The South Bay Invitational remains one of the San Diego Section’s longest-running cross country meets; it still keeps delivering thrills.
Among this year’s highlights:
•West Hills and Grossmont tied for the lead in the girls JV division, each with 78 points, but West Hills earned the tiebreaker win based on the finish of the teams’ sixth runners while El Capitan was fifth in the same field.
The South Bay Invitational remains one of the San Diego Section’s longest-running cross country meets; it still keeps delivering thrills.
Among this year’s highlights:
•West Hills and Grossmont tied for the lead in the girls JV division, each with 78 points, but West Hills earned the tiebreaker win based on the finish of the teams’ sixth runners while El Capitan was fifth in the same field.
•Grossmont finished second in the girls varsity division while Santana was fourth and El Capitan was fifth.
•Santana finished third in the boys frosh/soph division and also third in the boys JV division.
•Grossmont, West Hills, El Capitan and Santana finished fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth, respectively, in the boys varsity division.
Top individuals
Grossmont junior Kaila Talo (18:39) and West Hills sophomore Makynzie Floyd (18:44) finished second and third, respectively in the 2.5-mile girls JV race while El Capitan senior Kelli Rust (19:10) placed 10th in the 260-deep field.
Grossmont juniors Hayden White (18:06) and Jeffrey Kay (18:21) finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 5K boys JV race while Santana senior Matt D’Angelo (18:43) placed 10th in the 218-deep field.
El Capitan freshman Carolinh Calvert (15:50) finished third in the 2.5-mile girls varsity race while Grossmont senior Rileigh Dunning (16:38) placed 10th in the 144-deep field.
El Capitan sophomore Matt Machnov finished fifth in the 5K boys varsity race in 16:15. A total of 189 runners competed in the division.
Santana sophomore Cody Butrovich placed fifth in the 5K boys frosh/soph race in 18:25 while Grossmont freshman Devin Provence (18:36) finished seventh in the 227-deep field.
Tale of the tape
Race-winners included Point Loma sophomore Joshua Bauer (17:44 in the boys frosh/soph race), Sweetwater freshman Gabriela Rodriguez (18:35 in the girls JV race), San Pasqual senior Alex Egan (16:05 in the boys varsity race), Francis Parker senior Brooke Trossen (15:15 in the girls varsity race) and Otay Ranch junior Giovanni Stone (17:58 in the boys JV race).
Other team champions included Point Loma in the boys frosh/soph and girls varsity divisions and Otay Ranch in the boys varsity and boys junior varsity divisions.
West Hills tallied its 78 points in the girls JV division based on a 3-15-17-21-22 finish while Grossmont racked up its 78 points based on a 2-14-16-20-26 finish. The difference was in the position of the teams’ sixth runner: West Hills freshman Natasha Whitman was 23rd while Grossmont junior Sable Fest was 46th.
West Hills’ top five scorers – separated by exactly a minute on the course — included Floyd (third), freshman Claudia Ylagan (15th, 19:23); senior Jenna Killian (17th, 19:29); junior Brooke Woods (21st, 19:43) and sophomore Mary McNamara (22nd, 19:44).
Grossmont’s top five scorers — separated by 1:10 on the course — included Talo (second), freshman Jaye La Bruno (14th, 19:19), senior Lizbeth Hernandez (16th, 19:25), senior Joelle Weddle (20th, 19:40) and junior Jackelyne Hernandez (26th, 19:49).
In the girls’ varsity division, Grossmont’s runner-up team included top five scorers Dunning (10th), senior Cassidy Davila (19th, 17:07), sophomore Autumn Mass (32nd, 17:25), junior Ashley Prus (33rd, 17:26) and junior Lisset Dominguez (42nd, 17:39). The five-person spread was 1:01.
Point Loma turned in a tight 26-second five-person spread to win the girls varsity division.
Mt. Carmel Invitational
Steele Canyon won the Division I senior girls race at this year’s Mt. Carmel Movin’ Shoes Invitational Sept. 17 at Morley Field. Steele Canyon also placed third in the Division I freshman girls race.
