Pecking order

Mike Sciacca

Hundreds of cross country athletes from six Sunset League schools

took over Huntington Beach Central Park-West on Saturday morning,

running just about everywhere during warmups, but all heading toward

the same goal -- a league championship.

When the races were over, Marina had won its first-ever boys’ team

championship and Fountain Valley High’s girls’ team had taken its

third consecutive league crown, with Edison placing second.

Marina’s Robert Peck won the boys’ varsity race and established a

course record in the process with a time of 15 minutes, 23 seconds.

Marina also grabbed the No. 2 spot, as Jesse Morrill ran a 15:33.

As a squad, Marina wrapped up the title with 34 points, with Los

Alamitos, led by Daniel Lamm’s time of 16:09, finishing second with

65 points.

Edison was third with 66 points. Defending league champion Joe

Gatel finished fourth with a 15:46, one spot behind teammate Jayson

Hayes, who placed third with a 15:37.

Fountain Valley, Esperanza and Huntington Beach finished

fourth-through-sixth, respectively.

Huntington’s Gabe Ornelas qualified for the upcoming CIF-Southern

Section Preliminaries by running to a sixth-place time of 16:05.

Defending girls’ champion Crystal Reed of Fountain Valley won the

girls’ race with a time of 18:10. Edison’s Courtney Kostrikin was

second at 18:27.

Fountain Valley won the girls’ event with 19 points. Edison was

second with 48 points.

Earlier in the week, the Ocean View School District Cross Country

Championships were run over a 1 1/2 mile course at the park.

By sweeping at the seventh- and eighth-grade levels, Marine View

recaptured the district championship, something it had relinquished

last year to Vista View.

Here’s a breakdown of each division race:

Eighth-grade girls

Vista View’s Elvi Delgado won the closest race of the day in 9:16.

Marine View’s Brittany Irvin placed second at 9:17. Marine View’s

Alex McCollum (9:19) edged out Mesa View’s Mariah Nogueira (9:20) for

the third-place slot.

Eighth-grade boys

Francisco Talavera’s sizzling time of 7:57 captured the crown.

Marine View’s Raul Robles and Antonio Flores were second and third,

respectively.

Seventh-grade girls

Marine View dominated the race by taking eight of the top 10

spots. Ariel Tedesco won the championship in a time of 9:18, followed

by teammates Chelsea Breitwieser (9:24) and Shelby Elmore (9:28).

Spring View’s Elizabeth Ramsay was a close fourth with a 9:29.

Seventh-grade boys

In a hotly-contested race, Spring View gave Marine View a run for

its money, but came up short of the Mariners by just nine points. The

Mariners finished first and second behind the duo of Robert Oliver

(8:35) and Nick Falkenstein (8:44). The Spartans’ Josh Vera took

third-place with an 8:50.

Sixth-grade girls

The days most dramatic -- and historic -- race was run here as the

top three finishers each eclipsed the sixth-grade district record of

8:59, which was set in 1995 by Marine View’s Kacy Dapp. Marine View’s

Samantha Thomson won the race in 8:51, out-sprinting Mesa View

runners Elle Macy (8:53) and Devon Shinn (8:58).

Sixth-grade boys

In a wild and close race, Marine View’s Ryan Shota overtook Spring

View’s Erik Sanchez down the stretch to win the race in 8:44. Frankie

Guadagnini (8:51) and Mesa View’s Alex Annunciation (8:52), finished

third and fourth, respectively.