CdM, Mesa, Sage run on ‘squishy’ course

Chris Yemma

With conditions that were about 100% better than last October, the

first day of high school competition at the Mt. San Antonio College

cross country invitational produced results for Corona del Mar and

Costa Mesa high schools that couldn’t have been much better.

The Corona del Mar boys team placed first in the Division III

race, while the girls placed second in the Division III sweepstakes

race. The Costa Mesa girls placed third in the Division III race and

the boys placed fifth at the invitational along the hilly Mt. SAC

course.

Last year’s runners dealt with smoky air due to fires near the

area, but this year’s runners only had to deal with, what was

described by CdM’s Allison Damon, as a “squishy” track -- due to

recent rains.

Despite the squishy track, Damon, who was running her first race

at Mt. SAC, was able to place first for the Sea Kings, and 12th

overall with a time of 19:09. Hilary May was right behind her in 20th

place with a time of 19:28.

“We did really well,” May said after crossing the finish line.

“This was a good practice for CIF.”

Sea Kings Coach Bill Sumner had told his boys and girls teams that

this was going to be a practice for CIF. The fact that his boys

placed first, and girls second, came as a nice surprise.

“We didn’t expect to win,” he said. “Maybe place in the top three.

But we like to use this as a big workout for CIF and state.”

Costa Mesa Coach Joe Busi also said this was going to be a

practice run for CIF. Mt. SAC is the beginning of hill running, which

needs to be practiced for the CIF preliminarys and finals, he said.

So far, both schools have had solid “practice runs.”

Kenneth Wong led the Sea Kings to their first-place finish,

placing 10th overall with a time of 16:28. Directly behind Wong was

Jack Turner, in 11th place with a time of 16:36.

Ryan Guthrie (16th, 16:46), Tho Hutchinson (18th, 16:50) and Tim

Scott (24th, 17:08), were the rest of the top finishers for the Sea

Kings.

Scott, a sophomore, could have been the one to make or break CdM.

“We had our No. 5 guy, Tim Scott, get passed coming down one of

the hills,” Sumner said. “But he managed to catch up and pass him

back, whereas earlier this season, he probably couldn’t have done

that.

“We were only six points ahead of La Jolla [of San Diego] and if

he didn’t place the way he did, we might not have won.”

Sumner stressed that his team was still young and needs

improvement. He added, though, that everyone has grown these past few

weeks.

Last week, his boys placed first at the Orange County

championships at Irvine Park.

Junior Jasmin Day led the Mustangs’ girls to their third-place

finish, placing fourth overall with a time of 19:26. Junior Kyla

Flores, who was battling a cold, placed 15th with a time of 20:24.

Emily Cotton (10th, 20:50), Nilani Duarte (29th, 20:56) and Jenny

Sparks (55th, 21:43) rounded out the top five for Mesa.

The Mesa boys were led by Luis Genis (30th, 17:51), Mitch Friedman

(33rd, 18:00), Ryan Lacy (47th, 18:31), John Zapata (55th, 18:38) and

Sergio Trejo (88th, 19:37).

Sage Hill School was also in the mix at Mt. SAC. The Lightning

boys placed 12th in the Division V sweepstakes race. Mike Voge (22nd,

17:00), Zach Chandy (46th, 17:35), Connor Rose (53rd, 17:47), David

Packard (79th, 19:07) and Nick Gross (86th, 20:11) were the top five

for Sage.