The M-A boys’ cross-country team opened the postseason with a command performance of perfection. In the Oct. 22, regular-season finale, the Bears’ top five runners — Cason Mitchell, Aidan Sharp, Grant Bennitt, Brady Phan and Benjamin Salceda — finished as the top five placers at the PAL #3 meet at Bedwell Park. At Saturday’s Peninsula Athletic League Championships, the Bears swept again, this time earning a PAL team championship in the process.
Mitchell claimed the individual boys’ varsity championship in 15 minutes, 26.2 seconds. Sharp placed second (15:29.1); Bennitt third (15:44.7); Salceda fourth (15:50.4); and Phan fifth (15:51.7). The quintet also set the M-A program record for a team time on the 2.95-mile course at Crystal Springs.
“Yeah, very pleased for them,” M-A head coach Eric Wilmurt said. “They put in a lot of work this season and the previous years to get to this point. It’s kind of been a long journey, and we’re kind of in the middle of it. It’s a lot of fun. ... It was a good race and I think they wanted to open up the throttle a little bit more today, more than the PAL races.”
In the girls’ varsity race, M-A sophomore Caroline Pflaum earned the individual title in 17:59.4, out-legging Carlmont senior Daniela Cuadros and junior Katelyn Elliott, each of whom had defeated her in league races during the regular season.
“Caroline ran a really sharp race [Saturday] and I’m very proud of her, and what she was able to do,” Wilmurt said. “And we look forward to more of that at [the Central Coast Section meet].”
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Cuardros (second place, 18:07) and Elliott (third, 18:12.6) led Carlmont to the girls’ varsity team championship, however. The Lady Scots were fielding a relatively young squad, with three underclassmen — freshman Isabella Schuett (seventh, 19:21.1); sophomore Violet Braley (11th, 19:38); and freshman Zoe Hardman (22nd, 20:28.7) — rounding out the championship performance.
“[Cuadros and Elliott] have been 1, 2 all season,” Carlmont head coach Josh Schaefer said. “So, it was really nice to see them run, and to really mentor and grow the team ... and really making them really work.”
Carlmont took the PAL girls’ varsity team championship last season as well, but had to reinvent itself after graduating several top seniors, and being hit with several injuries to the returning varsity roster. Two 2025 graduates in Anita Metzler and Samantha Crowther finished in the Scots’ qualifying top 5 at last year’s PAL Championships, but of the three returners to this year’s team, only Cuadros was among the qualifiers last year.
“We had a little struggle in the beginning of the year trying to find our team, our top 7,” Schaefer said. “We had a couple girls get injured this year that threw us for a loop ... but we really found two freshman stars that stepped up and really filled in.”
M-A finished with two perfect scores on the day, also sweeping the boys’ open race, with senior Asher Harris earning the boys’ open individual championship in 16:30.2, followed by Zachary Jones (second, 16:41.5); Dane Hansen (third, 16:54.4); Oscar Wettermark (fourth, 17:00.3); and fifth Evan Chopra (fifth, 17:00.6).
M-A also earned the girls’ frosh-soph individual championship, with freshman Chloe Lai topping the field in 19:47. M-A freshman Agustin Araya claimed the boys’ frosh-soph championship in 16:33.1.
In the boys’ varsity race, Mills took second place, led by sophomore Patrick Jahutka (sixth, 16:02); and Sequoia took third, led by junior Luke Popler (16:15.6). In the girls’ varsity race, M-A took second place; and Burlingame took third, led by junior Elizabeth Carroll (fourth, 18:22) and senior Stella Newman (fifth, 18:52).
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