CdM’s Max Douglass wins Eric Hulst race in Laguna Trophy Invite

After a breakthrough cross-country season, Corona del Mar senior Max Douglass says he is running straight into the unknown, finding out with everyone else what he is capable of as he continues his ascent.

Douglass laid waste to his prior personal-best time in the 3,200 meters on Saturday, when he dropped below nine minutes for the first time in winning the Eric Hulst Invitational, the featured race in the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational.

The Sea Kings’ star distance runner raced to the finish line, flexing his muscle and shouting in celebration after clocking in at 8 minutes 59.28 seconds. The race produced the fastest two times in the state so far this season. Trabuco Hills senior Dylan Jubak completed the eight laps in 9:06.09 to take second place.

“This was a mystery race for me because I’ve never been in this kind of shape before,” said Douglass, whose time is currently third in the nation. “The two-mile [event], I haven’t had too much experience running it. I ran it a couple times last season, but I ultimately wanted to focus on the mile.

“I opened up my season with a 4:15 [in the 1,600] and a 1:56 [in the 800 at the Irvine Invitational] on tired legs, so I was looking at this race. My PR was 20 seconds slower than what I ran today from last year.”

Max Douglass of Corona del Mar, in black, makes the turn behind Bradley Arrey of JSerra on Saturday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Corona del Mar coach Bill Sumner said Douglass does everything asked of him, although he’s inquisitive in the process. After the race?

“Today’s questions [from Douglass] — one, was I happy? ‘Of course,’” Sumner said. “What are we going to do at Arcadia? I said, ‘Let’s do some other stuff first.’”

The Arcadia Invitational, where many of the nation’s best athletes compete under the lights, will be held April 11-12. The Orange County track and field championships will take place March 29 at Mission Viejo High.

Douglass was the CIF Southern Section Division 4 champion and a Foot Locker National Championships qualifier in earning Daily Pilot Boys’ Cross-Country Dream Team Athlete of the Year honors in the fall.

Sydney Rubio of Huntington Beach, in orange, runs in the Eric Hulst 3,200-meter race at the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational on Saturday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Huntington Beach sophomore Sydney Rubio, who qualified for the Nike Cross Nationals as a freshman, delivered a third-place (10:59.86) showing in the Eric Hulst race on the girls’ side. She’s back after being limited to one race in the cross-country season due to injury.

“In the fall, I was behind a lot,” Rubio said. “I was climbing a wall in the harbor. I fell, and I sliced my knee on barnacles, and I had to get like 15 stitches. I couldn’t run or [do other] stuff for a while.”

Rubio slotted in behind Temescal Canyon’s Megan Crum (10:35.62) and Tesoro’s Amber Dazey (10:36.78). Newport Harbor’s Marley McCullough placed fourth (11:07.20).

“I felt good at the finish,” Rubio said. “I wasn’t wobbly and stuff, a lot better than my last two miles.”

Newport Harbor’s Marley McCullough leads the chase pack during the Eric Hulst 3,200-meter race at the Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational on Saturday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

The Back Bay rivals traded wins in the jumps in the boys’ competition on Friday. Corona del Mar junior Colton Eggelston had a leap of 21 feet, 8½ inches in the long jump.

Newport Harbor’s Callan Allende was the lone competitor to conquer the 6-foot bar in the high jump. The senior had a lifetime-best clearance of 6-5 in the Eagle Invite at Santa Margarita on Feb. 22.

Huntington Beach senior Alia Pasternak topped the field in the girls’ triple jump with a mark of 35 feet, ½ inch. She improved upon her personal-best in the event with a jump of 35-11 in a Sunset League meet at Fountain Valley on Wednesday.

BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational

At Laguna Beach High

100 — 1. Dawson (Long Beach Poly) 10.78; 2. Hill (Long Beach Poly) 10.90; 3. Polos-Connor (Murrieta Valley) 11.01; 4. Woodruff (Mater Dei) 11.04; 5. McDonald (Mater Dei) 11.07

200 — 1. Smith (Long Beach Poly) 21.70; 2. Woodruff (Mater Dei) 22.10; 3. Wright (Long Beach Poly) 22.11; 4. Kennedy (Downey) 22.11; 5. Mingo (Shadow Ridge) 22.12

400 — 1. Johnson (Long Beach Poly) 48.54; 2. Francis (Santa Margarita) 49.02; 3. Shufford (Long Beach Poly) 49.09; 4. Morales (JSerra) 49.11; 5. Mingo (Shadow Ridge) 50.02

800 — 1. Tranquilla (Venice) 1:53.32; 2. Armstrong (Long Beach Poly) 1:54.33; 3. Newman (JSerra) 1:54.62; 4. Sigworth (Palos Verdes) 1:55.45; 5. Burnett (JSerra) 1:55.84

1,600 — 1. Newman (JSerra) 4:17.13; 2. Hunter (Dana Hills) 4:18.27; 3. Radieddine (Aliso Niguel) 4:18.60; 4. Beaumont (Troy) 4:18.99; 5. Nguyen (Beckman) 4:21.29

3,200 Hulst — 1. Douglass (Corona del Mar) 8:59.28; 2. Jubak (Trabuco Hills) 9:06.09; 3. Weber (Beckman) 9:10.12; 4. Abemayor (Harvard-Westlake) 9:12.27; 5. Kushen (Tesoro) 9:15.10

3,200 Open — 1. Barajas (Beckman) 9:30.95; 2. Hastings (Harvard-Westlake) 9:38.47; 3. Larsen (Shadow Ridge) 9:38.50; 4. Wetzel (Shadow Ridge) 9:40.97; 5. Norris (Ayala) 9:41.21

110HH — 1. Newton (Long Beach Poly) 14.52; 2. Kai Cypher (Arbor View) 14.81; 3. Meumann (Murrieta Valley) 15.26; 4. Swanson (Santa Margarita) 15.27; 5. Peterson (Tesoro) 15.72

300IH — 1. Kai Cypher (Arbor View) 39.99; 2. Swanson (Santa Margarita) 40.01; 3. Bly (Long Beach Poly) 40.74; 4. Volz (Santa Margarita) 40.76; 5. Nguyen-Spitzberg (Costa Mesa) 40.81

400 relay — 1. Long Beach Poly 41.51; 2. Shadow Ridge 42.71; 3. Murrieta Valley 42.96; 4. Costa Mesa 43.94; 5. Arbor View 44.10

1,600 relay — 1. Shadow Ridge 3:22.42; 2. Santa Margarita 3:22.50; 3. Beckman 3:26.61; 4. Arbor View 3:31.07; 5. Corona del Mar 3:43.32

HJ — 1. Allende (Newport Harbor) 6-0; 2. Scow (Shadow Ridge) 5-6; 3. Bradford (Santa Margarita) 5-6; 4. MacArthur (Newport Harbor) 5-4; 5. Clair (Downey) 5-4J

LJ — 1. Eggelston (Corona del Mar) 21-8½; 2. Heitz (Yorba Linda) 20-1½; 3. Anstead (Yorba Linda) 19-11½; 4. Weston (Long Beach Poly) 19-10½; 5. Madishetty (Troy) 19-5½

TJ — 1. Andrews (Downey) 45-11; 2. Gutcher (Shadow Ridge) 43-8¼; 3. Lewis (Shadow Ridge) 41-6½; 4. Spragno (Santa Margarita) 38-11; 5. Lang (Temescal Canyon) 37-10

SP — 1. Lin (Ayala) 53-6½; 2. Harisay (Etiwanda) 52-9½; 3. Legaspi (Canyon) 52-4½; 4. Gooder (Shadow Ridge) 50-4; 5. Komrosky (Ayala) 49-10

DT — 1. Komrosky (Ayala) 165-3; 2. Legaspi (Canyon) 158-11; 3. Carlson (Palos Verdes) 158-8; 4. Gooder (Shadow Ridge) 154-8; 5. Clemente (Dana Hills) 154-7

GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Laguna Beach Trophy Invitational

