By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
As she has all season, Miranda Schriver turned heads Saturday morning with her effort at the Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut.
The Palisades High freshman took second place in a field of 122 runners, clocking 18:34 on the three-mile course to lead the Dolphins to first place in the Division I varsity girls race.
Also highlighting the Dolphins’ winning performance was senior Kimia Samandi, who tied for third with Santa Ana sophomore Maria Hernandez, both finishing in 19:01. Sophomore Elisa Kim, the reigning City frosh/soph 800 and 1,600-meter champion, was 14th in 20:01, Jessica Bierschenk was 29th in 20:39 and fellow junior Skylar Smith was 31st in 20:46. Junior Holland Mueller rounded out Palisades’ scoring, placing 51st in 21:43.
Malibu junior Claudia Lane set a new Mt. SAC record of 15:49 in the Sweepstakes race.
Even without sophomore Sarah Bentley, who won the City 3,200-meter varsity crown in the spring and junior Brittany Darrow (second in the 800 at City finals), Palisades took first place with 77 points—a comfortable margin over second-place Arroyo (91), third-place Santa Ana (92), fourth-place Eastlake (142) and fifth-place Cupertino (153).
Schriver’s talent was evident at her first prep meet September 8 when she placed second in the ninth-grade race in a time of 18:36 at the Seaside Invitational in Ventura. One week later she placed eighth in a personal-best 17:48.3 at the Woodbridge Invitational and last week she triumphed in the freshman division at Bell Gardens in 18:47.12.
In the Division I varsity boys race 45 minutes earlier, junior Brent Smith finished sixth out of 117 runners in 15:54 to lead Palisades to a tie for seventh with Downey, both at 179 points. In 2015, Smith clocked the fastest time by a freshman (15:31) and took third overall in the Sub-Sweepstakes varsity race at Mt. SAC.
Santa Ana (117) was first, followed by Serrano (119), Davis (122), Aliso Niguel (131) and Quartz Hill (142). Aliso Niguel’s Ben McKenna was the top individual in 15:24.
Rounding out the Dolphins’ lineup were Alec Stewart, who finished 21st in 16:16, Mason Cadden (16:42), Lucas Schriver (16:42), Ryan Breitman (17:10), Finn Cawley (17:20) and Mark Barboza (17:50).
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