GAMERS

Three of the top runners in Southern California will get a rare

opportunity to race each other today at the Orange County Championships,

held at Irvine Park, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Newport Harbor High senior standout Amber Steen, last year’s CIF

Southern Section Division II champion will get the best of the best as

two-time, all-county runner Lori Mann of Santa Margarita and Fountain

Valley junior Julie Allen, the Los Angeles Times’ Orange County Runner of

the Year, will be just three of 57 girls entered in the race.

Steen and Allen have never raced against each other before and most

likely will not race again this season because each runner is in a

different section and state division.

Mann has raced against Allen only once, losing in a three-way meet

earlier this season, according to a published report.

Throw into the mix defending champion Corona del Mar’s batch of

runners and the makings of a classic meet are in order.

Elsewhere today:

Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor’s girls volleyball teams continue

action at the Torrey Pines Tournament.

The Sailors’ boys water polo team will host The Bishops High of San

Diego at 2 p.m. in a nonleague matchup of two of the top teams in

Southern California.

Also in boys water polo, Corona del Mar, top-ranked in Division II,

will host Capistrano Valley in a nonleague matchup at 3:15, while Costa

Mesa continues play at the Magnolia Tournament.

In collegiate action, the Orange Coast College women’s water polo team

will continue its play in the Citrus College Tournament.

The Vanguard University cross country teams will head up to Woodward

Park in Fresno for the Sunbird Challenge, which begins at 5 p.m.

The VU women’s volleyball team hosts Concordia University in a Golden

State Athletic Conference matchup at 7.

In soccer, both the men’s and women’s teams for Vanguard will host Cal

Baptist. The men will play at 1 p.m., while the women take the field at

7.