The San Marcos varsity boys cross country team took first place in a Boys D3 Varsity Blue-3 Mile race at the 2021 Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut.
San Marcos took first in a race at the world’s largest cross-country invitational.
The Royals won a Boys D3 Varsity Blue-3 Mile race at the 2021 Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut.
San Marcos took its victory Friday with a team time of 1:27:11 and a score of 102. (In cross country, the lowest score wins.)
The average race time for San Marcos runners was 17:27.
And the varsity boys team’s average 1-mile time? That was 5:49.
Ramona placed second with a team time of 1:28:22 and a score of 108, followed by Buena Park in third with a team time of 1:28:36 and a score of 112, according to stats provided by Mt. SAC Invitational.
SANTA BARBARA FINISHES 17th AT MT. SAC.
San Marcos wasn’t the only local team at the Mt. SAC Invitational.
Cross-town rival Santa Barbara was there as well, and the Dons boys cross country team placed 17th in the Division 1 and 2 Team Sweepstakes Saturday. The team time was 1:23.25 with an average time of 16:41.
The team title went to Great Oak with 78 points followed by Loyola (96), San Clemente (139), Bellarmine (140) and Mira Costa (147).
Blaise Snow led the Dons, finishing 45th at 1602, according to an email from Coach Olivia Perdices.
“That’s a great time for a sophomore who’s never seen that course before. He got a taste of real championship style cross country today, and it’s going to serve him well when we come back in three weeks for CIF,” Perdices told the News-Press.
Other Santa Barbara scorers were Andreas Dybdahl (92-16:40), Oliver LeVine (103-16:50), Xan Tassos (105-16:51) and Bode Andrulaitis (115-17:02).
“We did some good things out there today. That race was deep and fast. To average 16:41 with only a one minute gap from our first to fifth man is a good place for us to be looking forward to the championship meets over the next few weeks,” Perdices said. “We had three 10th graders in that scoring five who haven’t ever been on this course or run a meet this big. These guys are just going to keep performing better.”
The Santa Barbara girls were 18th in a Division 1 and 2 open race led by Ridley DeSoto (58-20:49). Other scorers were Mackenna Show (95-22:31), Arielle Feinberg (107-22:59), Mia Sanders (108-23:02) and Greta Mixon (112-23:17).
“Our girls ran hard today, and more importantly they know what they can do to run better when we come back here,” Perdices said. “This is a course where familiarity is a huge advantage, and our top three were here for the first time today. That bodes well for us as we move on.”
Santa Barbara competes today at the County Championships at River Park.
SAN MARCOS LOSES IN VOLLEYBALL
The San Marcos volleyball team lost 0-3 to a strong Santiago team Saturday, but the Royals won praise from their coach.
“I’m proud of the fight our girls put up against a very talented team!” Coach Tina Brown told the News-Press in an email.
Santiago’s talent was shown on the scoreboard. It defeated San Marcos 25-19, 25-18 and 25-15.
“Santiago was a very strong team, attacking from every position,” Brown said. “We played them point for point in the first game playing incredible defense and attacking with a purpose.”
The coach cited various Royals for their outstanding play.
“Lilly Blankenhorn was on fire with 29 digs on the night, not letting a ball drop!” Brown said.
She also praised Anna Bazylewicz for her work in the back row and getting a couple kills in the front row.
“Offensively we had a great showing from Brooke Hoadley and Riley Green,” Brown said. “Brooke had 11 kills and 2 solo blocks, and Riley had 8 kills and ran the passing from the back row!”email: dmason@newspress.com
