All Downhill From Here

Hills, hills and more hills.

When talking about Mt. San Antonio College’s 2.91-mile cross-country course, it’s difficult not to mention the three major hills that runners must ascend on the rugged layout.

Yet it is the descent of the final hill — known as Reservoir Hill — with a half-mile left in the race that might be as crucial a point as any on the course.

That was obvious in the Mt. SAC Invitational on Saturday, when the individual winners of three of the four sweepstakes races wrested the lead after cresting the hill in second place.

Dylan Jaedtke of Simi Valley Royal won the boys’ team sweepstakes race after spurting past Jonathan Cardenas of Reno (Nev.) 50 meters into his descent of Reservoir Hill.

“I wanted to try and take it to him at that point,” Jaedtke said. “I tried to push it on the downhill strong and it worked.”

Mark Matusak of Los Angeles Loyola won the boys’ individual sweepstakes race after surging past Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte on nearly the same portion of the course.

And Rachel Bryan of Elk Grove Laguna Creek made a similar move to burst past Claire Rethmeier of Escondido San Pasqual in the girls’ individual sweepstakes.

Return to Form

The Upland boys’ team jumped from 10th to fourth in this week’s Southland rankings after finishing fourth behind Chino Don Lugo, Royal and Reno in the Mt. SAC team sweepstakes race.

Upland was fourth in the rankings after a fourth-place finish in the sweepstakes race of the Irvine Woodbridge Invitational on Sept. 20, but several team members had been ill since then.

Those illnesses contributed to a disappointing 12th-place finish in the Division I race of the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 20, but a recovering Highlander squad placed fourth in the sweepstakes race of the Inland Empire Challenge on Oct. 11 before its big performance Saturday.

“We feel like it’s a new season,” Upland Coach Michael Wilson said.

Expanding List

The list of boys who have broken 15 minutes on the Mt. SAC course since 1999 grew substantially Saturday when Matusak’s 14-minute, 33-second clocking led seven other runners to sub-15 performances in the individual sweepstakes race.

Matusak, a junior whose time ties him for second on the all-time course list with Tim Nelson of Redding Liberty Christian, is among 28 runners who have combined to break 15 minutes on 38 occasions.

Ryan Hall, who set the course record of 14:28 as a senior at Big Bear in 2000, broke 15 minutes three times. So have seniors Trafeh and Michael Haddan of Woodbridge.

Lancers Hurting

Illnesses to several of its top runners have contributed to a disappointing season for the Thousand Oaks girls’ team.

The Lancers were No. 1 in the state Division I preseason rankings, but were dropped from The Times’ Southland rankings three weeks ago. Their struggles were evident Oct. 16, when Royal defeated Thousand Oaks, 22-38, in what was expected to be a close Marmonte League meet.

Junior Kathleen Vance, the top runner on a Lancer team that finished second to Murrieta Valley in the state Division I final last year, was Thousand Oaks’ No. 7 performer against Royal. Vance, who has had breathing problems while running for several months, faded badly during the second half of the three-mile race. So did many of her teammates.

“When you can’t complete your workouts, it’s going to show up in races sooner or later,” Coach Robert Radnoti said.