At Laguna Beach High

100 — 1. Anyansi (Murrieta Valley) 12.05; 2. Holland (Long Beach Poly) 12.07; 3. Lee (Long Beach Poly) 12.14; 4. Rucks (Arbor View) 12.25; 5. Brooks (Long Beach Poly) 12.31

200 — 1. Anyansi (Murrieta Valley) 24.92; 2. Hunter (Long Beach Poly) 25.21; 3. Lewis (Long Beach Poly) 25.57; 4. Carlton (Huntington Beach) 25.63; 5. Piper (Arbor View) 25.75

400 — 1. Stokes (Long Beach Poly) 56.83; 2. Beatty (Long Beach Poly) 57.29; 3. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 57.33; 4. Woolforde (JSerra) 57.35; 5. Gercek (Portola) 57.42

800 — 1. Wroblewski (Yorba Linda) 2:12.18; 2. Elbaz (JSerra) 2:12.75; 3. Loza (Hemet) 2:16.09; 4. Avina (Murrieta Valley) 2:17.21; 5. Williams (Trabuco Hills) 2:19.05

1,600 — 1. Streadbeck (JSerra) 5:02.86; 2. Gonzalez (Downey) 5:03.20; 3. Dye (San Juan Hills) 5:04.52; 4. Forrest (Tesoro) 5:06.03; 5. Garcia (JSerra) 5:06.06

3,200 Hulst — 1. Crum (Temescal Canyon) 10:35.62; 2. Dazey (Tesoro) 10:36.78; 3. Rubio (Huntington Beach) 10:59.86; 4. McCullough (Newport Harbor) 11:07.20; 5. Thomas (Santa Margarita) 11:08.79

3,200 Open — 1. Steinman (Corona del Mar) 11:40.36; 2. Ballou (Murrieta Valley) 11:42.22; 3. Woodruff (Marina) 11:44.70; 4. Arriaga (Warren) 11:45.58; 5. Perez (Downey) 11:48.32

100HH — 1. Bain (Long Beach Poly) 15.10; 2. McCarty (Newport Harbor) 15.34; 3. Gramata-Massey (Long Beach Poly) 15.34; 4. McGill (Huntington Beach) 15.41; 5. Jordan (Mater Dei) 15.78

300IH — 1. Bain (Long Beach Poly) 43.56; 2. Gramata-Massey (Long Beach Poly) 45.43; 3. Anderson (Long Beach Poly) 46.06; 4. McGill (Huntington Beach) 46.53; 5. Jordan (Mater Dei) 47.27

400 relay — 1. Long Beach Poly 47.22; 2. Arbor View 48.25; 3. Santa Margarita 50.86; 4. Hemet 50.98; 5. Canyon 51.20

1,600 relay — 1. Long Beach Poly 3:50.79; 2. JSerra 3:54.50; 3. Arbor View 4:13.54; 4. Beckman 4:21.32; 5. Laguna Beach 4:30.77

HJ — 1. Murillo (Canyon) 4-10; 2. Hogan (JSerra) 4-10J; 3. Timoshuk (Troy) 4-8; 4T. Ivison (Huntington Beach) 4-8J; 4T. Witte (Mater Dei) 4-8

LJ — 1. Woolforde (JSerra) 16-½; 2. Burton (Dana Hills) 15-10; 3. Pasternak (Huntington Beach) 15-9; 4. Gray (Villa Park) 15-2¼; 5. Phillips (JSerra) 15-2

TJ — 1. Pasternak (Huntington Beach) 35-½; 2. Rucks (Arbor View) 34-9; 3. Gray (Villa Park) 34-7¼; 4. Lewis (Downey) 34-6¾; 5. Cannon (Tesoro) 32-4½

SP — 1. Camp (Palos Verdes) 35-6½; 2. Reichard (Portola) 35-1; 3. Karasawa (Marina) 34-11¾; 4. Reyes-Walters (Warren) 34-1½; 5. Escobedo (Shadow Ridge) 33-5

DT — 1. Reichard (Portola) 124-5; 2. Beary (JSerra) 119-11; 3. Camp (Palos Verdes) 111-0; 4. Isais (Warren) 107-11; 5. Rushing (Huntington Beach) 106-4