Steen, CdM win heats

Joseph Boo

WALNUT - In one of those good old fashioned races that Charlton

Heston used to make movies about, Newport Harbor’s Amber Steen got by

Lori Mann of Santa Margarita at the end to win her heat in Saturday’s CIF

Southern Section Cross Country Preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College.

Both runners ran fast paces and finished almost a minute ahead of the

third-place runner. “I wanted to go out at 5:40 on the first mile,” Steen

said. “Instead, I moved out at 5:25.”

Mann led for most of the race, but lost it in the last 100 meters.

“People started cheering,” Steen said, “and I started sprinting. I felt

really good, and I had a lot of energy.”

Steen’s first place and Sonya Mechkor’s fourth place led the Sailors to

second place in their Division II heat and into next week’s finals. The

key for Newport Harbor was its third, fourth and fifth runner, who all

finished in the top 30.

“The middle three runners, Lynn Rinek, Natalie St. Andre and Ashley

Steen, really stepped it up,” Tweit said. They were staying in there and

maintaining their places. We were really counting on them. Overall, we

did what we’re supposed to do.”CIF Division IV’s No. 1 girls team Corona

del Mar, as expected, cruised into the Division IV finals. The only thing

missing from their run were picnic baskets as the Sea Kings ran at a

leisurely pace.

“We didn’t care about our times,” CdM runner Liz Morse said. “We got out

very slow. Our strategy was to stay with our fifth runner. We had a very

good pack run. All seven of us were to together halfway through the

meet.”

Despite the slow times, CdM placed four of its top five runners in the

top ten, which allowed the Sea Kings to crush second place Morro Bay by

73 points.

Estancia’s Liz Huipe was second in her Division IV heat, making up some

distance on winner Miriam Hodgins of Malibu at the end and finishing

within seven seconds of her.

Estancia’s girls team had to wait to see if it qualified for the Division

IV finals, as most of the Eagles runners finished in the middle of the

pack. They just qualified, finishing sixth and sparking a

mini-celebration among the runners.

“We got a lot of room for improvement,” Estancia Coach Charlie Appell

said. “Five of our girls didn’t eat very well before the race, and it

showed.”

“Our runners lost contact with one another. But they stayed together.

They ran a good team race. We finished sixth after being a longshot. But

we still have to improve for next week.”

CIF PRELIMINARIES

(at Mt. San Antonio College)

Corona del Mar

2. Liz Morse, 19:45; 3. Katie Quinlan, 19:54; 6. Jenny Cummins, 20:10; 8.

Jill Quye, 20:17; 11. Diana Hossfeld, 20:39; 12. Season Meservey, 20:45;

17. Lindsay Yourman, 20:57.

Estancia

2. Liz Huipe, 19:50; 29. Stephanie Melendez, 21:43; 37. Maria Arroyo,

22:20; 38. Janet Cahuantzi, 22:21; 49. Katelyn Aronson, 22:59; 58.

Araceli Morales, 23:28; 69. Anna Perez, 24:18.

Newport Harbor

1. Amber Steen, 18:23; 4. Sonya Mechkor, 19:27; 13. Lynn Rinek, 20:15;

24. Natalie St. Andre, 20:48; 26. Ashley Steen, 20:54; 31. Jennifer

Inouye, 21:07; 48. Erin Friedman, 21:54.