Beckman Boys, St. Francis Girls Win Team Sweepstakes Titles; Braelyn Combe Repeats As Individual Winner

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Photos by Ken Martinez

VIDEOS 

Trey Caldwell brought a history of success to the 76th Mt. SAC Invitational and he confidently made his way through the revamped, slightly longer course on Saturday in Walnut, Calif. 

Caldwell, a De La Salle CA senior who is heading to Colorado next year, won a freshman race at Mt. SAC three years ago and also won the D1&2 individual sweepstakes race last year. 

This time, Caldwell was in the most competitive race of the entire meet, the D1&2 team sweepstakes race, and he powered through it, rushing through the downhills to pull away. He entered Hilmer Lodge Stadium with a lead and finished in 14:46 for the only sub-15 time of the weekend. 

"There's strong competition every time I come here, but this time I was able to make it a three-time Mt. SAC champion, so if feels pretty good," Caldwell said. 

Mason Nguyen of Beckman CA ran to second place in 15:03 and led the Patriots to another big team title, building on its win at the Asics Clovis Invitational. 

Beckman had Ryan Barris in seventh and Nathan Horrocks in 12th on the way to 103 points. Glendora was second with 131 points and Mira Costa was third with 141. 

Another repeat winner was Braelyn Combe of Santiago (Corona) CA, who dominated the girls D1&D2 team sweepstakes race and won it in 17:20. Isla Bulmer from Claremont was next in 17:57. 

Rylee Blade of Santiago (Corona) sat out of the meet this weekend. And the top two runners from Trabuco Hills, Holly Barker and Millie Bayles, a pre-race team favorite, also sat out. 

"I wanted a confidence booster going into the postseason and that's kind of what I got today," Combe said. 

St. Francis stepped up with a strong team performance and won the team sweepstakes crown with 69 points. Del Norte was second with 105 and Claremont was third with 135. 

St. Francis had three finishers in the top 13, led by Caitlin Cilley in eighth (18:44). 

In a surprising end to the girls D1&D2 individual sweepstakes race, Katja Dunayevich from Canyon Crest Academy, made up eight seconds in the final 300 meters on the track to pass Temescal Canyon's Megan Crum and win the race by two seconds in 17:39. Crum had a 26-second lead on Dunayevich at the 2-mile split. 

Arcadia won the team title in that race with 112 points. 

Issaiah McCorvey from Lancaster CA won the boys D1&2 individual sweepstakes race in 15:08. He pulled away from Camden Luecht of Rancho Bernado CA and Evan Nahuat of Valley View in the final mile. 

Santiago (Corona) won the team competition with 147 points. The top five team were separated by 27 points.