76th Mt. SAC Invitational: Saturday Sweepstakes and Varsity Recap
WALNUT, Calif. – Trey Caldwell knows every version of the Mt. SAC cross country course and how to excel on all of them.
Braelyn Combe has become quite familiar with winning at the prestigious venue and she added another impressive victory Saturday.
And the spotlight also shined on seniors Katja Dunayevich of Canyon Crest Academy and Issaiah McCorvey from Lancaster, who both benefited from big moves in the final mile to also become sweepstakes champions.
Despite the course revisions to showcase a new 3-mile layout this season that concludes inside Hilmer Lodge Stadium, the 76th Mt. SAC Invitational Presented by Nike looked similar to the previous year, with Caldwell – a senior at Concord De La Salle High in California and a Colorado commit – and Corona Santiago junior Combe both winning Division 1-2 sweepstakes titles for the second straight season.
Caldwell became the first athlete to eclipse the 15-minute barrier on the new course, which eliminated Poop-Out Hill and added a 300-meter finishing stretch on the track since his victory last year, clocking 14:46 to prevail in the Division 1-2 team sweepstakes race.
Trey Caldwell (10/26/2024)
Caldwell ran 14:49 on the 2.93-mile Mt. SAC layout last season to win the Division 1-2 individual sweepstakes title. He also clocked 15:27 on the 5-kilometer course at Foot Locker West Regionals in December to advance to the national championship meet in San Diego for the second time.
The last male athlete to achieve Saturday sweepstakes victories in consecutive years at Mt. SAC was former Rubidoux High of California standout Kevin Ramos Leyva in 2017-18, winning a pair of Division 1-2 individual sweepstakes crowns.
Caldwell now boasts course records at both Mt. SAC and Crystal Springs, with his 14:27 effort on the 2.95-mile layout Oct. 12, and is now targeting his first sub-15 performance Nov. 30 on the 5-kilometer circuit at Woodward Park in Fresno at the California Division 2 state final.
Mason Nguyen and his Beckman High teammates built on their success from Oct. 12 at Woodward Park in the Rob Brenner boys championship race at the 45th ASICS Clovis Invitational by capturing the first Division 1-2 boys team sweepstakes title in program history at Mt. SAC.
Nguyen placed second in 15:03, Ryan Barris secured seventh in 15:22, Nathan Horrocks took 12th in 15:30, Jude Tenorio achieved 33rd in 15:56 and Anthony Barrera finished 49th in 16:11 to lead the Patriots to a 103-131 victory against Glendora.
Mira Costa took third at 141 points, Crescenta Valley captured fourth with 166 points and Redondo Union achieved fifth at 178 points.
Maximo Zavaleta of Martin Luther King was third in 15:13, Woodbridge’s Aiden Zavala and Ziyad Abdallah from Trabuco Hills were both timed in 15:20 to finish fourth and fifth, respectively, Glendora’s Dylan Flores placed sixth in 15:21, San Clemente’s Yohan Anderson achieved eighth in 15:22, Dylan Jubak from Trabuco Hills took ninth in 15:25 and Ayala freshman Bryson Caganap grabbed 10th in 15:27.
Combe secured back-to-back Division 1-2 girls team sweepstakes victories by clocking 17:20, the best time achieved Saturday by a female athlete and the third-fastest overall for the entire two-day meet, trailing only South Pasadena’s Abigail Errington (16:57) and La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey (17:06) in the Division 3-4-5 girls team sweepstakes competition Friday.
Braelyn Combe (10/26/2024)
Combe became the first female competitor to win the Division 1-2 girls team sweepstakes title in consecutive seasons since former Simi Valley High standout Sarah Baxter triumphed four years in a row from 2010-13.
The last two female athletes to win back-to-back Saturday sweepstakes races at Mt. SAC before Combe were Malibu’s Claudia Lane in the Division 1-2 individual sweepstakes in 2016-17 and Fiona O’Keeffe of Davis Senior in 2013-14. O’Keeffe won the Division 1-2 individual sweepstakes in 2013, followed by the Division 1-2 team sweepstakes competition in 2014.
Combe also contributed to Rancho Cucamonga winning its first Division 1-2 girls team sweepstakes title at Mt. SAC as a freshman in 2022. She also helped Corona Santiago win the Southern Section Division 1 championship for the first time at Mt. SAC last season.
The Sharks raced Saturday without Florida State commit Rylee Blade, in addition to Trabuco Hills also not showcasing a full lineup following the Mustangs winning the 3-mile sweepstakes title Oct. 19 at the Orange County Championships at Oak Canyon Park. Trabuco Hills was unable to score when Anna Desormeau dropped out of the race following the first mile.
That shifted the attention to St. Francis Mountain View, with the impressive Central Coast Section program capturing its first Division 1-2 girls team sweepstakes championship in remarkable fashion by having all seven athletes in the top 25 to produce a 69-105 victory against Del Norte.
