Girls cross country: Sea Kings, oh so close

Steve Virgen

WALNUT - There were few smiles, but contentment nonetheless when

the Corona del Mar High girls cross country team accepted its runner-up

plaque after the CIF Southern Section Division III race at Mt. San

Antonio College Saturday.

CdM senior Julie Allen advanced to her fourth State Finals meet in

grand fashion, winning the CIF Division III title in 17:41.7 (last week

she ran a 17:12). Junior Becky Cummins followed and also earned All-CIF

honors, finishing second in 18:24.6.

But, it wasn’t enough.

Despite the 1-2 finish, the Sea Kings were left heartbroken, but still

satisfied because they finished just three points behind Division III

champion La Canada, which placed three runners in the top 20.

“There’s nobody on this team that didn’t let us down,” CdM Coach Bill

Sumner said, moments after discovering the official score. “It’s a

heartbreaker to lose by three points, but we’re not supposed to be here,

but we were and that’s a credit for them. My heart is heavy because I am

disappointed. But I’m not disappointed in my kids. I’m not a sore loser,

but I don’t like losing.”

Northwood, like CdM, another Pacific Coast League team, finished in

third with 110 points.

Estancia junior Diana Rosete fulfilled her goals, completing a

personal-course-best 19:03.5 and earning All-CIF laurels by coming in

sixth to advance to Saturday’s State Finals in Fresno.

“It’s a challenging course, and that’s what I like about it,” said

Rosete, who finished 20th last year in her first season of cross country.

“During the race, I was thinking, ‘I know I can do this.’ ”

Like Rosete, the Sea Kings approach the State Finals with strong

desire. Corona was all but forgotten this season after losing four

seniors, Katie Quinlan, Diana Hossfeld, Jenny Cummins and Lindsay

Yourman. And one of CdM’s top runners, Season Meservey, transferred to

Santiago High in Corona. But Sumner said the critics’ doubts sparked

motivation for the Sea Kings and that was a huge reason they came so

close to winning the championship.

“We came from zero to trying to win the (title) and missing by three

points,” Sumner said. “We had a 1-2 finish, but we still didn’t have

enough to win and we need to work on the fifth (runner).

“We have a bunch of little kids out here and they have matured,” he

continued. “Our No. 3 runner is Ahlia Kattan. She didn’t know what cross

country was until about six months ago. Melissa Swigert was a sprinter in

junior high school and all of a sudden, she’s the No. 5 runner on this

team. Taryn Kawata, her father thought she would never be a runner

because she was too small. She wanted to play basketball, but today she

was our No. 4 runner. We didn’t win the (title), but (the Sea Kings) came

through.”

CdM’s third runner, the freshman Kattan, came in 24th in 19:49.3,

while Kawata came in 33rd in 20:02.5 and Swigert followed in 40th in

20:21.7.

Sophomore Kinzie Kramer (63rd in 20:59.1) and senior Katherine Morse

(65th in 21:02.1) rounded out the Sea Kings’ performance.

“We’re excited to get out there and work hard again next week,” Allen

said. “No one outside of our little circle really expected anything out

of this team because we lost so many people and we’re so young. To build

this team up and come out here and do what no one else thought possible

was great.”

CdM, the two-time state champion, will make its 16th straight State

Finals appearance Saturday.

“We don’t need a map to get over there anymore,” Sumner said. “We just

get on the road and drive.”