Photo: Steve Galluzzo
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
The tougher the competition, the better for Palisades High junior Max Fields, who placed 13th in a field of 128 in the Boys D1&2 Individual Sweepstakes on Saturday at the 74th annual Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational in Walnut.
Fields ran the testing three-mile course in 15:22 (33 seconds behind winner Omar Reyes of Oceanside El Camino) and led Palisades to third place in the team standings with 180 points. Long Beach Poly (122) was first and Loyola (153) was second, led by senior Jake Ratkovich, who clocked 15:41 to win the Palisades Will Rogers 5K on July 4, beating runner-up Fields by 18 seconds.
The reigning City Section cross country and 3200-meter champion, Fields had plenty of help from his friends Saturday. Freshman Zachary Cohen was the Dolphins’ No. 2 runner, finishing 31st in 15:58 while sophomore Owen Lewicky came in five spots behind in 16:10. Junior Axel Mammen was 45th in 16:21, freshman Andew Razo was 55th in 16:32, freshman Blake Sigworth was 91st in 17:10 and sophomore Ben Barnett was 113th in 17:49.
In the Girls D1&2 Varsity Green race, Palisades finished eighth out of 18 schools with 220 points. Setting the pace was senior Ava Baak, who came in 15th in 19:31, just over one minute behind winner Reena Hsieh of Arcadia.
Junior Kyra Morris (20:05) was Palisades’ second finisher, followed by freshman Louisa Mammen (50th in 20:58), junior Virginia O’Neill (65th in 21:34), sophomore Leena Adeli (84th in 22:05), senior Layla Adeli (86th in 22:10) and sophomore Giada Rice (91st in 22:24).
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