Mt. Sac Invite Discussion

they shoulda called it fart f**k hill.

and they shoulda kept it.

On the girls' side, FIFTEEN of the top 20 times from last year are back.

Chiara Dailey had the top time last year, running by herself in the D3/4/5 race on Friday night with a scorching 16:52, beating Abby Errington by 30 seconds. Ariella Llorens won the individual D3/4/5 sweepstakes with a 17:44, but watch for Maya DeBrouwer to be much better than the 17:49 she ran last year. Irvine is on the team list, so if Summer Wilson is running in that Sweeps race on Friday night, her and Dailey will push each other.

Braelyn Combe won the D1/D2 sweepstakes with a 17:33, with the next closest returning runners being Phoebe Benun and Erika Kirk, 20 seconds behind her. Combe will likely have Dailey and Errington's Friday times on her mind when she runs on Saturday, but this year she'll have Trabuco and Ventura to compete with. I'm guessing Sadie won't run Mt. Sac. If their top runners are there, Trabuco will dominate the team Sweeps, without Sadie or Blade running Mt. Sac. Millie Bayles could win the Sweeps, and so can Holly Barker if she continues her recovery and improvement this season.

I don't care anymore because they just competely changed the course. They changed the legendary mt sac course. What happened to keeping all the historical california courses that have been run since the 70s like Woodward Park, Crystal Springs, Balboa Park? Why would anyone care about mt sac anymore is beyond me

The revised course sounds like a positive change! Eliminating Poop Out Hill and extending the race to 3 miles should make for a more exciting experience, especially since finishing in the stadium will enhance the atmosphere for both runners and spectators. It's great that the new layout allows for better visibility of the race from the stadium seats, which should create a more engaging environment for everyone involved.

*fart f**k hill

Sadie is in Ind sweeps race.

Way too emotional, bud. You know the old course was bad when the other regions are the ones complaining most about the change - because their competition at State will have a little less wear & tear before they face one another.

It's a great change. The course still has the switchbacks, etc. There's still no race like it in the US... and now it's even better with a stadium finish! It's going to be an amazing way to watch, and a huge crowd and a 80' jumbotron will make the last 400 meters unlike anything anywhere in America. I cannot wait to see how great the coverage will be.

The old course was pushing people away because of risk of injury at the crucial time of the season. Running Mt. Sac 3 times in a season is way too much for athletes before State. The new course should draw back more runners next year, after many skipped it over the past few years.

Team rosters

If you look at team rosters, looks like Sadie is not running (or Braelyn or Rylee). Summer Wilson not listed either.

Dailey broke 17:00 the past two years on the old course. Last year she must've had a 3 second lead by 400 meters.

It's a bummer to not be able to see more matchups. Would love to see last year's champions (Blade/Sadie/Dailey/Thomsen) race head to head more

Are they sick or injured? Or are they saving themselves for bigger meets like the state meet?

Agree on more matchups with Blade/Sadie/Dailey/Thomsen. Those girls make meets like Clovis and Woodbridge so great, so returning the Mt. Sac invite to an All-California matchup across divisions is clearly their goal, and hopefully that happens next year after everyone sees the new course.

As for this year, it's interesting that the entire Ventura team (except for Sadie) is listed in Individual Sweeps and not in the team sweeps. That makes it easier for Combe to repeat for the win, but it would be even better if her and Dailey joined the Individual Sweeps since their whole teams aren't there to give their team a shot to win Team Sweeps, and a short-handed 2nd or 3rd place would hurt rankings.

Ventura should still switch to the D1/D2 Team Sweeps, setting up for a great battle with Trabuco - Since the top D1 team and the top D2 team both get Sweepstakes titles. They would win the D2 title even without Sadie, and Trabuco will win D1 handily over a Blade-less Santiago.

Top Girls in Individual Sweeps: Hsieh - Dunayevich - Macias - Ivarsson - Peck - Benun - Crum - True - Curtis - Kirk.

As mentioned above, Combe is listed. I'm sure the others are sitting to avoid running Mt. Sac THREE times this season. Blade and Wilson both won last week, so I'm sure the week off is good for them. Looks like Sadie only runs the Grandaddies these days. Woodbridge, Clovis, CIF, States, NXN.

Is Jaelyn Williams running this year? ( Sorry out of the loop but I haven't seen any results from her )

She hasn't run yet. She has never really run the big races for some reason, but this year I don't think she's run at all yet. Sure hope she's just playing it safe and getting ready for the stretch run.

As the defending State Champ in the 3200 and the top NXN finisher from California, I hope she's ok. Great talent.

They should have left the course as is for the Mt.SAC Invitational and changed it only for CIF races. There was an opportunity to preserve comparisons to the late 70's when Jeff Nelson tore up the course when the course was not nearly well groomed as it currently is. I agree that running Mt. SAC three times in 4 weeks beats up legs and for Southern Section runners it can have a negative effect when it comes to State. But to do away with giving runners a chance at history and truly compare results from almost 50 years ago is a shame. I'm old enough to remember watching Thom Hunt break 10 minutes for the first time on the 2 mile course and then just a few years later watch Nelson demolish a national class field that included South Eugene going 14:32 on a true/full 3 mile course. Great memories never to be compared again.