Shadowlands

Looking back, 5 years ago this week:

Newport Harbor High freshman Amber Steen wins the girls 1,600

meters in 5:09 at the Sea View League track and field finals at

Irvine High. Corona del Mar sophomore sensation Liz Morse, a state

finalist in the 800, wins the event in 2:15.97 while freshman

teammate Jenny Cummins takes second in 2:19.63. Sea Kings’ senior

captain Jennifer Blair takes the 3,200 (11:06), finishing ahead of

runner-up Alicia McFall (11:07) from Newport Harbor. Newport Harbor

sophomore April Ross will also make her way to the CIF Southern

Section preliminaries with three second-place finishes in the long

jump (16 feet, 11 1/2 inches), high jump (5-2) and triple jump (35-10

3/4).

Newport Harbor’s Eddie Clark throws 157-9 to win the boys discus .

Newport Harbor junior Steve Jensen wins the 800, while CdM senior

Matt Dennerline wins the 3,200. Newport senior Chuck Loo wins the

triple jump (43-2 1/4), a season best. Costa Mesa High boys capture

seven individual Pacific Coast League titles, the most ever for the

school at the league track and field finals. Senior Richard Price

wins the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediate hurdles, while senior

thrower Matthew Rudesill takes the shot put and discus. Junior Bruce

Hancock earns titles in the 800 and 1,600 and senior Brian Browning

places first in the high jump. The Mustangs’ 400 relay team of Ronnie

Sou, Brad Jones, Greg Stewart and Edwin Martinez also qualifies for

the CIF preliminaries with a 45.8 clocking. Mesa finishes fourth in

the team standings. Estancia junior Alberto Munoz wins the PCL title

in the 3,200, blowing away the field in 9:50. Browning wins the high

jump at 5-10 and Rudesill takes first in the discus (161-1 1/2) and

shot put (54-5 1/4). Hancock ties University’s Martin Brix in the

1,600 (4:23), but is a clear-cut winner in the 800 (1:58.4).

CdM’s Lance Emery defends his Sea View League crown in the 50-yard

freestyle, shattering a personal best, then stuns the field in the

100 free at the Sea View League swim finals. Emery is the lone

champion from the Back Bay contingent of CdM and Newport Harbor. CdM

seniors Kawika Tarayao and Scott Kramer, along with Newport junior

Kevin Becker and Sailor senior Jason Arrow, all post top-five

finishes. Emery swims 21.56 in the 50 free, edging Becker (22.15).

Looking back, 10 years ago this week:

Newport Harbor High’s girls win six titles at the Sea View League

track and field finals. Newport’s 400-meter relay team of Nikki

Adams, Michaela Ross, Misty May and Lindsey Curtis win the Sailors’

ninth-straight league title in the event with a time of 50.1 seconds.

Curtis also adds individual championships in the 100 (12.91) and 300

hurdles (48.60). Ross wins the long jump with a 17-0 1/2 mark, while

sophomore Tina Bowman claims first place in the high jump (5-6).

Junior Gina Heads reaches 42-10 to win the shot put. Brennan and Ross

both clear 5-6 to tie a meet record in the high jump, while Curtis

wins her second consecutive league title in the 300 hurdles. Corona

del Mar is led by freshman Kelly Campbell, who runs a personal-best

11:01.4 in the 3,200, while also winning the 1,600 in 5:13.35,

qualifying for the CIF prelims in both events.

CdM’s boys swim team comes back to stun Woodbridge, 16-15, for the

Sea View League championship. Woodbridge defeats CdM, 90-60, in a

league dual meet earlier in the season, making the victory at league

finals even sweeter for CdM. The Sea Kings win their third straight

league title and eighth in the past nine years. Crosby Grant shatters

a 13-year-old league record in the 100-yard backstroke (53.01),

bettering the 54.49 set by Irvine’s Blair Murphy. Rob Hoover wins a

league title in the 200 individual medley, swimming a CIF qualifying

time of 1:58.46. James Palda touches first in the 100 butterfly

(54.22). Steve Hamilton, Tom Norton, Grant and Hoover then team up to

win the 200 free relay (1:27.18). Newport’s Brett McAllister

qualifies for CIF with a third-place finish in the 50 free (22.32)

and posts a fourth-place time of 48.90 in the 100 free.

Troubled with shin splints earlier in the season, Estancia High

senior James Wulkowicz claims the 800 in 2:01.7 during the Pacific

Coast League track and field finals at Trabuco Hills High. Johann

Appell and Brian Chung finish first and second, respectively, in the

3,200 for Estancia. The Eagles’ Lauren Weaver (300 hurdles in 48.0)

and Costa Mesa’s Gigi Surmon (100 hurdles in 16.32) each win league

titles -- compiled by Bryce Alderton