Claremont, last year’s sweepstakes winner, took third at 135 points, with Mira Costa finishing fourth following a 154-point effort and San Clemente edging Great Oak on a sixth-runner tiebreaker to decide fifth place after the lineups both accumulated 183 points.
Caitlin Cilley clocked 18:44 to earn eighth, Payton Wagner took 10th in 18:47 and Sabrina Zanetto achieved 13th in 18:56 for St. Francis Mountain View, which had Charlie Hofstetter (19:12), Brinley Pickett (19:15), Lauren Draper (19:17) and Charlene Evangelista (19:19) finish 22nd through 25th overall.
Claremont was led by junior Isla Bulmer placing second in 17:57, with freshman Grace Smith taking third in 18:01.
Del Norte had senior Emily Russo place fourth in 18:20 and Eliza Hong achieve fifth in 18:27, the same time credited to Trabuco Hills senior Sophie Guilfoile to secure sixth, with Mira Costa’s Sadie Wilson grabbing seventh in 18:41 and Great Oak’s Makenna Mitchell capturing ninth in 18:47.
Dunayevich produced one of the most memorable comebacks in meet history in the Division 1-2 girls individual sweepstakes race, overcoming a 26-second deficit at the 2-mile mark by surging past Temescal Canyon’s Megan Crum in the final 100 meters to prevail by a 17:39 to 17:41 margin.
Katja Dunayevich (10/26/2024)
Dunayevich covered the final mile in 5:43, the fastest split of the day and second overall among all female competitors in the entire meet behind only Errington closing Friday’s sweepstakes race in 5:28.
Arcadia’s Charlotte Hopkins took third in 17:51 and teammate Reena Hsieh was eighth in 18:23, Vista Murrieta’s Erica Kirk placed fourth in 18:04, Long Beach Poly’s Avery Peck captured fifth in 18:09, Ventura freshman Sophie Nuckols secured sixth in 18:14, Kate Weaver from Helix earned seventh in 18:16, Crescenta Valley’s Kaitlin Kenney finished ninth in 18:25 and fellow Falcons senior Emilia Greenway grabbed 11th in 18:28, with Patrick Henry’s Hannah Aguirre clocking 18:27 for 10th place.
Crescenta Valley produced a 110-116 victory against Arcadia in a preview of the Pacific League championship meet Nov. 7, with Vista Murrieta taking third at 157 points.
McCorvey might not have garnered the same attention at the 45th ASICS Clovis Invitational as some of his peers competing in the Rob Brenner boys championship race, but the Lancaster senior backed up his victory in varsity competition Oct. 12 at Woodward Park with the biggest win of his prep career by clocking 15:08 to triumph in a strong Division 1-2 individual sweepstakes field at Mt. SAC.
Issaiah McCorvey (10/26/2024)
Camden Luecht of Rancho Bernardo led through the 2-mile mark, but placed runner-up in 15:20, followed by Valley View’s Evan Nahuat in 15:27.
Gilroy’s Joshua Guzman clocked 15:34 to finish fourth, Steele Canyon’s Micah Senn placed fifth in 15:41, Ventura’s Blake Harris secured sixth in 15:44, with Brady Keller of Lacombe High in Alberta, Canada, as well as Venice’s Paul Tranquilla both being timed in 15:46 to earn seventh and eighth, respectively.
Lancaster’s Dalton Burke supported McCorvey with a ninth-place performance in 15:48, the same time as Northwood’s Logan Shaw, who captured 10th.
Corona Santiago, led by Brandon Fonseca achieving 11th in 15:49, was victorious with 147 points, just ahead of La Serna at 161 points and Valley View taking third with 164 points.
The remaining varsity competition following the sweepstakes schedule showcased Rancho Cucamonga’s Nolan Koopman win a Division 1-2 combined field in 15:49.
Riverside Poly’s Olivia Bollenbach was victorious in the Division 1-2 girls race in 18:47.
La Quinta’s Saveyra Guerrero (19:06), Downey’s Natalie Gonzalez (19:16) and Garfield’s Kelia Naranjo-Champion (19:49) won the Division 1 girls varsity races.
Hemet’s Owen Teague (15:49), Alisal’s Gustavo Perez (15:52) and Lakewood’s Gabriel Rojas (16:09) earned wins in Division 1 boys varsity competition.
Bakersfield Stockdale’s Hannah Pacheco (18:51), Oakland Tech’s Chloe Leduc (19:00) and Mount Carmel’s Olivia Campos (19:15) triumphed in Division 2 girls varsity races.
Paso Robles’ Brian Arndt (15:42), California High of Whittier’s Zaylen Barragan (16:00) and Santa Barbara’s Nicholas Tassos (16:03) all secured victories in their respective Division 2 boys varsity sections.
Official Results:
By Erik Boal