Down but not out

Joseph Boo

LAGUNA HILLS - The only items missing from Corona del Mar High’s

boys cross country team at the Laguna Hills Invitational were roller

skates, helmets and elbow pads. The race looked like a roller derby duel

at times with two CdM runners falling in their races. But the Sea Kings

not only survived, they placed well.

The junior team unofficially finished second in the Division III race,

two points behind Laguna Beach. Josh Yelsey won the race by leading for

most of the race and running a personal best of 16 minutes, 16 seconds.

“I usually never really go out hard,” Yelsey said. “But once we got to

the top of the first hill, everybody slowed down. Nobody caught me. Deep

in the race, I was in front, and I held it.”

Teammate Travis Beardslee finished sixth by running 17:18. He placed in the Top 10 despite a tumble in the race.

“Travis fell and still ran a 17:18,” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said. “That’s

very impressive.”

Yelsey and Beardslee were the only junior CdM runners to win plaques,

given to the top 40 runners. Alex Vinson, Brad Kieer and Charles Hallady

placed in the 40s. The Sea Kings’ second-place finish gave them reasons

for optimism.

“The boys are really starting to grow,” Sumner said. “In a couple of

weeks, they’ll really be something.”

Dustin Hodges also fell in the beginning of the sophomore boys Division

III race. He regrouped to have the third fastest time by a CdM boys

runner and the best CdM placement in the age group.

“Dustin was knocked down in the beginning of the race, and they didn’t do

a restart,” Sumner said.

Ben Inouye, Judd Hietbrink and Dave Mittman posted sub-18-minute times

for the seventh-place sophomores.

The young Estancia boys runners impressed everyone at the meet.

The Eagles won the freshman Division III race with almost half the point

total of second-place Pacifica. And the sophomore team would’ve placed

third, but the Eaglesy were ruled ineligible because they only had four

runners. This is very encouraging to a varsity team which will depend

heavily on the youngsters.

“We’re a very, very young team,” Estancia Coach Charlie Appell said. “And

they looked pretty good today.”

Despite the obvious youth movement, seniors Abe Inouye and Danny Vargas

posted the two best times for the Eagles with 17:40 and 17:42 clockings, respectively, in the seniors Division III meet.

Some individual placements and times were not available after the race,

as there was a problem with the computer which logged the results. All

the computations were done by hand.