Posted: Oct 28, 2023

Remarkable 12 Mt. SAC Men's Cross Country Racers Earn 2023 All-SCC; School's 10th Straight Crown

Runners in action at the 2023 SCC Championships in Harbor City (photo by Richard Quinton).

Mt. San Antonio College's dominance in the sport of cross country was never more evident than in winning its 10th consecutive South Coast Conference Men's Cross Country Championship on Friday at Ken Malloy Regional Park in Harbor City. The Mounties saw a conference record 12 runners occupy the top 14 placings.

Mountie freshman Aidan Gomez won the individual race title with a time of 20 minutes, 58.3 seconds over the 4-mile course. It was the program's 24th SCC championship in its history and the eighth straight time a Mt. SAC runner was individual champion.

One streak did end for Mt. SAC as El Camino's Aaron Cohen placed third (21:05.2) which stopped a 2-year stretch of the Mounties having the top four finishers.

The roll call for Mt. SAC on the All-SCC First Team included race runner-up Joel Fischer (21:02.6), Louis Torres, fourth, 21:09.1, Christian De Loye, fifth, 21:14.6, Andrew Villeda, sixth, 21:16.1, and Jordan Berkley, seventh, 21:20.3. The Second Team Mounties were Jonathan Aguilar, eighth, 21:24, Jude Enriquez, ninth, 21:24.4, Noah Chairez, 10th, 21:31.9, Landen Brecker, 11th, 21:35.4, Michael Ortiz, 13th, 21:55.6, and Logan Berkley, 14th, 21:57.9. El Camino's Alan Canales grabbed All-SCC Second Team in 12th at 21:39.4.

The strength of Mt. SAC's freshmen class was exemplified as Aguilar and Breckner were third and fourth, respectively, at last year's SCC meet, but were relegated to Second Team this season.

Final SCC Standings: 1. Mt. San Antonio 18, 2. El Camino 58, 3. Cerritos 66, 4. Long Beach City 115, 5. Pasadena City 159, 6. LA Harbor 175, 7. East Los Angeles 183, 8. Compton 257.

Cerritos top racer was Joshua Melendez, who just missed making Second Team in 15th (22:00.4). Long Beach's Leonardo Acevedo scored 27th (22:45.8) for the Vikings fastest finish. LA Harbor's Trent Osburn finished 39th (23:35.9) to top Seahawks harriers while Pasadena was paced by Youssef Cherqaoui in 44th (23:56.4). East LA's Sonny Rodriguez (47th, 24:10.1) and Compton's Malvin Payero (88th, 29:13.3) were also their schools' best.

Ninety-nine total runners participated in the race with 24 Mt. SAC racers placing in the top 50.

El Camino's Teddy Kassa continues to be the answer to the trivia question: When was the last time a non-Mt. SAC runner won the SCC race? Year: 2014.

Mt. SAC is the defending 3C2A state champions and will race along with other SCC qualified teams in the SoCal Regional Championships on Friday, Nov. 3 at Long Beach's El Dorado East Regional Park.