Mesa girls surprise field with finals berth

Both the girls and boys Corona del Mar High cross country teams,

along with the Costa Mesa girls and Estancia boys teams, qualified

for the CIF Southern Section Division III finals following Saturday’s

preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College.

The CIF divisional finals are next Saturday at Mt. SAC.

The Newport Harbor girls qualified for the finals in Division II,

with Whitney Blue finishing first overall in the prelims race as the

team finishing third.

The CdM girls placed first in their heat in Division III, while

the Mesa girls placed sixth in the same race Saturday.

“We kind of expected the [CdM] girls to finish first,” Sea Kings

Coach Bill Sumner said. “Next week is the big one, though.”

The CdM boys were fourth in their race with 129 points to qualify

for the finals, while the Estancia boys placed fourth in their race.

Junior Anne St. Geme was first for the CdM girls and sixth overall

in 19 minutes, 3 seconds on the three-mile course. Sarah Cummings

(10th in 19:13), Hilary May (15th in 19:20), Ahlia Kattan (18th in

19:44) and Christie St. Geme (22nd in 19:52) were the Sea Kings’ top

finishers.

Jasmin Day was first for the Mesa girls and third overall in

18:50. Kyla Flores (ninth in 19:12), Emily Cotton (31st in 20:08),

Nilani Duarte (46th in 20:46) and Jenny Sparks (47th in 20:53) were

the rest of the Mustangs’ top-five finishers.

“The girls had a great race,” Mesa Coach Joe Busi said. “They all

improved from last time at Mt. SAC.”

On the boys side, Ryan Guthrie was ninth overall in 16:23 for the

Sea Kings. Kenneth Wong (24th in 16:58), Jack Turner (28th in 17:10),

Tommy Hutchison (35th in 17:21) and Tim Scott (38th in 17:27) were

the CdM finishers.

Ernie Castaneda finished third in 15:55 for Estancia. Hector Gomez

(26th in 16:59), Alex Cahuantzi (35th in 17:06), Alan Reza (39th in

17:12) and Enrique Vivar (44th in 17:20) were the rest of the Eagles’

top five.

Estancia girls individual runner Sidney Barloon ran with the CdM

and Mesa girls and finished 11th in 19:14 to qualify for the finals.

Sage Hill School girls individual runner Katie McKeon finished second

overall in her Division V race in 19:56 to also qualify for the

finals.

Both the Newport boys and Sage boys did not qualify for the

finals, placing sixth and fifth, respectively, Saturday.