Mullender sprints to league title

His time fastest at school in 21 years.The Laguna Beach High boys’ cross-county program had plenty to celebrate following the Pacific Coast League finals on Nov. 3.

At the varsity level, Max Mullender ran his way to the boys’ league title by finishing the three-mile course at Irvine Regional Park in Orange in a time of 15:15.

He ran the race in his training shoes, and his time eclipsed last year’s winning time, set by former teammate Sean Fuszard, by one second.

Mullender’s time is the fastest by a Laguna runner in the last 21 years, boys’ coach Dave Brobeck said.

Laguna, which ran without the injured Jeremy Eaton, also had all-league honors bestowed on Andrew Raub (15:37, fifth place) and Aman Bhatia (15:51, eighth place).

Laguna finished second in the boys’ standings with 52 points. Brobeck had predicted a win for Corona del Mar, and the Sea Kings came through, finishing in first place with 34 points.

Corona del Mar also won the girls’ title with a dominant performance.

At the freshman-sophomore level, Laguna’s boys captured the league title -- also predicted by Brobeck prior to the meet.

The race wasn’t even close, as six of the top 10 finishers were Laguna runners.

Laguna finished with 24 points, followed by Tesoro with 41.

“It was a sea of Laguna jerseys coming through the finish line in rapid succession,” Brobeck said. “It was beautiful, a true rout. The peak worked magnificently.

“Today is my birthday. This is the best gift I received.”

Laguna’s boys finished in third place at the junior varsity level and had three all-league runners.

Of the 30 all-league medals handed out at the varsity, junior varsity and frosh-soph levels, Laguna claimed 12.