The St. Joseph Notre Dame (SJND) men’s and women’s cross country teams both earned top-five finishes at the 72nd annual Mt. San Antonio College (SAC) Invitational last Saturday, Oct. 26, in Walnut, Calif.

Men’s team
The men’s team finished third out of 17 teams in the Div. V Blue competition. The duo of senior Rowan O’Brien and senior Christian Granados led the Pilots. O’Brien completed the 2.93-mile race in 17:19 for eighth place individually out of 123 participants. Granados crossed the finish line four seconds later at 17:23 giving him a ninth-place finish. 

Other Pilots that competed included junior Christopher Ramirez who finished 26th with a time of 18:16 and sophomore Arlo Rucker who finished 29th overall with a time of 18:25. Senior Ellis Cervantes rounded out the top five Pilots with a 31st-place finish and a time of 18:28. Pacifica Christian of Santa Monica won the overall race.

Women’s team
The women’s team finished fourth out of nine teams in the Div. V green competition. Pilot sophomore Natalie Perez led the way, finishing fifth individually out of 92 participants. Perez finished the 2.93-mile race with a time of 20:23. 

The next Pilot to follow Perez was Jaida Sieu. The sophomore finished 19th overall with a time of 22:56. Right behind Sieu was teammate Alia Owens. The junior finished 20th with a time of 23:03. 

Two other Pilots finished in the top 50. Junior Claire Nocon finished 42nd overall with a time of 24:35. Perez’ sister, Danielle, completed the race with a time of 25:28 for 50th place in the event. Stuart Hall High School of San Francisco won the race.

There were more than 40 men’s competitions and 30 women’s competitions at the 72nd annual Mt. SAC Invitational. Competitions ranged from freshman-only, sophomore-only, junior-varsity and varsity races. Last year the men’s team finished 16th out of 19 teams in the Div. VI and V Green competition at the 71st Mt. SAC Invitational, while the women finished 10th out of 17 teams in the Div. VI and V Blue competition.