CIF Cross Country Prelims: It’s time to peak

Steve Virgen

WALNUT - The road to the state finals begins with the CIF Southern

Section cross country preliminaries Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.

Runners from Corona del Mar High, Estancia, Newport Harbor and Costa Mesa

will display the result of their training this season. And coaches expect

the runners to peak, while others will pace themselves, aiming for a spot

in next week’s finals.

The CdM girls cross country squad, ranked No. 2 in Division III behind

La Canada, is no stranger to the finals, and the state finals. For the

past two years, Coach Bill Sumner’s Sea Kings have won the state title.

But, this year proves more challenging for Sumner’s young runners.

Senior Julie Allen leads the aspiring group that will run at 10:20

a.m. Newport Harbor, led by sophomore Lauren Paul, will open the day with

an 8:20 race, while Estancia’s Diana Rosete will represent the Eagles at

10 a.m., as both heats are also in Division III competition.

Corona’s Allen will be making her fourth appearance in the prelims,

and she’s focused to advance to her fourth finals, as well as a fourth

trip to the state finals. Under her belt this season are the Stanford

Invitational and Orange County Championships titles. She also won the

Pacific Coast League championship last week when she set a course record

(16:53), to lead the Sea Kings to the PCL title.

CdM senior Becky Cummins and sophomores Taryn Kawata and Ahlia Kattan

also finished with All-PCL honors, posting personal-best times.

Estancia’s Rosete, who took fourth in the PCL finals, finished in the

top 20 in last year’s CIF Division IV finals.

Paul, who came in seventh in the Sea View League finals Nov. 1, came

in 15th in the CIF Division II prelims last year, as she learned under

Newport senior Amber Steen.

On the boys side, Coach Charlie Appell’s Eagles, ranked No. 3 in

Division III, behind No. 1 Barstow and No. 2 Nordhoff, will race at 8:45,

that will also include CdM, which finished second in the PCL.

The Eagles, led by junior Humberto Rojas and senior Mike Casillas, won

the PCL title last week. Rojas was crowned PCL champ, finishing in 15:14.

Casillas took second, while junior Aaron Van Geem came in third. Estancia

junior Abel Flores and junior Gerardo Orozco also finished in the top 10,

and sophomore Panfilo Elias missed the top 10 by a fraction of a second.

In Division II, at 10:15, Coach Bim Barry’s Newport squad is improving

with each meet it enters. The Sailors, who endured early-season injuries,

displayed their improvement by winning their fifth straight Sea View

League title. Junior Alec Urtusuastegui led Newport with a second-place

finish.

Sophomores Nick Miller, Juan Rios and Geoff Doody, along with their

junior leader, have done their best to fill a void left by Chris McMillen

and John Peschelt, both seniors last year, and Jesus Santana, who moved

to Riverside before the season.

“They’ve been huge,” Barry said of Miller, Rios and Doody. “We would

not have won league without their maturation.”

Costa Mesa, like CdM and Estancia, will also race in Division III, but

at 8:15. The Mustangs, after recalculations of the PCL finals, ran to a

third-place finish and qualified for Saturday’s meet. Marco Huipe, the

younger brother of former Estancia standout runner Liz Huipe, earned

All-PCL honors last week with his 10th place finish. Senior Irwin Salas

also leads the Mesa squad.