CdM girls impress

WALNUT - The Corona del Mar High girls team, which Coach Bill

Sumner said has a chance to be the best in school history, may finally

start believing as much after finishing second in the Division I team

sweepstakes race Saturday at the Mt. San Antonio Cross Country

Invitational.

“The girls are starting to believe they’re as good as they are,” Sumner

said. “They said ‘Gosh, we must be pretty good to finish second without

Liz (Morse, whom Sumner ordered to drop out due to breathing

difficulties).’ ”

Kate Quintan finished seventh overall in 18:53 to pace the Sea Kings, a

Division IV school whose 77 points were bettered only by San Lorenz

Valley.

Jenny Cummings was 14th in 19:22, while Dianna Hossfeld (19:37), Season

Meservey (19:43) and Katherine Morris (19:45) also scored for CdM. Jill

Quye finished in 19:50 and Morse, one of the Southern Section’s top

individuals, did not finish.

“Liz was our No. 1 runner at the mile mark, but she was having problems,”

Sumner said. “Our other girls saw she was hurting as they began passing

her, so they all sped up. I wouldn’t say they panicked, but they may have

overreacted a little and ran the second mile a little too hard. They were

all wobbly-legged at the finish. To finish second without Liz was pretty

incredible for us. This really gives us confidence for the final three

weeks of the season. We’re pumped and ready to go.”

Another group of CdM girls finished fourth in Friday’s Division IV

sweepstakes race, led by Jennifer Long (19:31). Jean Garcia (20:30),

Keelan Cuyler (20:56), Lindsay Yourman (20:56), Becky Cummins (20:59),

Tess Maguire (21:55) and Jessica Hoopis (25:59) also represented the Sea

Kings.

Estancia finished 14th in the same Division IV race, as Liz Huipe (19:40)

was ninth overall.

Other Estancia contributors included Janet Cahuantzi (67th in 21:51),

Maria Arroyo (74th in 22:12), Katelyn Aronson (78th in 22:17), Stephanie

Menendez (22:55), Carmen McNeil (23:50) and Ana Perez (24:03).

The CdM boys team was seventh in the Division IV sweepstakes race Friday,

paced by Travis Beardslee (fourth in 15:53), Josh Yelsey (10th in 16:00),

Jud Heitbrink (17:29), Dustin Hodges (17:49), David Mittman (17:53), John

Grod (18:08) and Mark Pomerantz.

The Estancia boys finished ninth in the Division IV sweepstakes race,

paced by Luis Segoviano, who finished 45th in 17:01. Humberto Rojas (52nd

in 17:07), Mike Casillas (61th in 17:18), Danny Vargas (69th in 17:26),

Abe Inouye (71st in 17:27) and Jordan Fissel (19:36) also competed for

Coach Charlie Appell’s Eagles.

Estancia’s efforts came on the heels of a strong outing Oct. 16, when the

boys and girls teams each won titles at the Cuesta Invitational at Cuesta

College.

The Eagles girls needed a tiebreaker to prevail, after finishing

deadlocked at 57 points with Notre Dame of San Jose.

Estancia’s sixth and seventh runners, Erika Hernandez and McNeil, each

passed Notre Dame runners in the late stages to secure the crown for the

Eagles, who were led by Huipe’s third-place time of 20:28 over the hilly

3.1-mile course.

Melendez (10th in 21:59), Cahuantzi (11th in 21:59), Arroyo (14th in

22:20) and Aronson (20th in 23:09) preceded Hernandez (23rd in 23:36) and

McNeil (34th in 25:15).

Segoviano (17:25) paced the boys victory with a fifth-place finish, while

Casillas (10th in 17:37), Vargas (12th in 17:48), Inouye (13th in 17:52)

and Lopez (16th in 18:09) also scored. Abel Flores (18:13) was 17th and Rojas (18:35) was 24th, despite having to stop due to severe breathing

problems.

Coach Appell’s boys finished with 47 points, besting Taft (52), Parlier

(73) and Mendota (85).

Appell said all his runners picked up the pace after Rojas dropped from

the leaders, gaining at least four places per man fuel the victory.