Sarah Bentley Wins Division I Girls Race at Mt. SAC XC Invite

Determined to finish her senior season strong, Sarah Bentley cruised to victory in the Division 1 varsity girls race Saturday at the Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut.

Bentley, a two-time City 3200 meter champion in track, clocked 18:51 on the three-mile course to place first 23 seconds ahead of runner-up Alexandria Boyle from Oceanside El Camino and 61 seconds ahead of third-place finisher Valerie Chan of El Camino Real.

Palisades was second in the team standings with 115 points, trailing only Oceanside El Camino (73 points) and well in front of City schools El Camino Real and Granada Hills Kennedy.

Shaya Keyvanfar was 20th in 21:31 and fellow freshmen Sydney Suh (23rd in 21:40), Layla Adeli (33rd in 22:10) and Julia Musumeci (48th in 23:17) all contributed to the Dolphins’ success along with sophomores Genessi Lizama and Scarlett Klein, who crossed the finish line side by side in 23:26.

Palisades’ varsity boys squad also took second in the Division 1 race with five Dolphins placing in the top 25.

When scores were totaled Palisades had 85 points, 10 more than City rival Los Angeles Marshall. Two other City schools were in the field—Granada Hills Kennedy was 13th and Hamilton was 16th.

Setting the pace for the Dolphins was junior Lucas Schriver, who was fifth in 16:09, three seconds behind Marshall senior Christopher Park and 33 seconds behind winner Lukas Amare from  Diamond Bar.

Sophomore Alec Schmitt took  15th place in 16:36, junior Brett Bailey was 23rd in 17:00 flat, one second ahead of teammate Jeremy Santiago and 10th-grader Noah Wexler was 25th in 17:06. Senior Bo Brooks was 44th in 17:47 and   fellow 12th-grader Hunter Steinman was 74th in 19:18.

Palisades held its final dual meet Monday aganst Westchester and travels back to Pierce College  next week for the Western League finals. Coaches Rob Hockley and Gwendolen Twist are preparing the Dolphins for the City prelims Nov. 16 and City finals Saturday, Nov. 23, also at Pierce College.