The Monte Vista Invitational - Home of the Eliminator!

Outstanding weekend for the Varisty Mustangs in Southern California, as Monte Vista brought back an old tradition and attended the 60th running of the Mt SAC Invitational.  This press release tells is all:

Celebrating over 60 years, the Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational has become our nation's largest cross country invitational. Last year a record 20,000+ participants competed over ther famed 3 mile cross country course. The names "Valley Loop", "Switchbacks", "Poop Out Hill" and "Reservoir Hill" have become part of cross country legend and lingo. The course has changed little over the last 60 years, making it one of the few courses where different generations can compare times. With races starting every 8 minutes or less (except the Sweepstakes Races) along with the famous Mark Guitierrez designed t-shirts, live webcast/feed and the huge "Big Screen", the event has become the most cherished cross country competition to the hundreds of thousands of runners who have competed in the invitational. The races start on Friday, Oct 19th and ends late Sat on the 20h of Oct. For More info about the meet, visit Mt SAC XC Invite Website

Highlights:
- Alex Morris earns a medal in the JV D1 race (12th), Jake Erlick close behind in 22nd. They race at 7:14am!
- Kim Chin follows that performance by taking 11th in the JV D1 Girls race, medaling as well.
- Varsity Girls get out fast, and stay packed (1:14 1-5 gap) to earn 8th place out of 30 teams in their D1 Varsity Girls Race.  MV's 7th runner is in before all but one team (Kimmy in 77th place out of 210 runners).  Chloe Wood leads the MV pack in 30th overall, with Nicole Aha once again #2 in 52nd.  Top 6 run under 21 minutes!
- Varsity Boys prove there is another NCS D1 team deserving attention!!  Stangs get out fast, move well in the hills, and finish in an amazing pack.  Earn 2nd in their race (missing 1st by one point).  7th fastest boys team out of 117 in the D1 Varsity Races.  20 second 1-5 gap.  Fastest 7th, 6th and 5th man in the entire race.  Bhavik, Mike and Dustin earn individual medals. Clinton and Harry in at 22 and 23! 

Co-Head Coach (for the weekend) Austin Glimme earns coveted "8th man" award for being EVERYWHERE on the course, cheering on the team from seemingly impossible to reach locations!

But the afternoon trip to Newport Beach, with hours in the sand and surf was probably the teams favorite part of the day.  Food was the immediate concern, as the race-hungry harriers attacked the local eateries.  Then it was on to the sand, for football, frisbee, body surfing and of course... hole digging?

The Sunday return trip featured an up-close view of one of the large fires that started that day - nearly closing I-5.

A big thank-you to Mrs Rogan (Nunns)  and Coach Davis' wife Karla for driving down and helping out all weekend.  Great goodie bags! 

Who will make the squad for next season?  Start making your plans now! 

Results: http://www.dyestatcal.com/results/xc2007/October/21%20Week%209/19%20Mt%20SAC/Summary.htm

Videos: http://www.flocasts.org/flotrack/coverage.php?c=108

From Albert Caruana's Cross Country Express site:
Top 10 Times - North Coast Section Boys
1) James Attarian Dublin 14:59
2) Jack Leng Castro Valley 15:17
3) Nate Beach Acalanes 15:37
4) Jeremy Grace Dublin 15:40
5) Sam Hyams Foothill 15:51
6) Hank Carl South Fork 15:57
7) Bhavik Kanzaria Monte Vista 16:03
8) Mike Roderick Monte Vista 16:04
9) Eric Johnson DLS 16:06
10) Spencer Sheaff DLS 16:07
Kenny Smith Willits 16:07