Times Staff

WALNUT 7 Cabrillo/s boys cross country team finally got the mano-a-mano matchup it had wanted all season with Barstow Friday, and the Conquistadores delivered.

Individual winner Michael Coe led Cabrillo to victory in the Boys Division III Team Sweepstakes race at the 58th annual Mt. SAC Invitational. Coe ran 14:50, the fastest time of the day over the rugged three-mile course. The senior is unbeaten this season.

The legendary Mt. SAC course features three challenging hills, dubbed The Switchbacks, Poop-Out Hill and Reservoir Hill.

&#8220After the race, Michael said he thought he had another half minute in him,C said Cabrillo coach Peter Anderson. &#8220He opened up a pretty good gap coming down off the switchbacks, just after the mile mark, and then he just cruised.C

Cabrillo scored 91 points. Page of Arizona was second with 97. Barstow finished third with 108. The Conquistadores have won every race they have been in this year.

Anderson/s team prevailed Friday even though his runners spent a lot of time sitting around. &#8220We got there at noon 7 we had freshman and sophomore races 7 and we raced at 4:30,C Anderson said.

Barstow and Cabrillo had been 1-2 in the CIF Southern Section Division III poll the first several weeks of the season. The Conquistadores finally moved ahead of the Aztecs last week. Cabrillo and Barstow were 1-2 in the latest poll.

Cabrillo had hoped to run against Barstow at an invitational in Santa Barbara last month, but the Aztecs didn/t race there.

The Conquistadores were up to the challenge at Mt. SAC. &#8220We wanted to see the first mile how we matched up with them,C said Anderson. &#8220The guys made their move coming down from the switchbacks.C

Senior Colin Hacker and sophomore Miguel Ortiz boosted Cabrillo by finishing sixth (15:31) and eighth (15:40) respectively.

&#8220We don/t really know Miguel/s capabilities yet,C said Anderson. &#8220We told him, >look, you can either go out with Michael and Colin the first mile or hang back a little bit./ Michael and Colin went out in 4:45, and Miguel was a second back. He wound up just nine seconds behind Colin.C

Oscar Torres (31st in 16:35) and Jeff Monteleone (45th in 16:37) rounded out Cabrillo/s scoring.

&#8220Oscar/s pretty new,C said Anderson. &#8220He/s a sophomore who came out the day school started, and he started out 50-50 between running and playing club soccer. This is his third race, and he/s already fourth on the varsity.C

Page is rated fourth in the Nike Team Nationals rankings in the Southwest. &#8220Page is a really good team, so we were really happy,C Anderson said. The NTN ranks Cabrillo 10th in California.

The Cabrillo sophomore team won its division at Mt. SAC Friday. &#8220They won pretty easily,C in fact, Anderson said.

Conquistadore Allan Waechter was runner-up individually in 17:19. Ben Li finished fourth in 17:50. Cabrillo/s freshman squad also had a good day Friday. It finished fourth.

Lompoc/s boys finished 13th out of 27 teams in their Division III race. Angel Fernandez led the Braves with a 35th-place finish in 17:30.

Girls

Cabrillo finished a solid fourth out of 20 teams in a Division III race Friday.

Alexa Heter led the Conquistadores with a seventh-place finish in 20:10. Teammates following her included Tarah Balden (12th, 20:21), Beth Pasko (45th, 21:28), Laura Monteleone (46th, 21:29), and Charlie Rich (60th, 21:48). There were 160 runners in the race.

&#8220The girls ran really well,C Cabrillo coach Katie Wallace said.

Lompoc/s girls finished 9th in the same race. The Braves/ Carrie Fabing finished eighth in 20:11. Teammate Lexie Warrick was 20th in 20:54.

The Santa Barbara County Championships is next up for the Cabrillo boys and girls. Racing at River Park in Lompoc begins at 2 p.m. with the junior varsity girls race.