Sea Kings take sixth at national championships

CdM girls’ cross country is slowed by mud at Nike Team Nationals. Newport’s Whitney Blue finishes 10th at regional.Water and mud helped do what no other team in California could do -- slow the Corona del Mar girls’ cross country team.

Running on a track dampened by five days worth of rain, the Sea Kings placed sixth at the Nike Team Nationals in Portland, Ore. Annie St. Geme finished second individually for Corona del Mar, qualifying for Saturday’s Footlocker National Championships in San Diego.

Closer to home, Newport Harbor’s Whitney Blue finished 10th in the Footlocker West Regional girls’ race at Mount San Antonio College.

Corona del Mar, ranked No. 1 in the nation for much of the year, faced some non-Southern California conditions at Portland Meadows for the Nike Team Nationals. Normally a horse racing track, the course was dotted with deep puddles and mud.

“When you’re running through six inches of mud, it’s pretty hairy,” Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner said. “The cards were stacked a little bit against them, but they hung in.”

Betsy Bies of Yankton (S.D.) won the individual title, running the five-kilometer course in 19:22.8 to defeat St. Geme by four seconds.

St. Geme’s finish was enough to qualify her for the Footlocker National Championships as one of the two fastest finishers from the West Region.

Hilton High of New York won the team championship with a time of 1:43:39, well ahead of the Sea Kings’ mark of 1:45:40.

“I’ve never had the experience that I had today,” St. Geme said. “The course was probably a foot deep in mud the entire way. When it wasn’t muddy, it was water.

“It was definitely a hard course and a slow course, but it made it fun. I ran the best I could under the circumstances.”

Sarah Cummings returned to form for Corona del Mar, placing 24th with a time of 20:57.65. Cummings, hampered by illness at last week’s CIF state championships, was the Sea Kings’ second-fastest runner.

Shelby Buckley finished 42nd (21:26.49), followed by Alison Damon in 58th (21:43.58) and Nichole Slykhous in 77th (22:05.77).

“The times were slow, but they reflect what type of course it was,” St. Geme said. “Looking back, we all said it was a lot of fun. It almost distracted us in a good way.”

The Sea Kings had earmarked the Team Nationals as one of their key meets of the season, but Sumner said he wouldn’t let the result diminish the team’s accomplishments.

“We had a storybook cross country season and the kids have to be very happy,” Sumner said. “It was a magical season.”

The conditions were better for the Footlocker West Regional at Mount SAC, where the course received a little bit of rain leading up to the race, but not nearly as much as Portland.

Blue, coming off a sixth-place finish in the Division II girls’ race at the state championships, ran the five-kilometer course in a time of 18:35.

“I felt real good going out there,” Blue said. “My goal was to get top 10 and have a strong, solid last race. I did it, so I’m excited and happy.”

Arroyo Grande freshman Jordan Hasay won the regional crown with a time of 17:14.