Sea Kings claim state crown

Corona del Mar overcomes a sickness to its No. 2 runner and edges Oak Park for CIF state cross country title.FRESNO -- Seeking an ace, the Corona del Mar High girls’ cross country team found itself having to pull a wild card out of the deck.

But among the Sea Kings’ squad, wild cards are abundant.

Senior Annie St. Geme finished with the second-best time of the day in all divisions and led CdM to the CIF state Division III title on Saturday at Woodward Park.

Considered a heavy favorite, the Sea Kings only edged second-place finisher Oak Park, 47-53, in the scoring, however, as junior Sarah Cummings was slowed by illness.

The usual No. 2 runner for Corona del Mar, Cummings finished fifth for the Sea Kings and 22nd overall. But her finish was good enough to help give the school its first girls’ state title since 2000.

“They’re state champs, they did a great job and they did everything they had to do here,” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said. “They’re not going to remember the score next year. They’re going to remember that they were state champs.”

Corona del Mar’s girls led a Newport-Mesa field that also included the Newport Harbor girls, CdM boys, Estancia boys and both teams from Sage Hill.

The Sea Kings girls, who own the Woodward Park course record of 91 minutes, 21 seconds -- set earlier this season at the Clovis Invitational -- clocked a team time of 91:57 on Saturday, good for a Division III state finals record and fastest team time of the day. Their mark was three seconds off the all-division state record of 91:53, set three years ago by Sultana.

St. Geme, who claimed track and field’s 1,600-meter state crown last spring, became Corona del Mar’s first individual state cross country champion, blazing the 5,000-meter course in 17:20.

Her time was only topped by Jordan Hasay (17:11), competing in Division V for Mission Prep.

“That was my goal ever since I started high school,” said St. Geme, who was nearly a minute ahead of second-place finisher Mo Huber (18:13) of Acalanes from the North Coast Section.

“I wanted to come up today and win for both myself and my team.”

Named No. 1 in the nation earlier in the season in the Nike/Footlocker Super 25 high school poll, the Sea Kings were also paced by sophomore Shelby Buckley (fifth, 18:20), sophomore Allison Damon (eighth, 18:31), junior Nichole Slykhous (16th, 18:46) and Cummings (19:00).

Buckley -- the 2004 Division III state champion for Rosary who transferred to CdM over the summer -- stepped up and filled the No. 2 spot for the Sea Kings, who claimed their second straight Southern Section Division III title on Nov. 19.

“I was really nervous,” Buckley said. “I just wanted to come in here confident and try to place well. The team did awesome and I’m happy with my placing also.”

Corona del Mar claimed its fourth girls’ state title, having won the crown in 1992, 1999 and 2000.

The Newport Harbor girls, fresh of a Southern Section Division II title -- completing the Back Bay sweep at Mount SAC on Nov. 19 -- finished second in Division II on Saturday.

Senior Whitney Blue, who raced to second place at last season’s state finals, was sixth for the Sailors in 18:07.

“I don’t know what happened,” Blue said. “The first mile, I seemed really sick. I was really anxious before the race because I wanted to win.”

Serrano’s Kauren Tarver successfully defended her Division II title, finishing in 17:36.

Newport Harbor was also paced by junior Taylor Bryson (28th, 19:13), junior Melissa Mead (34th, 19:17), freshman Erica Pearson (42nd, 19:25) and junior Lauren Maddox (112th, 20:20).

“Second in the state and we basically have our whole team coming back, that’s pretty good,” Newport Harbor Coach Eric Tweit said.

Senior Jack Turner finished 34th in 16:29 to pace the CdM boys to a seventh-place finish in Division III. Turner was followed by senior Ryan Guthrie (58th, 16:41), junior Tommy Hutchison (59th, 16:41), freshman Thomas Dialynas (65th, 16:44) and senior Kenneth Wong (94th, 17:01).

The Estancia boys, led by senior Ernesto Castaneda (12th, 15:57), finished 13th in Division III. Castaneda was followed by senior C.J. Buchman (64th, 16:43), sophomore Hector Gomez (88th, 16:58), freshman Fernando Orozco (125th, 17:34) and freshman Wes Barloon (140th, 17:44).

“I thought overall, it was a good season, especially since a lot of people didn’t think we were supposed to do a lot this year,” Estancia Coach Charlie Appell said. “The team was very happy with their performance. We were very young this year, with three freshmen and one sophomore running.”

Sophomore Katie McKeon finished 28th in 20:26 to lead the Sage Hill girls to a 13th-place finish in Division V. McKeon was followed by freshman MacKenzie Muhonen (84th, 21:58), freshman Aiyana Bobrownicki (85th, 21:59), freshman Cait Williamson (95th, 22:12) and senior Kelsey Rose (97th, 22:19).

The Sage Hill boys, led by sophomore Connor Rose (47th, 17:43), placed 16th in Division V. The Lightning were also paced by junior Tyler Ellis (83rd, 18:27), sophomore Sean McElroy (86th, 18:30), senior Zach Chandy (93rd, 18:43) and junior Conrad Whitaker (105th, 18:59).

Staff writer Matt Lewis contributed to this story.

20051127iqlh0bknKIRBY LEE / FOR THE DAILY PILOT(LA)Corona Del Mar High senior Annie St. Geme runs to victory in the CIF State Division III girls cross country final at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday