Born to run

Joseph Boo

ORANGE - Junior Amber Steen of Newport Harbor High kept pushing

herself, and kept working hard during the season. On Saturday, it paid

off for her in a big way at the Orange County Championship for cross

country in Irvine Park.

Steen won the girls varsity sweepstake race and led the Sailors to a

sixth-place finish. Sonya Mechkor finished 20th in the other impressive

effort for Newport Harbor.

This was the toughest field Steen ran against all year. Besides Liz Morse

of Corona del Mar, who Steen has dueled with throughout the years, it

also featured top runners Lori Mann of Santa Margarita and Jennifer Sears

of Mater Dei.

“This was a very, very good race,” Steen said. “The girls I ran against

were awesome. The whole field was good.”

“She ran very hard and very focused,” Newport Harbor Coach Eric Tweit

said. “The best thing was that at Stanford, Morse beat her. For her to

win this race against this field is a huge thing for her.”

It was Sears who ran out to an early lead. “I just tried to stick with

her,” Steen said.

Midway through the race, Steen was able to get past Sears and hold her

off. She won the race with a time of 17:44, six seconds ahead of Mann,

who snuck by Sears for second.

“For this year, it was my best race,” Steen said.

Mechkor’s time of 18:30 actually tied her for 19th with Katie Quinlan of

CdM. Carrie Foss finished 58th as five Newport runners finished within 25

places of each other. The sixth place team finish for Newport Harbor

equaled last year’s placement.

“Placing wise, (sixth place) is very good,” Tweit said. “As I was telling

the coach from Laguna Beach, if we finish sixth, I would be really happy.

There’s still room for improvement.

The previous year, graduated senior Alicia McFall almost finished second

for Newport Harbor. This year, Steen was able to get the individual title

for Newport Harbor.

“I wish Alicia was here, but I’m sure she’s having fun in college,” Steen

said. “She was the one that pushed me over the years.”

It was a push which proved good enough to catapult Steen to the top.

ORANGE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP

(at Irvine Park)

Girls Varsity Sweepstake

1. Steen (NH), 17:44; 2. Mann (SM), 17:50; 3. Sears (MD), 17:59; 4. L.

Morse (CdM), 18:02; 5. L. Strachan (Fh), 18:02; 6. Tarmey (CV), 18:04; 7.

Eckshaedt (ElMo), 18:07; 8. K. Strachan (Fh), 18:15; 9. Perkins (Pac),

18:17; 10. Cummins (CdM), 18:17.