Mt. San Antonio Men's Cross Country Tops State 5CTCA Ranking

After winning state titles in 2017 and 2018, the Mt. San Antonio College men's cross country team settled for third place at the 2019 state meets. A year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a hunger to return to the throne has the South Coast Conference's Mounties on a mission in the 2021 season.

This week, Mt. SAC was voted No. 1 in the first State 5CTCA Rankings ahead of 2019 champion San Diego Mesa at #2. The Mounties were the only SCC team on the Top 14 while in the regional Top 14, El Camino was #12 and Cerritos at #13.

On Oct. 1, Mt. SAC placed four runners in the top 11 to capture the San Diego Mesa Invitational, defeating the host Olympians, 46 to 52 points. NorCal's American River was right beind in third place at 53 points. 

Sophomore Daniel Abdala was the top racer for the Mounties, placing second with a time of 20 minutes, 43.9 seconds over the 4-mile course. Teammates Zackary Alexander (seventh, 20:55.4), Jesse Alvarado (eighth, 21:00.3), Jalen Griego (11th, 21:01.5), Jonathan Pfeiffer (18th, 21:23.7), and Yair Torres (21:24.6) rounded out the team's top finishers. San Diego Mesa's Jonathan Kelly won the individual title at 20:14.9.

Mt. SAC is paced by an experienced duo as Abdala was sixth and Alexander 11th as freshmen at the '19 state meet. At the Oxnard Invitational on Sept. 10, it was Alvarado winning that race in 20:18.5, followed by Abdala (20:21), and Griego (20:25.4) in a 1-2-3 Mounties finish as they won the team title.

El Camino is led by Anthony Gil, who placed 23rd overall out of a 172-runner field at the Mesa meet (21:26.9). ECC took 10th as a team out of 15 scoring teams. Cerritos was right behind in 11th place with Joshua Williams the Falcons best finisher in 57th (22:24). 

Long Beach City College took 14th in the team standings behind Jonathan Ruiz in 82nd place (22:52).

East Los Angeles has a top runner in Carlos Deluna, who was a strong 71st place out of 209 racers at the Biola Invitational on Sept. 10. He ran 27:29.7 over the 8-kilometer course. 

At the Golden West Central Park Classic on Sept. 24, Los Angeles Harbor's Anthony Maldonado was 19th overall out of 126 runners in 22:14. Pasadena City's Philycius Oey scored 54th in 23:32.4 and is the Lancers current top racer. Compton is led by Owen Vasquez. 

On Friday, Oct. 15, Mt. San Antonio next hosts the 2021 Mt. SAC Invitational. The Mounties are a clear favorite to pick up their eighth straight SCC championship later this month. Compton College is scheduled to host on October 29.