CdM, Newport Harbor facing some déjà vu

When the Corona del Mar High and Newport Harbor girls’ cross country teams travel to Woodward Park in Fresno for the CIF state championship meet Saturday it will be with nearly the same expectations as last season.

The Corona del Mar boys’ team, the Sage Hill School girls’ team and Lightning junior Connor Rose will compete as well.

The Sea Kings girls’ team, which comes in as the defending Division III state champion and fresh off a Southern Section title, is poised to do win the state title this season. The Newport Harbor girls’ team will compete for the championship that eluded the Sailors last season after a section title in 2005.

The Sailors finished second in the section at the Division II race Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College. Once again the Newport Harbor’s main competition will be Ayala, which beat the Sailors 97-115. Ayala relies on the same balance Newport Harbor does, only two Bulldogs finished in the top 25.

Carondelet from the North Coast Section will provide added competition, but the key for the Sailors could be senior Melissa Mead. Mead, who has been the Sailors top runner the majority of the season, finished 28th in 19 minutes, two seconds at the CIF Southern Section finals, while senior Taylor Bryson, who is headed to UC Berkeley finished ninth in 18:19.

Last season at the state final the two finished within four seconds of one another as the Sailors came in second.

Junior Sophia Ditty (29th in 19:03), sophomore Desiree Alexander (37th in 19:18) and junior Jennifer Cain (48th in 19:37), provide the depth key to Sailors’ title hopes.

The Corona del Mar girls’ team has a different version of depth, as any of the Sea Kings seven runners are capable of cracking the top 10 or 20. Senior Sarah Cummings has been at the top of the list all season, winning an individual section title Saturday by over a half minute.

Junior Allison Damon, the team’s No. 3 runner all season, finished second at the section final. Junior Shelby Buckley finished second at the section preliminaries, but was sick for the final and finished 14th. Hilary May also picked up some slack finishing 11th in 19:06.

The Sea Kings’ will once again battle nemesis Oak Park for the state title. With the Corona del Mar order in flux, Oak Park came within seven points of the Sea Kings at the section final. Last season it was Oak Park again that challenged Corona del Mar, coming within six points of the upset.

But the Sea Kings have not lost all season and junior Alison Gushue (21st, 19:25), senior Christie St. Geme (24th, 19:42) and senior Nicole Slykhous, who should return from a hip injury, could mean Corona del Mar widening the margin between it and Oak Park. But sophomore Laura Bilder, who was not able to finish the section final because of swelling in her foot, might not compete.

For the Corona del Mar boys’ team, the major obstacle in Division III is Barstow, which might be too powerful to overcome. All of Barstow’s top five runners finished in the top 25. The Sea Kings, who finished fourth at the section final, are definitely within striking distance of second place.

Junior Thomas Dialynas (14th, 16:05), senior Tommy Hutchison (19th, 16:14) and senior Tim Scott (22nd, 16:14) all putting together their best performance will have a lot to say about how the Sea Kings finish. Seniors Tri Nguyen (45th, 16:49), Bret Grainger (50th, 16:55) and Brian Licorish (55th, 17:04) can shave off important points for Corona del Mar.

The Sage Hill girls’ team will compete against a deep Division V field. The Lightning, who finished fourth at the section final, will have Mt. Shasta to worry about as well as Chadwick and Woodcrest Christian, both of which finished well ahead of Sage Hill.

The Lightning will need another command performance from sophomore Cait Williamson, who finished fifth in 19:46 as well strong finishes from sophomore Aiyana Bobrownicki (9th, 20:02) and junior Katie McKeon (10th, 20:07).

Senior Erica Faris (38th, 21:43), freshman Jackie Dion (48th, 22:18), sophomore Mackenzie Muhonen (55th, 22:49) will be important.

Rose will look to improve on last year’s finish, 47th, and time, 17:43. Rose was fifth for the Lightning at the section final in 16:18 so that should not be a problem, but as for a state title, he will be competing against a trio of runners who should finish in the lower half of 15 minutes.

One bonus for all of the Newport-Mesa runners is the weather in Fresno is supposed to be in the mid to upper 50s, a far cry from the high 80s at Mt. SAC.