ORANGE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS:CdM girls earn OC crown

FOR THE RECORD

Newport Harbor High senior Laura Clayton finished third in the triple jump with a mark of 37 feet, one-quarter inch at the Orange County Championships Saturday.

Her result was omitted in a story that appeared in Sunday’s edition.

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MISSION VIEJO — The key to the Orange County Track and Field Championships was hidden in Corona del Mar High Coach Bill Sumner’s back pocket.

Sumner opened the slip of paper and reviewed his scribblings.

“Tif Liu -- 18. Shels -- 14. Killer -- 14. Sarah -- eight.”

The paper reflected the points scored by Tiffany Liu, Shelby Buckley, Alison “Killer” Damon and Sarah Cummings.

The quartet combined for 54 points, helping the Corona del Mar girls win their first Orange County Championships title on Saturday at Mission Viejo High.

Freshman Sara Keddington, sophomore Claire Schmidt, Damon and Buckley finished third in the meet-ending girls’ 1,600 meter relay — a season-best time of 3 minutes, 57.50 seconds. That added six more points, giving CdM 60, easily topping second-place Mission Viejo’s 47.

“Four kids and then the relay, and we won the Orange County Championships,” Sumner said. “It doesn’t sound right, right? Well, you’ve got a handful of kids doing a lot of work. All the other kids are very supportive, but it’s hard to score points.”

It’s maybe harder to believe that it’s CdM’s first title at the meet, which dates back to 1982, but due to the format the Sea Kings are usually in the hunt but fall a bit short. CdM’s girls had been Orange County Championships runner-ups for two straight years.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Damon, a junior. “You hear so much press about, ‘Oh, the D1 schools have so much depth.’ I think it means a lot to us that we can come out and show them that that we can do it too.

“Don’t underestimate Division III,” she added with a laugh.

Damon did her part, finishing second in the 1,600 meters as fellow junior teammate Buckley placed third. The two times were third and fourth, respectively, in meet history.

They switched positions in the 800 meters, which Buckley finished second in 2:12.38, followed closely by Damon in 2:13.44. Buckley’s time was third-fastest in meet history.

Liu’s 18 points came as she won the long jump with a leap of 17 feet, 11 1/2 inches and finished second in the triple jump (37-4 1/4 ). The senior also finished eighth in the 100 hurdles (16.37 seconds).

CdM was tied with Mission Viejo headed into the 3,200 meters, the last individual event of the day, but that’s where Cummings came in.

She came out fast, leading for the first several laps before finishing second in 10:38:06 behind Woodbridge’s Christine Babcock (10:32.70).

It’s not close to a personal record for Cummings, but she said she figured it wouldn’t be that kind of race. It was still the third-best time in Orange County Championships history.

“It was more strategical, because everyone’s trying to get the most amount of team points,” said Cummings, a senior bound for Princeton. “Nobody was going all out. I had to take the lead, no one was taking it and I didn’t want a slow race. I’m just glad that I was able to get second and get points for the team.”

CdM watched Mission Viejo put up a 4:01 in their 1,600-meter relay, and CdM had never run under four minutes this season. But as usual, the girls stepped it up.

“We knew that we had to get [at least] fourth or beat Mission Viejo’s time, and we did both,” Buckley said. “That was a good thing.”

Newport Harbor’s girls’ team finished a strong fourth, with 37 points. The Sailors had a pair of individual winners, as Allison Stokke won the pole vault (12-3) and fellow senior Jessica Robson won the high jump (5-6).

Robson was satisfied with her height, especially after peaking at 5-4 in the last couple of weeks.

“That was the highest I’ve jumped since Surf City [Invitational on March 24] , so that’s good,” said Robson, who also finished fourth in the 100 hurdles in 15.96 seconds. “I made everything on my first try — 5-4, 5-5 and 5-6. It felt really good.”

Stokke cleared the bar on her second attempt for 12-3. She tried the next height of 13-2 — which would have been a season-best — but couldn’t quite clear it.

Teammate Taylor Bryson finished fifth in the 1,600 meters (4:58.34) and 10th in the 800 (2:20.49), winning her heat. The Sailors’ Melissa Mead finished sixth in the girls’ 1,600 in 11:06.87.

Rex Nelson had the best local boys’ finish of the day, taking fifth in the 800 for Newport Harbor in 1:58.13. Tars teammate Murphy Hitchcock was 11th.

“Rex’s was a good result,” Sailors boys’ coach Nowell Kay said. “That’s a PR. We’re a young team, so we didn’t really have many varsity guys here.”

Costa Mesa High sophomore Antwon Byrd and CdM’s Ricky Townsend, were the only Newport-Mesa athletes in the sprints. Byrd finished tied for 19th in the boys’ 100 meters (11.47 seconds) and 24th in the 200 (23.42). Townsend was 33rd in the 100 in 11.76.

But the experience was worth more than the times for Byrd.

“I probably wasn’t as focused as I should I have been,” Byrd said. “I just do the best I can in meets like this. It makes me feel proud [to run as a sophomore]. It means I’ll keep working harder and harder to hopefully beat them before the season’s over.”

Estancia’s lone varsity runner, senior Ryan Whites, finished ninth in both the 110 high hurdles (15.66 seconds, followed by CdM’s Spencer Aguilar in 10th) and 300 intermediate hurdles (41.18 seconds).

Sage Hill School’s Connor Rose finished 24th in the 1,600 and 36th in the 800. Coach Nate Miller said Rose had been training very well, but has been sick since Thursday.

CdM’s Tim Scott was seventh in the 1,600 (4:19.24).

Back on the girls’ side, CdM’s Schmidt (seventh, 59.27 seconds) and Keddington (ninth, 59.44) were both top 10 in the 400.

“I’m really happy,” Schmidt said. “I felt really sick going into it, so I’m surprised with how I did considering how I felt. It’s always kind of intimidating going in with mostly juniors and seniors, but I like to use it as motivation.”

Costa Mesa’s Danielle Morton was 10th in the long jump (15-11) and 13th in the triple jump (33-1 1/2 ).