The early morning heat was no problem for the Mountie Men’s Cross-Country team as they were once again victorious Saturday, Oct. 14, at the Mt. SAC Cross Country Invitational. A total of 179 runners from 18 different colleges took on the grueling four-mile course, but it was Mt. SAC who finished on top, occupying 7 out of the 10 top spots.

Sophomore’s Anthony Alfaro, and Manuel Fernandez were neck and neck heading down the final stretch. Fernandez gave the final push finishing first at 20:42.1, Alfaro followed in second at 20:42.8, grabbing valuable team points in the process.”It felt great,” Fernandez said about his first-place win.

This was the fifth straight win for the men’s team who finished with a time of 1:45.31 a whole five minutes ahead of second place Hartnell College who finished with a time of 1:50.04.

The Mounties scored 18 points to take the win, 54 points ahead of Hartnell, who scored 72 points to take second.

Trelani Waters finished in 4th (21:14.2), Jose Melchor finished in 5th (21:24.5), Hector Peralta finished in 6th, Ben Gonzalez finished in 9th (21:35.2), and Ralph Mendoza finished in 10th (21:37.9).

The next race will take place on Friday, Oct. 27, at Mt. SAC for the South Coast Conference Championships.