WALNUT—Poway’s Cooper Castleberry has never done well over the hilly Mt. San Antonio College course, and after the first mile of the 77th Mt. SAC Invitational Saturday, he was buried in 13th place.
“Actually, I was near the back of the pack (of 108 runners) at about a half-mile but my goal was to come off the switchbacks and move up,” the Titans’ senior said.
He did just that, roaring across the final two miles en route to placing fourth in the Division 1-2 Team Sweepstakes, finishing the 3-mile race in 14 minutes, 54.3 seconds — only four seconds out of second.
“I’ve never done well on this course, and because of that, I went out a little easier than usual. That put me way behind,” he said. “I tried not to be left out, so I picked it up. Actually, the pace was about what I wanted, but the others took it out faster than I expected.
“Once I got through the switchbacks, I just ignored that there were more hills and let the other runner do the hard work this time.”
That strategy worked out perfectly. Castleberry steadily moved up until a half-mile remained, when he was passed again.
“I passed him back when we got onto the track and I’m very pleased,” said Castleberry. “I’ll probably run this course again (for the Brooks National qualifying in December) and now I’m confident I can do well.
“I’ll admit I wasn’t optimistic going into this meet. I just have never done well and to get so far behind early, I wasn’t sure. It’s a mental thing and I just didn’t let it get to me this time.”
The San Diego Section’s Division 1-2 boys and girls found the competition on the ultra-tough course to be daunting, as usual.
After sweeping the Division 3-4-5 girls titles behind La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey and Christian’s Elliana Patterson on Friday, as well as capturing team titles for Sage Creek and Point Loma’s girls, the section had to battle on Saturday.
Since most of the state’s top teams annually trek to Walnut for this challenging meet, it becomes a bit of a preview for the state championships Thanksgiving weekend in Fresno.
San Marcos placed third in the boys’ Division 1-2 Individual Sweepstakes behind Dean Odom’s seventh-place finish in 15:18.6.
Mt. Carmel’s girls placed fourth as Olivia Campos (10th in 17:54.7) and Isabella Mayer (11th in 18:02.6) led the way in the Division 1-2 Team Sweepstakes, while Westview’s girls were fourth and Poway fifth in the Individual Sweepstakes behind Sophie Sagi (8th in 18:20.4) and Ally Santavicca (9th in 18:26.1).
The non-sweepstakes races produced some quality runs as Scripps Ranch’s boys finished strong behind a 1-4-5 finish to capture their race with 43 points. Brandon Sun won at 15:29.1, Nathan Bamford was fourth at 16:02.2 and Benjamin Stephens finished fifth in 16:11.1.
Rancho Bernardo’s girls won their race where first and third were separated by just four points. Livia Dangio led the way with her fourth-place finish in 19:24.1.