Southern Section Cross-Country : One Goal Today: Gain Sectionals

For some, it’s an easy cruise to qualification. For others, it’s 3 miles of do-or-die desperation.

Whichever way you look at it, today’s Southern Section cross-country preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College serve as the sole passageway to bigger and better meets--namely, the Southern Section championships at Mt. SAC Nov. 22 and the state championships at Fresno Nov. 26.

Beginning at 8 this morning, 1,300 of the Southern Section’s top runners will gather on the hills surrounding Mt. SAC.

To qualify for next week’s finals, a team must place fourth or better in one of three heats in its division. Individuals can also qualify with one of the four fastest times overall in their division.

Of the 192 schools represented, 36 are from Orange County.

The Corona del Mar boys’ team, the 2-time defending county champion, is ranked No. 2 in the 4-A division behind Camarillo, which defeated the Sea Kings at the Stanford Invitational this season.

Corona del Mar has great depth--the Sea Kings took 7 of the top 10 places to win the Sea View League championship last Friday--and great front-running abilities in senior Eddie Lavelle, a contender for the Southern Section individual title.

Corona del Mar also has had some surprising performances. Junior Chris Cannon, the eighth man for most of the season, shot to the No. 2 spot at the league championships last Friday. Steve Hochschild, a junior who barely made the top 7 this season, is now its fifth man.

Santa Ana, fourth-ranked in the 4-A, is having its best season in school history. The Saints, led by senior Roger Nava, were undefeated in the Century League, the toughest boys’ league in the county. The last time the Saints won a league title was the 1957 Sunset League championship.

“I’ll tell you, it’s been a heck of a week,” Coach Jeff Davis said. “I mean, we’ve made modern cross-country history at this school.”

Last year, the Saints, who have never advanced to the Southern Section finals, were eliminated in the preliminaries by Fountain Valley.

Other top 4-A boys’ teams include 7th-ranked El Modena, 8th-ranked Villa Park, 9th-ranked Dana Hills and 10-ranked Fountain Valley. Laguna Hills, led by Steve Frisone and Tony Gibney, is fourth-ranked in the 3-A.

Individually, Jimmy Rodriguez of Santa Ana Valley ought to be the county leader. Other top individuals (those who qualified for the preliminaries without their team), include Mike Farrell of San Clemente and Danny Kutsch of Ocean View.

Orange County teams should dominate the girls’ portion of the meet, especially in the 4-A division with 9 of the top 10-ranked teams from Orange County.

Newport Harbor, the defending state Division II champion, is the second-ranked team in 4-A after top-ranked Palos Verdes. The Sailors, led by Kim Robinson and Stacy Pando, have been hit with the flu, according to Coach Eric Tweit.

“We have a few question marks, but so does everybody,” Tweit said. “That’s part of the game. . . . Our goal is the same every year--just get to the finals. But we’ll be real happy to get through this week.”

Villa Park, third-ranked in 4-A, is healthy again after being depleted most of the season with sickness and injury. Other top 4-A teams include 4th-ranked El Toro, 5th-ranked Irvine, 6th-ranked Huntington Beach, 7th-ranked San Clemente, 9th-ranked Foothill and 10th-ranked University.