed to pit the top 15-ranked teams in the county against one another, but talented individuals from mediocre teams can end up in other races as a result.

That was evident Saturday, when sophomore Michael Haddan of Woodbridge and junior David Napper of Cypress placed first and second in the Division II boys’ race with times of 15 minutes and 15:04 over the three-mile course.

Haddan ran three seconds faster than sweepstakes winner Juan Robles of Placentia Valencia, leading some in attendance to ask who should be called the Orange County champion.

“I can’t answer that question,” Robles said. “If it had been all three of us running at the same time, all three of us would have run faster.”