Loyola announces its presence to the rest of the country

Loyola of Los Angeles sent a message to the second-ranked team in the nation and all of the other top cross country programs around the country Saturday with a convincing victory over Dana Hills of Dana Point at the Mount Carmel Invitational at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Although the meet was conducted under a grade-race format, Loyola's top five runners combined to clock 79 minutes, 20 seconds on the 2.95-mile course, ahead of Dana Hills' 80:10.

Dana Hills entered the race as the overall top-ranked team in the state and No. 2 in the country, according to Harrier Magazine.

Elias Gedyon led the way for the Cubs -- the defending Div. II state champions -- winning the Div. I sophomore race in 15:22, the second-fastest time of the day, behind Rancho Cucamonga senior Joey Ruelas (15:14).

J.P. Slater (15:39) and Andres Diaz (15:49) posted the Nos. 5 and 7 times of the meet, with Pablo Ruiz clocking 16:04 and J.P. Kostelnik (16:26) giving the Cubs an unofficial team score of 73, ahead of Dana Hills' 94.