Cross country: Locals trek to Fresno for state finals

Tony Altobelli

FRESNO - So how does Corona del Mar High girls cross country coach

Bill Sumner want his team to handle the “favorites” label at the CIF

state championships this weekend at Woodward Park?

“I want us to run well, run with class and be a team that people will

talk about in the highest regard,” Sumner said.

Oh yeah, a state title would be cool, too.

“Of course we want to win and we want to win badly,” Sumner said.

“This team has worked so hard all year long and they’ve already

accomplished so much. If they run the race that they are capable of

running, it’s going to be a special day for us.”

The Sea Kings, winners of last week’s Southern Section Division IV

championship are the defending state champs from a year ago, their first

state title since 1993.

Sumner would love to see strong runs from his seniors, Diana Hossfeld,

Jenny Cummins, Katie Quinlan and Lindsay Yourman. Not only to help win a

state title, but for acknowledgment of all their hard work in their CdM

careers.

“People look at our seniors and think they’re such stud runners,”

Sumner said. “Well, four years ago, they were not studs. They’ve worked

their butt off for four years and they’ve done everything I’ve asked them

to do. I’d love for them to end their cross country careers with another

state title.”

Joining the Sea Kings’ senior quartet will be juniors Season Meservey

and Katherine Morse along with sophomore Jennifer Long and with the

layout of the Woodward Park course, a big CdM pack could be in the

making.

“This course has a little of everything,” Sumner said. “We’ve got some

girls that prefer the flatter courses, while some like the mountainous

terrain.”

Perhaps a splash of hot pink might be in the middle of all the CdM

blue with the running of senior Liz Huipe from Estancia.

Huipe, who finished ninth at the state meet last year with a time of

19:07.0, took third at the Southern Section finals last weekend with a

19:00.3.

In Division II action, Newport Harbor brings a Ferrari in senior Amber

Steen to go along with the rest of the fuel-efficient Sailors’ squad.

“As a coach, my main concern is that the entire team runs well, not

just Amber,” Newport Coach Eric Tweit said. “I’m cautiously optimistic

for our success this weekend. I would love the team to finish in the top

five and if everyone steps up, we can do just that. Of course, every team

is saying that.”

Steen successfully defended her Division II Southern Section title at

Mt. San Antonio College with a time of 17:38.3, bettering the field by

over 11 seconds.

“As an individual, Amber is in one of the toughest races of the day,”

Tweit said. “I don’t know if she’s going to win, but I know she’s ready

to run her best race of the year on Saturday.”

At last year’s Division II state finals, Steen took fifth with a time

of 18:23, but look to see that time drop dramatically on Saturday.

On the boys side, Estancia brings a young, but extremely talented core

of runners to the Division IV race.

The Eagles overcame a team-wide bout with the flu to take second with

73 points. Four Eagles, Humberto Rojas (15:43.3), Mike Casillas

(16:08.6), Luis Segoviano (16:14.7) and Gerardo Orozco (16:16.0) finished

in the top 20.

Despite the Sea Kings’ boys squad falling short of qualifying as a

team, seniors Travis Beardslee and Josh Yelsey will make the trip up

Highway 99 to compete. Both were in the top 30 at last year’s finals.

“Once Travis and Josh got over the disappointment of the team not

making it, they’ve trained hard this week and they should be ready to

go,” Sumner said.

Beardslee took runner-up at the Southern Section Division IV finals

with a 15:17.6. “Travis is on fire right now,” Sumner said. “He just

missed the school record by a second last week and could break it this

week.”

Yelsey took seventh last weekend with a 15.50.8. “He really wants to

go up there and represent the team as a whole, even though the team isn’t

up there,” Sumner said.

RACE SCHEDULE

Division IV Boys - 9 a.m. (Corona del Mar and Estancia)

Division IV Girls - 10:05 a.m. (CdM and Estancia)

Division II Boys - 11:45 a.m. (Newport Harbor)

Division II Girls - 1:20 p.m. (Newport Harbor)