Vanguard blazing trail

The Vanguard University men’s cross country team, led by Estancia

High product Tony Magana, captured the open division title at the

59th annual Aztec Invitational Saturday, hosted by San Diego State,

at Balboa Park in San Diego.

Magana was second overall in 27:08, followed by teammates Erick

Garcia (eighth in 27:38), Mikael Larsson (ninth in 27:45), Matt Meyer

(12th in 27:58) and John Nelson (29th in 28:53).

The VU women placed 10th in the same meet, with Jenny Thune taking

second overall in 19:08 among 118 finishers.

On the NCAA Division I level, the UC Irvine women finished fourth

and the Anteater men placed fifth at the Aztec Invitational.

UCI senior Tessa Cendejas finished 18th in 19:13, junior Kaleena

Yee was 19th (19:15) and senior Jenna Keith followed, clocking 19:29

for 30th.

For the ‘Eater men, sophomore Tom Whelan was 14th in 26:25,

sophomore Ricky Barnes was 19th (26:44) and junior David Santos was

33rd (27:16).

In high school girls cross country at the Laguna Hills

Invitational, Newport Harbor senior Lauren Paul placed third in the

junior-senior division in 18:33, her first race in a year, while

Caitlin May was 12th in 20:18. Lauren Maddox placed fourth in the

freshmen division in 20:28, while Christina Heimstaedt followed in

seventh at 21:31.

Sage Hill School’s Mollie McGann finished 16th in the freshmen

race in 22:03.

In boys action at Laguna Hills, Sage Hill senior Chris Chiboucas

finished 11th (17:45) in his race. There were no varsity races, just

competition within each class.

The Sage Hill sophomores finished seventh out of 18 teams with

Zach Chandy finishing 15th (18:12) and Tim Lefler following in 21st

(18:40). Mike Voge, 14th in 17:54, and Tristan Cordier, 21st in

18:41, competed in the junior race. No other cross country results

were reported.

Anteaters rally past Florida State in tourney

* VOLLEYBALL: The UC Irvine women’s volleyball team edged Florida

State, 28-30, 30-27, 30-27, 30-24, 15-7 on Saturday night at Crawford

Court to finish second in the Sunset Showcase. UCI setter Ashlie Hain

became the school’s all-time assist leader in the match.

Earlier Saturday, UCI suffered a five-game loss to Saint Mary’s,

which won, 30-14, 27-30, 30-21, 35-37, 21-19.

UCI was led by Kelly Wing’s 23-kill, 19-dig effort, while Brenda

Waterman came up with a match-high 27 digs. Dana Kurzbard, Terbrie

Taylor and Sami Cash recorded 12 kills each, while Amanda Vazquez

added 10 kills and led the team with six block assists. Hain amassed

61 assists.

On Friday, Waterman, the UCI libero, had a career-high 31 digs and

Wing produced a match-high 24 kills, leading the Anteaters to a

30-26, 29-31, 30-28, 16-30, 15-9 win over Houston.

Taylor contributed 17 kills while Kurzbard and Cash added 13 and

12 kills, respectively. Hain amassed 60 assists and 15 digs for the

Anteaters.

Sage Hill reaches semifinals of TOC

* VOLLEYBALL: The Sage Hill girls volleyball team played four

matches and lost in the semifinals of the consolation bracket in the

Tournament of Champions in Lake Forest Saturday.

Sage Hill defeated Canyon in a best-of-three match, 25-10, 25-23,

then the Lightning lost to Cypress, 22-25, 9-25, and Elsinore, 17-25,

7-25.

Sage Hill defeated Savannah in one game because of time

constraints, 25-20, then lost to Canyon, 18-25.

Sophia Hillgren led the Lightning with 16 kills on the day, while

Vista Murphy recorded 15.

Corona del Mar freshmen and JV win

* FOOTBALL: Dio Johnson scored three touchdowns to lead the Corona

del Mar High freshmen team to a 32-0 victory over district rival

Costa Mesa Thursday.

CdM Coach Gary Almquist said Johnson was the team’s offensive

player of the game, while Charles Vickery was the defensive player of

the game, recording 15 tackles, and he also scored a touchdown on

offense.

The Sea Kings’ junior varsity team defeated Costa Mesa, 30-0.