CdM girls aiming for state title

state cross country advanceCorona del Mar girls considered favorites at state championships, while Sailors, Eagles and Lightning are competing as well.Corona del Mar High cross country Coach Bill Sumner has labeled this year’s girls’ team the best in the history of the school.

His statement encompasses three CdM state championship teams and countless CIF Southern Section title-winning squads.

The 2005 Sea Kings girls have a chance to seal the deal today at the CIF State championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.

“We’re pretty sure we’re going to win,” Sumner said. “We’re a confident group because we work hard. We expect things to happen.”

Other Newport-Mesa area teams competing today include the CdM boys, the Newport Harbor girls, the Estancia boys and both teams from Sage Hill.

But the hands-down heavyweights today are the CdM girls, competing in the Division III race at 8:30 a.m.

Fresh off a second straight Southern Section Division III title, the Sea Kings -- who shattered the Mount SAC course record by 58 seconds on Saturday -- are looking for their fourth state title since state competition began in 1987.

Corona del Mar claimed California titles in 1992, 1999 and 2000. The 1999 squad scored 42 points in the state meet, the lowest out of the winning teams.

But this year’s team has a chance to shatter that mark, having put all five runners in the top 10 at the Southern Section finals, totaling 22 points.

“There’s no comparison,” Sumner said. “We’re looking at the best team I’ve ever seen in the country.”

CdM, named No. 1 in the nation in the Nike/Footlocker Super 25 high school poll earlier this year, also has a chance to claim its first individual cross country state champion, as senior Annie St. Geme is considered a favorite for the top spot.

The Stanford-bound Sea Kings standout blazed to a Southern Section postseason Mount SAC course record last week in 16 minutes, 51 seconds, nearly a minute ahead of second-place finisher and teammate Sarah Cummings, a junior.

Should St. Geme win, it would be her second state title -- she won the 1,600 meters in track and field last spring.

“I, for one, love what the cross country program has done for the school, Sumner said. “But I wish sometimes we could hand over the flag to other teams, like the football team. That’s the team that everybody’s watching. With all of the exposure we’ve been getting, I wish it was a higher visibility sport.”

The Newport Harbor girls, who claimed the Southern Section Division II title last Saturday, are competing in the Division II race at 11:45 a.m. today.

Newport Harbor won girls’ state titles in 1987, 1988 and 1991, and has one individual state champion in Donna Mills (1991).

Senior Whitney Blue has a chance become the Sailors’ second state champ, having finished second last year in Fresno to Serrano’s Kauren Tarver. Blue will be in for a challenge, however, as Tarver raced to first at the Southern Section championships on Saturday.

Although the Corona del Mar boys aren’t as acclaimed as their girls’ teammates, they could easily make a run in the Division III final. The Sea Kings are ranked sixth in the state and have some depth with junior Tim Scott, senior Kenneth Wong, sophomore Thomas Dialynas and junior Tommy Hutchison.

Estancia’s Ernestoa Castaneda and Hector Gomez figure to play a role in the Division III race also.

The Sage Hill girls will be competing in the Division V race at 10:40 a.m., followed by the Sage Hill boys at 12:20 p.m. 20051126iqjpesknMARK DUSTIN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Estancia High’s Ernesto Castaneda hopes to parlay his fifth-place finish at last week’s CIF Southern Section Division III cross country championships into a high finish at today’s state finals.