Daily Journal Athletes of the Week: M-A’s Grant Bennitt, Cason Mitchell, Brady Phan, Ben Salceda and Aidan Sharp

And so they did. Seniors Cason Mitchell, Aidan Sharp and Brady Phan, and juniors Bennitt and Ben Salceda have earned Daily Journal Athletes of the Week honors by continuing their dominance in the sphere of PAL cross country, capturing the boys’ varsity championship Saturday at Hallmark Park. Just as they did at PAL #3, the quintet swept their way as the top five placers to earn the team title.

“Getting a perfect score, I’ve never seen that in a PAL championship,” M-A head coach Eric Wilmurt said. “But you have to have a lot of luck because you have no control over what the other teams are going to do, and what’s out there.”

It marks the fourth straight PAL team championship for the M-A boys, and the second straight individual title for Mitchell, who hit the tape with a first-place time of 15 minutes, 26.2 seconds for a personal record on the 2.95-mile course. Last year, Mitchell won the PAL title in 15:51.4.

The Bears also set a program record on the Crystal Springs course, running a team average of 15:41, topping the record of 15:59 set at last year’s Central Coast Section Division I championship race by Mitchell, Sharp, Thomas Bernadicou, Evan Chopra and Kentaro Wuertele.

“I think the race went pretty well because we were able to work with each other,” Sharp said. “We were able to keep good momentum throughout the entire race.”

M-A’s depth of talent runs far deeper than the top five. Wuertele, who was one of the top five PAL placers in 2024, finished 12th place Saturday in 16:20.5. Yet the senior wasn’t even M-A’s sixth placer, as junior Calvin Blanford took ninth overall in 16:16.4.

In the boys’ open race, a “B” race open to all four academic classes, M-A also swept to the championship, with senior Asher Harris (16:30.2) winning the individual race, followed consecutively by teammates Zachary Jones, Dane Hansen, Oscar Wettermark and — another top-five placer from last year’s boys’ varsity championship race — Chopra. In the girls’ varsity race, sophomore Caroline Pflaum earned M-A another title by winning the individual championship in 17:59.4.

“Each of the kids have different assets ... and part of their success is they train together, and the JV boys train with them also,” Wilmurt said. “So, there’s a large group of guys that have a lot of similarities.”

The nucleus of the team is Mitchell and Sharp, who have known each other since kindergarten. Mitchell brings the most experience to the table, having grown up running with his family. Sharp didn’t join him as a competitive runner until freshman year at M-A.

“[Mitchell] was a baseball, basketball player when I first met him, and has slowly turned over to be all-in on cross country ... and has taken on the right mindset ... and has been reaping the benefits from that,” Wilmurt said.

Phan — who attended Las Lomitas Elementary School — was the outsider, as the only one of the five not to attend Laurel Elementary. He joined forces with Mitchell and Sharp in 2022. The following year, Salceda arrived on campus but had zero competitive running background. Had it not been for his physical education teacher freshman year, Salceda may have never found his calling.

“I was like the weird kid who spent his free time in class running, so my PE teacher told me I should join the cross-country team,” Salceda said.

This year, Bennitt reunited with his old Laurel Elementary friends when he transferred to M-A from Sacred Heart Prep. As a sophomore, he was part of an SHP boys’ varsity team that settled for fifth place at the 2024 West Bay Athletic League championships. While Bennitt said his transfer to M-A didn’t have anything to do with athletics, he knew as soon as he arrived the Bears were in the midst of something special.

“I’m new to the team,” Bennitt said. “I just came here this year and, just seeing how this team runs and how they do everything, and to see how quickly they can go, is just really incredible.”

Their performance Saturday was exactly that — incredible.

M-A’s core seven ran together from the outset, staying with the front group until Sharp started pushing the pace during the second mile. As the top five hit the steep incline during the third mile, Mitchell created a bit of a gap, but the rest of the Bears stayed with him. It wasn’t too long after the quintet realized they were running all by themselves.

“I was at the back of the pack pretty much for the entire race, and pretty much after we were just over the big hill ... I heard their footsteps kind of trail off,” Phan said. “That’s when I knew we were going to run as a pack for the rest of the race.”

There was some friendly competition between the old friends in the top two spots, as Sharp briefly closed the gap for first — “It was a chasing game after that,” Sharp said — before Mitchell pulled away at the end.

“I don’t think it’s super competitive,” Phan said. “I think our big goal is just to finish strong. And I think this race, because it was a championship race, Cas and Aidan wanted to go for it a little more, but I think our biggest goal is just to go after it as a pack.”

Next up is the CCS Championships, slated for Saturday, Nov. 15 at Crystal Springs, with a newly scheduled bye week, as opposed to the PAL and CCS postseason meets being held on back-to-back weekends as in years past.

“I feel like the team is really nice as a cohesive unit,” Salceda said. “So far as I can tell, everybody really likes each other, everybody is really cool with each other, and with the running program ... and there’s especially a lot of emphasis on the things you can do to make yourself better ourselves.”