Loyola CA demonstrates depth to win boys competition; Fahy produces sub-15 effort to help Mavericks prevail as best girls team overall

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

It means a lot for San Diego-area runners to defend their turf.

It certainly meant a lot Saturday to La Costa Canyon CA seniors Jacob Stanford and Kristin Fahy, as the Mavericks’ duo swept the invitational titles in the 39th ASICS Mt. Carmel Invitational at Morley Field in San Diego’s Balboa Park.

INTERVIEWS | RESULTS

Stanford and Fahy also ran the day’s fastest overall times, and, in the combined results, Fahy led the Mavericks to an 80-point win over Fountain Valley CA, with Loyola edging La Costa Canyon on the boys side by a 49-76 margin.

Saturday marked the first chance for most San Diego Section runners to face solid, out-of-section competition with Loyola CA, Dana Hills CA and Roosevelt CA competing.

“I just love the San Diego Section; they’re always so supportive," said Fahy, who won at the Mt. Carmel Invitational for the third consecutive year.

“It’s cool to see teams out of San Diego coming to compete with us because they know that we’re a good section.”

Fahy, who won in a career Mt. Carmel-invite-best best of 14:59.1, took a sizable lead at the midpoint of the 2.75-mile event, winning by 34 seconds over Canyon Crest Academy junior Carlie Dorostkar (15:33.2). Chaparral senior Cynthia Martin, who won last year in the junior race, placed third in 15:45.3.

“I try not to look back. I just stay focused on my lead," said Fahy, who made her season debut after missing last week’s Bronco Roundup on a recruiting trip to Georgetown.

“It’s cool to see that I have that cushion, but I know that there’s going to be bigger competition in the state meet.”

Dorostkar, 25th in the state in Division 1 last year, ran a strong second, while Martin went out fast and tried to stick with Fahy, but still impressed as the third-place finisher.

“I started out way too fast to keep up in the beginning,” Martin admitted.

Stanford won for the second consecutive week – he also ran the day’s top time at the Bronco last week – by clocking 15:22.7 to prevail by 11 seconds over teammate and Dana Hills transfer Caleb Niednagel.

“From the very start, I wanted to make sure I got in a good position, kind of like how I did last week, because I know when it comes down to the kick, I’m not the strongest,” he said. “But if it comes down to just the grinding of the pace during the cross country course, then I’m pretty good at that, I think.”

He was really good Saturday, leading a La Costa Canyon team locked into a dramatic four-way struggle with Loyola, Dana Hills, and Roosevelt.

La Costa Canyon was the Division 3 runner-up at last year’s state meet. Roosevelt, Dana Hills and Loyola went 2-3-4 behind winner Great Oak in Division 1.

That’s what made things a little strange for Neidnagel. Saturday was his first opportunity to race against his former team – he placed 10th in Division 1 last year at the state meet for the Dolphins – and, in fact, the two teams set up camp under their E-Z Ups directly across a path from each other.

Of course, there is no bad blood – Dana Hills senior Simon Fuller offered congrats and a hug to his former teammate after placing fourth in 15:43.8.
“It was very weird, especially coming here and saying hi to all of them again,” Niednagel said. “This whole week had been kinda stressful just thinking, ‘Oh, I'm going to have to go race against Dana.’”

The team race in the boys invitational was equally as intriguing. With its tremendous pack running, Loyola – led by senior Mason Ratkovich (15:46.9), junior Anthony Stone (15:48.7) and senior Roberto Ruelas (15:52.6) – went 5-6-7 and won with 41 points.

“Mt. Carmel is like our pre-race for Mt. SAC and the state meet, so this was a good test for us to see how we’d fare with the big boys,” Stone said. “We fared pretty well, so we’re happy with that.”

La Costa Canyon, behind Jacob Stanford, Niednagel and twin brother Garrett Stanford (eighth, 15:55.8) – he raced for the first time this season after missing last week due to injury recovery – placed second with 58 points.

Dana Hills, led by Fuller (15:43.8), was third with 98 points.

“We wanted to win, but you know, beating Loyola’s depth is a really hard thing to do,” Jacob Stanford said, “and we’re really happy for them getting that win.”

Perhaps the most encouraging statement of the day came from Roosevelt. The Mustangs were the strongest challenge to Great Oak last year, but they also graduated two elite runners in Raymon Ornelas and Tyler Spencer.

But they served notice Saturday that they’re still among the state’s elite, especially with junior Michael Sahagun running third in 15:39.2. Fellow junior teammate Raul Chavez was 10th in 16:02.6.

Sahagun conceded that he, too, might have started a little faster than desired.

“I’ve never raced this race before, so I did not know what to expect,” he said. “Going out hard was my first move – I wanted to see what I could do compared to last year. I wanted to try and run with the top guys – and I felt it by the end.”

In the Division 2 boys invitational, El Capitan CA senior Matthew Machnov won the invitational by 10 seconds in the afternoon – when temperatures were considerably warmer than the morning – in 15:49.1. Point Loma CA, with 110 points, edged Valhalla CA (114) and Catalina Foothills AZ (122).

Point Loma also won on the girls side in a four-team race, though El Cajon Christian sophomore Alaina Zamorano was victorious individually in 16:44.5.