Palos Verdes CA senior becomes first back-to-back female winner since 2012-13, with Mira Costa CA senior Atkinson earning boys victory and leading Mustangs to first team triumph in meet history; Saugus CA prevails in girls race for third straight year

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Savannah Scriven might not boast similar personal bests on the track compared to Mira Costa CA sophomore Dalia Frias.

But when it comes to racing on her hilly home course, the Palos Verdes CA senior is difficult to beat and Scriven demonstrated it again Thursday in the season-opening 2-mile race at the Palos Verdes Mini Meet.

Scriven relied on a well-timed surge in the final 50-meter uphill stretch before the finish to prevail in 12 minutes, 5.29 seconds, just ahead of Frias in 12:06.21.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

Saugus CA accounted for the next four scorers behind Scriven and Frias and had seven athletes place in the top 15 to secure a 29-36 victory over Mira Costa, winning the meet for the third consecutive year. Palos Verdes competed without senior standout Samantha Steman, who was resting a sore Achilles, and placed third with 65 points.

Senior Billy Atkinson led four Mira Costa finishers in the top six, clocking 10:12 to help the Mustangs prevail by a 30-42 margin over Saugus, earning their first boys team victory in meet history. Palos Verdes took third with 50 points.

Scriven became the first female athlete to repeat in the Palos Verdes Mini Meet since Mira Costa’s Abby Hong in 2012-13.

Scriven’s effort was a 16-second improvement from her victory at last year’s opener and just off her personal-best 11:59.54 on the 2-mile course as a junior from the mid-season Palos Verdes Invitational.

Frias, the reigning Bay League champion, improved 48 seconds from last year’s 10th-place finish in the season opener, helping the Mustangs place five scorers in the top 10.

Cara Chittenden (13:00.06), Pnina Tofler (13:07.82), Kayla Kershaw (13:08.35) and Anna Chittenden (13:09.22) finished seventh through 10th for Mira Costa, which finished third at the Division 1 state final last season.

Isabella Duarte (12:27.72), Dani Salcedo (12:30.92), Hannah Fredericks (12:35.07) and Hailey Rutter (12:44.01) secured third through sixth place for Saugus, which is expected to return to Division 1 for the first time since 2007 based on enrollment projections.

Cassidy Molina (13:10.17) took 11th, Macy Bryant (13:14.75) was 13th and Julia Pearson (13:22.17) finished 15th for Saugus, which competed without junior Sophia Gannon, expected to be a significant factor for the Centurions in their quest to return to the state podium after having a 12-year streak halted last season.

Senior Natalia Gagliano (13:13) placed 12th for host Palos Verdes, which is looking to repeat as CIF-Southern Section Division 3 champion.

Atkinson overcame a deficit on the course’s famed Agony Hill to surge past Saugus junior Nick Serrano (10:14.39)  on the ensuing downhill and take control of the race, which he wouldn’t relinquish on his way to becoming the first Mira Costa boys winner since Xavier Court in 2017.

Blake Gallardo (10:24.24) finished third for Saugus, which had all five scorers in the top 20, despite resting three varsity athletes.

Junior Cormac Carew (10:39.45) and seniors Alex Fiorito (10:44.89) and Thomas Velvin (10:47.34) secured fourth, fifth and sixth for Mira Costa, which had another five athletes separated by three seconds from 14th to 18th place.

Palos Verdes had senior Sebastian Delgado (10:51.45), junior Owen Ladinig (10:53.94) and senior Frankie Reid (11:00.10) finish seventh, eighth and 10th overall.