Estancia finish 10th, CdM 12th

Joseph Boo

FRESNO - The young Estancia High’s boys cross country team

completed its first lesson, finishing 10th on Saturday Division IV state

championship at Woodward Park in Fresno.

“It was good,” Estancia Coach Charlie Appell said. “It was fun.”

Appell also calls this a learning experience for a team with two freshmen

and three sophomores. Most of the underclassmen were predictably nervous

before the meet. But all five scoring Estancia runners still finished in

the top 85.

Freshman Humberto Rojas finished 33rd to lead Estancia, who finished 16

points behind ninth place Half Moon Bay.

“He’s only a freshman,” Appell said, “but he ran well.”

Sophomores Mike Casillas and Luis Segoviano placed in the top 70 for

Estancia.

While most of Estancia’s team will be back next year, two seniors, Abe

Inouye and Danny Vargas, raced in the state meet for the second and third

time, respectively.

“They were pretty disappointed about 10th place after the race,” Appell

said. “But in the ride back home, they gave a little bit of time to think

about it, and they realized they had a really good year.”

Corona del Mar juniors Josh Yelsey and Travis Beardslee both placed in

the top 30 at state. As a team, the Sea Kings tied Piedmont for 11th, but

finished 12th on a tiebreaker.

“We had a shaky performance,” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said. “It’s not a

good day, but we’re young.”

Yelsey finished 22nd, and turned in the eighth best time for a Southern

Section runner. Beardslee was 29th.

Both of them ran in the top 15 for the first half of the race, but faded

at the end.

“I thought both could be in the top 10,” Sumner said. “but that’s OK,

things change when you’re out there on the course.”

Like Estancia, CdM’s youth holds a lot of promise for the teams’ future,

with only two seniors going.

“They were 12th in state,” Sumner said. “We tend to make mistakes of

comparing the boys to the girls. But the boys are doing quite well.”

“(The state meet) was an extremely good experience. Seven of our nine

guys will be back.”

CIF BOYS DIVISION IV STATE MEET

(at Woodward Park, Fresno)

Corona del Mar

22. Josh Yelsey, 16:30; 29. Travis Beardslee, 16:35; 83. Kevin Kramer,

17:31; 106. Judd Heitbrink, 18:01; 108. Blake Dillion, 18:05; 115. Dustin

Hodges, 18:31; 124. John Grod, 19:12.

Estancia

33. Humberto Rojas, 16:36; 63. Mike Casillas, 17:08; 68. Luis Segoviano,

17:15; 81. Danny Vargas, 17:27; 84. Abe Inouye, 17:32; 105. Abel Flores,

17:56; 107. Erik Lopez, 18:04.