Mt. SAC overcomes early deficit against two-time winner San Diego Mesa, with Alvarado clocking 19:51.2 for men’s title; Mounties repeat as women’s champ to sweep both team crowns for first time since 2017, Redwoods’ Hartwell triumphs

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

It took an inspiring comeback in one race and an impressive back-to-back championship performance in another Saturday, but Mt. San Antonio College departed Woodward Park in Fresno with both California Community College Athletic Association cross country state titles for the first time since 2017.

Mt. SAC rallied from a projected 60-point deficit midway through the men’s 4-mile race to edge two-time champion San Diego Mesa College by a 59-62 margin.

There was no such drama for the Mounties in the women’s 5-kilometer state final, with Mt. SAC repeating as champion with an 83-138 victory against San Diego Mesa, becoming the first program to secure consecutive titles since Glendale Community College in 2015-16.

Mt. SAC also achieved its first back-to-back women’s titles since 1995-96.

Hannah Hartwell, the reigning women’s outdoor 5,000-meter state champion, became the first female cross country winner for College of the Redwoods by covering the 5-kilometer layout in 17:20.9, pulling away from Marikay Schwab of Golden West in the final mile to prevail.

Schwab, seeking the first women’s title for Golden West, was runner-up in 17:34.2.

Hannah Brown led Mt. SAC by taking third in 18:06.8, with the Mounties placing five scorers in the top 40 overall.

Claudia Vera was 10th in 18:50.3, Karla Galvan finished 17th in 19:07.4, Ingrid Tamayo placed 30th in 19:32.9 and Shandy Moore took 40th in 19:53.0.

Brenna Butler was 47th in 20:05.0 and Cassandra Apahidean earned 49th in 20:10.8 for the Mounties, who captured the 11th women’s championship in program history.

San Diego Mesa, which didn’t score at the state meet last year when the Olympians only had four available athletes to start the race, were led Saturday by Mohussin Abakar finishing fifth in 18:31.3, trailing fourth-place Sage Holter of Santa Barbara City College in 18:16.4.

Elani Huntley of Riverside secured sixth in 18:38.2, Sequoia Gonzales of El Camino took seventh in 18:39.4, Chaffey’s Brianna King earned eighth in 18:47.0 and Hartnell’s Sofia Camacho grabbed ninth in 18:47.2.

Samantha Medrano placed 11th in 18:50.9 for Glendale, which took third by a 159-160 margin against Clovis Community College, led by a 21st-place effort from Julia Martinez in 19:14.2.

Glendale, which won the 2019 state title and had the potential to showcase one of the strongest lineups in California Community College Athletic Association history in 2020 had the season not been canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, rebounded from a sixth-place finish last year to return to the podium.

Clovis finished fourth for the second year in a row after elevating from 15th place in 2019.

Following a 43-point setback against San Diego Mesa in the men’s final Nov. 4 at the Southern California Regional Championships at Kern County Park in Bakersfield, Mt. SAC regrouped and responded to an early deficit Saturday by producing a strong surge in the third mile to regain momentum.

Jesse Alvarado eclipsed the record on the new 4-mile course at Woodward Park by clocking 19:51.2, helping Mt. SAC place six athletes in the top 20 versus only four for San Diego Mesa. Daniel Abdala won the title last year for Mt. SAC in 19:52.4.

Noureddine Morceli, an Algerian athlete competing for Riverside Community College, holds the 4-mile record on the previous Woodward Park championship course with his memorable 18:48 effort in 1989.

The Olympians had all seven competitors in front of the second half of Mt. SAC’s lineup at the midway point of the race.

Elijah Ocegueda was 10th in 20:27.8, Jalen Griego finished 14th in 20:36.2 and Jonathan Pfeiffer placed 15th in 20:37.1, with Austin Ledgerwood taking 19th in 20:46.1 and Andres Chavez grabbing 20th in 20:46.7 for the Mounties.

Max Loera finished 52nd in 21:28.1 for Mt. SAC, which swept the individual and team titles in the same year for the first time since Manny Fernandez led the Mounties to the championship in 2017.

Esteban Deniz of Hartnell was second in 20:05.7 and Julius Largaespada took third in 20:09.7, setting a new Glendale program record.

San Diego Mesa had David Millan finish fourth in 20:10.8, Juan Rosales earn eighth in 20:26.6, Bryce Kueker achieve 12th in 20:30.6, Alan Jimenez secure 17th in 20:42.1, Jesus Villarreal grab 21st in 20:48.4, Jyden Schmid place 24th in 20:53.2 and Devin Provence rounding out the lineup in 27th in 20:56.8.

Moorpark’s Bryce Gardhouse finished fifth in 20:12.5, Bakersfield’s Jacob Yagers secured sixth in 20:21.8, Riverside’s Gavyn Condit took seventh in 20:22.9 and Bakersfield’s Francisco Felix was ninth in 20:27.4.

Condit led Riverside to a third-place finish with 126 points and Deniz helped Hartnell achieve fourth overall with 145 points.

Hartnell edged Riverside by a 91-93 margin for third at last year’s state championship meet.