DREAM TEAM

Corona del Mar senior Anne St. Geme was clear leader of the pack to collect Newport-Mesa Runner of Year laurels.Plenty of athletes set the bar high when it comes to goals. Few actually reach all of them.

Not only did Anne St. Geme clear the bar she set for herself, but she did it with room to spare. The Corona del Mar High senior won every cross country accolade available to her this season, while guiding the Sea Kings to a state title.

“You set the bar that high and she did it,” Sea Kings Coach Bill Sumner said. “What do you say afterward?”

How about, congratulations to the Daily Pilot Girls’ Cross Country Runner of the Year?

The stars were seemingly aligned for St. Geme to dominate after finishing seventh at last year’s CIF state Division III championships. She was healthy going into the season, and she had a talented new teammate in Rosary transfer Shelby Buckley.

By the time the season ended, the Stanford-bound standout had laid out an impressive resume of results. During the invitational season, she posted first-place finishes at the Laguna Hills Invitational, Orange County Championships and the Mount SAC Invitational Division III sweepstakes. She followed it up with a four-week stretch of wins at the Pacific Coast League finals, CIF Southern Section Division III preliminaries, CIF Southern Section Division III finals and the CIF state Division III championships.

Along the way, she set a Southern Section all-division postseason record for the fastest time on Mount SAC’s course, finishing in 16 minutes, 51 seconds. St. Geme also helped the Sea Kings set a course record at the Clovis Invitational, breaking a three-year old mark.

St. Geme also took second at the Nike Team Nationals and placed 13th at the Footlocker National Championships. Both were slight disappointments, but only compared to what she had accomplished earlier.

“We had great expectations,” Sumner said. “She ended up being the best in California. That was our expectations. League champion, Orange County champion, CIF champion, state champion. The last two races, those were extras.”

Here’s a look at the members of the Dream Team:

* Anne St. Geme: There were plenty of individual highlights, but she wasn’t above her team either. In all four of the Sea Kings’ league dual meets, St. Geme made sure to finish with her teammates so they could all have identical times.

Only bad weather (muddy conditions at the Nike Team Nationals) and bad luck (an untimely stumble at the Footlocker National Championships) kept St. Geme from making it a wire-to-wire spectacular season.

* Whitney Blue: In the non-St. Geme universe, Blue would have been an easy choice for Runner of the Year. In reality, the Newport Harbor senior had nothing to be ashamed of with her season.

Blue helped lead the Sailors to the Southern Section Division II crown, finishing second (with a time of 17:28) to eventual state Division II champion Kauren Tarver. The Arizona State-bound senior was sixth at the state championships and qualified for the Footlocker West Regional, where she placed 10th.

* Sarah Cummings: The junior was Corona del Mar’s clear No. 2 runner for most of the season. Cummings finished second at the Southern Section Division III finals in 17:55.

After battling illness at the state championships, she returned to form at the Nike Team Nationals, placing 24th to help the Sea Kings finish sixth.

* Shelby Buckley: The sophomore was highly touted after transferring over from Rosary High, and settled in as the Sea Kings’ No. 3 runner.

Buckley was 17th at the Southern Section championships, but her big moment came at the state championships. With Cummings ailing, she stepped up to finish fifth in 18:20 and help Corona del Mar edge Oak Park for the state title.

* Allison Damon: Another one of the Sea Kings’ sophomores, Damon quietly put together a solid slate of performances. She posted top-10 finishes at the Clovis Invitational, Mount SAC Invitational, Southern Section finals and state championships.

Damon was fifth at the Southern Section championships in 18:12.

* Nichole Slykhous: The No. 5 runner in Corona del Mar’s arsenal, Slykhous had a pair of 10th-place finishes in key meets for the Sea Kings.