The cross country season started a few weeks back and San Diego Mesa is considered one of the favorites to compete for a state title. The Olympians served an early notice by winning the SoCal Preview on Friday in Mission Bay.
Mesa is looking to improve on a third place finish at the state finals a year ago and looks to be off to a good start. The Olympians had five runners finish in the top-25 and three in the top-10 in beating the best of the best from Southern and a handful of high-profile Northern California programs on Friday.
Mesa runners finished 1-5-10 in individual competition, led by Bobby Brana. The sophomore from Scripps Ranch High School crossed the finish line in 21:24.8, winning by nearly three seconds. Sophomore Medhane Woldu then finished just 14 seconds later for sixth place (21:38.8) while sophomore Cristian Alcantar was 10th at 21:46.0.
Another squad from the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference that had a nice run was Cuyamaca College, who finished in 11th place in team competition. The Coyotes were led by Mario Barone, who finished in 34th place in individual competition (22:26.2).
Other PCAC teams involved in the meet included San Diego City College (16th) and Palomar College (18th).