Mercado Is Best on Day of Bests

The conditions could not have been better for the hundreds of cross-country runners who competed Saturday at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut.

A light fog hung over the nearly 2.9-mile course, keeping temperatures in the low 60s and knocking down any trace of wind.

Rain from earlier in the week had softened the running surface and limited the amount of dust stirred by the competitors.

Diego Mercado, a senior at West Covina, was among those who took advantage, winning the boys’ team sweepstakes race in a course-record 14 minutes 24 seconds.

Simi Valley Royal ran the fastest team time ever on the course, despite missing one of its key runners to injury.

Anchored by the fourth-place finish of Michael Cybulski, the Highlanders finished with its five scoring runners in the top 27 and a team time of 76:22.

Junior Marie Lawrence of Reno High ran the course’s second-fastest girls’ time, winning the team sweepstakes race in 16:29.

In the individual sweepstakes race, Jordan Hasay of San Luis Obispo Mission Prep won in 16:48, breaking the freshman course record by 18 seconds and equaling Lawrence’s time from this meet last season, which was the fourth-fastest on the course.

Diego Mercado’s time broke the previous course record of 14:28 set by Ryan Hall of Big Bear in 2000 and tied by Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte in 2003.

“Everything went according to plan, perfectly,” said Mercado, who finished third in the state Division I final last season.

Dan Arritt

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Girls’ Volleyball

Junior outside hitter Alix Klineman had 18 kills and eight digs and senior setter Taylor Carico had six kills, eight digs and 30 assists to help Manhattan Beach Mira Costa defeat Goleta Dos Pueblos, 25-16, 25-15, 25-22, and win the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions title for the second year in a row.

Jessica Hardy added 11 kills and seven digs and Lauren Bledsoe had six kills and five blocks for the Mustangs (22-2), who earned their first tournament title of the season after having lost to Louisville (Ky.) Assumption in the finals of two previous events.

Mira Costa is ranked No. 2 nationally by the website prepvolleyball.com.

“She’s like the quarterback,” Mira Costa Coach Dae Lea Aldrich said of Carico, who was selected the tournament’s most valuable player. “She served well, she set well, she did everything.”

Dos Pueblos senior outside hitter Kim Courtney had 12 kills. Senior outside hitter Amber Park and junior opposite hitter Sarah Risser each added eight kills for the Chargers (19-2).

-- Lauren Peterson