Sailors keep a-goin’

ORANGE — The rain from the night before ruined the toughest part of the three-mile course at Irvine Regional Park.

By the time the 41st annual Orange County Championships began early Saturday morning, the hill at the end of the first mile was determined too dangerous, too slick for runners to climb and go down.

So no one ran the not-too-steep hill, but without it the course became shorter, faster. Some coaches argued to find a way to keep it at three miles, instead of the 2.7-or-so distance.

No extension, forcing runners to adjust, but Newport Harbor High Coach Nowell Kay was OK with the decision because of the safety concerns. The Sailors came out, attacked the course, looking more like a road course, and finished in fourth place in the boys’ sweepstakes race.

The times, blistering of course, with first-place at 13 minutes, 38 seconds turned in by Troy’s Johnathan Shawel, one of nine runners in the sweepstakes race under 14 minutes.

But just as the rain washed away the hill, you can do the same with the times.

“The times are kind of worthless,” Kay said. “You can’t compare them to the rest of the year.”

One thing Kay can evaluate is his Sailors, in their first sweepstakes county race under Kay’s six years as head coach, keep moving ahead. So is Estancia, which won the Division III race by edging out Sunny Hills, 124-134.

Just as Newport Harbor and Estancia fared well last week at the competitive Clovis Invitational at Fresno’s Woodward Park, the two schools continued thriving.

After helping the Sailors claim the Clovis Invitational large schools division title, Mike Puncel fled Newport Harbor’s pack. He took 11th at 14:02, 10 seconds ahead of the Sailors usual top runner, Rex Nelson.

The muddy conditions at the start slowed Nelson down and he finished 25th, not too far from the Sailors’ three through five runners, Jake Dawson (32nd, 14:20), Michael Taylor (34th, 14:22) and Murphy Hitchcock (36th, 14:25).

Running in a pack is Newport Harbor’s strength, with the gap between the first and fifth runner at 23 seconds, the best out of the 16-team field in which Corona del Mar took 10th.

Unlike the Sea Kings, who boast four strong runners with Thomas Dialynas and Richard DeMarco leading the way by finishing 21st (14:10) and 29th (14:16), respectively, Newport Harbor has depth.

The Sailors finished with 138 points, behind third-place Valencia (103), second-place Trabuco Hills (99) and first-place Dana Hills (95). More importantly, the teams above are all in CIF Southern Section Division I, leaving the Sailors with the highest Division II team finish. They accomplished the feat with their No. 4 runner, Alex Crawford, unable to continue after the mile and a half mark.

“He has a foot nerve issue and sometimes it will flare up,” Kay said. “He was limping and we knew it was time to pull him out. You just don’t want to take the chance of him getting hurt. We started the race with seven and finished with six.”

Better than Coach Charlie Appell’s situation with the Eagles. The longtime coach had just six runners in the Division III event, with their No. 4 runner, Miguel Perez, out for personal reasons.

Still, nothing stopped the Eagles from claiming their second big-meet victory, the other the Yucaipa Invitational. Only after the race when it was time to go home did they hit a stumbling block.

“Our bus broke down,” said Appell, giving his runners a chance to celebrate more until a new bus came to escort them away.

The way Fernando Orozco ran, he probably didn’t want to leave Orange. The junior placed sixth at 14:42, helping Estancia finish ahead of runner-up Sunny Hills (134), third-place Loara (159) and fourth-place Sage Hill School (173). Costa Mesa took 19th and was led by James Stucker (61st, 16:07).

The next four Eagles finished strong, with Wes Barloon taking 14th (14:56), Jorge Martin 24th (15:24) and Cesar Casillas 30th (15:32). Damian Leon was 50th (15:55).

“I was happy that we were able to get through without any injuries and at the same time do very well,” said Appell, whose Eagles will skip next week’s Mt. SAC Invitational and focus on their dual meet against defending Orange Coast League champ Laguna Beach in a battle of two league unbeaten teams.

Newport Harbor and Sage Hill will be at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational. The Lightning are trying to enter the sweepstakes race for their respective division. The way they ran at county, there’s a good chance they’ll receive an invitation.

Sage Hill’s top three runners, Sean McElroy, Lion Wintemute and Connor Rose, finished in the top 12.

McElroy took third at 14:33, followed by Wintemute at ninth (14:47) and Rose at 12th (14:50). The next two were Kyle Simon (57th, 16:02) and Alex Jimenez (92nd, 16:41).

“This was our first really big meet and I was really proud of the guys, and we showed our one-two-three punch,” Sage Hill Coach Nate Miller said. “Last year we were eighth and we’ve moved up. Our times improved, too, but the times didn’t really mean a whole lot.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.