Rojas, Rosete claim league championships

Steve Virgen

New league, no problem. That was the mentality for Estancia High

seniors Humberto Rojas and Diana Rosete, who each won a Golden West

League cross country individual title at Central Park in Huntington

Beach Wednesday.

In addition, the Estancia boys cross country squad, which switched

over from the Pacific Coast League to the Golden West, surprised the

competition by beating out Santa Ana and grabbing the second seed in

advancing to the CIF Southern Section Division III preliminaries Nov.

16 at Mt. San Antonio. Costa Mesa, which made the same switch of

leagues, led by Carlos Ibarra (17th, 16:41), finished fifth in the

Golden West League Finals.

The Eagles, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Division III poll, also

surprised Estancia Coach Charlie Appell.

“They dug deeper than I thought they would,” Appell said of his

boys team. “It was excellent.”

Rojas led the Estancia effort, following the pace set by Orange

runners, then breaking away with a mile and a half remaining to

finish in 15:21, 19 seconds ahead of second-place Francisco Guerra of

Orange.

“I was going after the victory,” Rojas said. “I really didn’t want

the title in this league, but in the PCL. But, I’m here.”

Orange, which is ranked No. 3 in CIF Division II, won the Golden

West League team title, putting runners in the 2-3-4-7 and 9th spots.

Estancia sophomore Alex Cahuantzi finished in the top 10 to help the

Eagles surprise the Golden West League. Cahuantzi came across in

16:05 and finished sixth, while his teammate, senior Aaron Van Geem,

finished 11th (16:20) and Abel Flores followed in 15th (16:33).

Panfilo Elias, who Appell said is capable of running a better race,

finished 18th (16:51), and Matt Zich (26th, 17:35) and Gerardo Orozco

(30th, 18:01) also contributed.

For Costa Mesa, in addition to Ibarra, Marco Huipe finished 19th

(16:54), while Mario Herrera (22nd, 16:57), Juan Avilez (31st,

18:02), Steven Kosnosky (32nd, 18:23), Thomas Payne (33rd, 18:33) and

Saul Palomar (34th, 18:45) followed.

On the girls side, Rosete made a quick recovery from a recent

quadriceps injury to finish before Golden West League defending

champion Kaylynn Gallo, a sophomore from Ocean View. Rosete finished

in 18:57, well ahead of Gallo, who started out with the lead but

followed to come in 19:25.

Rosete said she felt major tightness in her quadriceps during and

after the Mt. SAC Invitational.

She rested for a week and came back with light training just days

before Wednesday’s race.

“I was tired because I haven’t been able to train,” Rosete said.

“I was just thinking whatever happens, happens. A little bit before

the halfway point, I started to worry a little bit, because I didn’t

think I could catch (Gallo), but once I did everything was OK.”

After Rosete finished her race, Costa Mesa junior Christine

Bjelland, who did not compete because of a hip injury she suffered

early in the season, came over and congratulated Rosete.

The young Mustangs finished fourth with 114 points, just behind

Estancia, which finished third with 101. The Eagles advanced to the

CIF preliminaries.

“Our girls ran awesome,” Costa Mesa Coach Glenn Mitchell said.

“Even without Christine they gave Estancia a run for that third

spot.”

The Mustangs were led by freshman Ana Rodriguez, who displayed a

noteworthy kick to finish 17th and with a personal record of 21:28.

Mesa freshman Kathryn Connell finished 19th (21:34), and Estancia’s

Crystal Rincon (20th, 21:37) and Areli Flores (21st, 21:48) followed.

Costa Mesa sophomore Kindra Bailey (23rd, 21:53), senior Cara

Doone (27th 22:31) and freshman Hahn Nguyen (28th, 22:31) also

competed, as did Estancia’s Brittanie Starn (29th, 22:36), Marina

Abdul (30th, 22:40), Lucia Leon (32nd, 22:44) Fatima Carrasco (35th,

23:39) and Costa Mesa’s Sara Bryant (38th, 24:00) and Perla Marroquin

(39th, 24:05).