Orange County Championships: Newport and Mesa own the spotlight

Steve Virgen

IRVINE - What a difference seven days can make for the Newport

Harbor High and Costa Mesa boys cross country teams. Both squads made

huge strides of improvement over the past week and the results were

displayed at the Orange County Championships Saturday at Irvine Regional

Park.

The Sailors rebounded from their first loss in the Sea View League in

five years and won Division II, while the Mustangs, led by senior Irwin

Salas, completed their best performance of the season to win Division

III.

It was a repeat of sorts for the Sailors. Last year, they won the

Division I sweepstakes title. The Orange County Championships rank its

three divisions by strength of program.

Newport junior Alec Urtusuastegui gradually improved his pace

throughout the three-mile course, passing one runner in the last

half-mile and nearly catching another. He crossed the finish line seventh

in 16:10, shaving five seconds off his time from last year and he cut 13

seconds from his time last week in the Sea View League Invitational, also

at Irvine Regional Park.

“That was a great race for him,” Newport Coach Bim Barry said. “He

should be getting better every week. Overall, we had a much better team

race than last week.”

The Sailors placed three runners in the top 20, while Michael Haddan

of Woodbridge won the race with the meet’s best time of 15:00. El Toro

won the Division I sweepstakes.

Barry said Geoff Doody made the difference for the Sailors and got

them over the hump because the sophomore runner, in his third varsity

race, completed a personal-best 16:58. That was less than a second from

Corona del Mar’s Blake Dillion, who was one second behind teammate Dustin

Hodges (30th). The Sea Kings finished eighth in the race as Kevin Artz,

who transferred from Newport Harbor, was their No. 1, coming in 16th at

16:30.

“He would’ve been a big help for us,” Barry said of Artz.

The CdM sophomore said he transferred because Newport Harbor is close

to his home.

Artz, who is in his first year of cross country, said he wasn’t

motivated by the Back Bay rivalry until midway through the race. Newport

sophomore Nick Miller intensified Artz’s competitive drive. Miller

contributed to the Sailors’ title with a 14th-place finish (16:28).

In Division III, Costa Mesa placed four runners in the top 15 out of

87 runners, including Salas (fourth in 16:49), Marco Huipe (seventh in

16:55), Jose Ibarra (eighth in 16:55) and Fernando Santa Maria (14th in

17:16). Santa Maria joined the team just two weeks ago.

“He’s new to the team and he’s the fourth man already,” Costa Mesa

assistant coach Tom Hancock said. “This is the best we’ve done all year

and we were missing Carlos Ibarra (illness) today. They’ve been working

hard all summer and it’s starting to show. We have three weeks until

(Pacific Coast League) finals and they’re going to keep working hard.”

Mustangs Coach Eric Davies, who did not attend the meet because of a

prior commitment, said his boys had an intense week of practice leading

up to the Orange County Championships. He said it was “make it or break

it” time for Salas, and he took the former.

The Costa Mesa senior not only battled heat and the course, but also a

nagging injury in his right calf.

He said he fought off the pain in the last half-mile and switched into

high gear, grabbing a fourth-place finish in 16:49.

“I’m a little bit more focused this year,” Salas said. “But the

training really hasn’t been there for me (because of the injury).”

The Sage Hill Lightning also competed in Division III. Freshman Mike

Voge led the way, coming in 31st in 17:52.

Estancia Coach Charlie Appell said his Eagles did not enter the Orange

County Championships because he wanted them to rest and hopefully heal

from injuries.

“We wanted to make sure we were fine for next week (for the Mt. San

Antonio College Invitational,” Appell said. “Our boys would have been in

the sweepstakes ... We have already ran four invitationals and we’re

tired. We didn’t want to run in this one because for us Mt. SAC is more

important.”