CdM boys and girls take top honors at Sunny Hills Invitational

Steve Virgen

FULLERTON - An experimentation of sorts led to a Sunny Hills

Invitational cross country championship for both the boys’ and girls’

teams of Corona del Mar on Saturday at Clark Regional Park in Fullerton.

CdM Coach Bill Sumner said that he tried a new strategy for the

competition that involved an aggressive kick from the start and

maintaining a quicker-than-usual pace throughout the course.

“We’re kicking up the ante,” said Sumner of his team’s gamble to try

something new. Sumner said that the team’s different approach was a bit

risky but resulted in a second straight Sunny Hills Invitational title

for the girls, which included top overall finisher senior Diana Hossfeld.

The competition included 37 schools as the boys earned first place

with Josh Yelsey finishing third overall running in at 15:56.

“We’re sore after every workout,” Yelsey said of the training during

the past two weeks.

CdM’s new strategy started before Saturday. During the past two weeks,

Sumner has been involving different start and finish techniques that

required harder training.

“They’re so coachable, no matter how hard it is, they’re going to do

it,” Sumner said. His reason for the new gameplan: “Sooner or later,

everyone is going to figure you out and try to catch you. And I’m just

now catching up with the ‘big boys’ and I don’t want to be caught.”

In the senior girls’ race, five out of the top-20 finishers were Sea

Kings: 1. Hossfeld, 4. Jenny Cummins, 8. Katie Quinlan. 12. Lindsay

Yourman, 19. Tess Maguire. The race included 96 runners.

Cdm’s senior girls said that the team is better even with the loss of

one of its top runners, Liz Morse. They said that the team has improved

early in the season.

The seniors turned their focus to the Stanford Invitational in two

weeks that features the state’s best team, San Lorenzo Valley.

“We’re really excited to compete at Stanford and to race against

them,” Quinlan said.

Sea King sensation Season Meservey topped all runners in the junior

race finishing in 19:57.

The team will compete again Thursday, hosting Costa Mesa in the

Pacific Coast League dual mee opener.

SUNNY HILLS INVITATIONAL

TOP 7 FINISHERS FOR CDM BOYS AND GIRLS

GIRLS

Diana Hossfeld 19:02

Jenny Cummins 19:33

Katie Quinlan 19:55

Season Meservey 19:57

Jennifer Long 20:05

Lindsay Yourman 20:20

Katherine Morse 20:34

BOYS

Josh Yelsey 15:56

Travis Beardslee 17:00

Blake Dillon 17:25

Dustin Hodges 17:37

Ben Inouye 18:04

John Girod 18:13

Dan Quinlan 18:57

Meanwhile, at the Woodbridge Invitational in Irvine on Saturday:

Newport Harbor’s Amber Steen bolted to a second-place finish and Chris

McMillen shined in his debut with a third-place finish at the 20th annual

Woodbridge Cross Country Invitational, on Saturday.

Steen’s effort helped Newport Harbor earn sixth place in the early

portion of the competition that featured over 70 schools in division I

and II levels. The afternoon portion included Costa Mesa among 95

schools.

Steen came in at 17:40 behind Anita Siraki (16:44) from Hoover High in

Glendale.

McMillen’s third place finish was at 15:49 to lead the Newport Harbor

boys with a fifth-place finish in Division I and II circles.

WOODBRIDGE INVITATIONAL

Newport Harbor girls - 2. Amber Steen, 17:40; 28 -- Lynn Rinek, 19:45;

41 -- Lauren Paul, 20:06; 70 -- Erin Friedman, 21:00; 111 -- Jennifer

Inoue 22:21

Newport Harbor boys - 3. Chris McMillen, 15:49; 24 -- John Peschelt

16:23; 57 -- Dan Moyer, 17:20; 99 -- Kevin Potter, 19:02.