Szabo: CdM girls’ cross-country team impressive early

Bill Sumner has been coaching cross country at Corona del Mar High since 1982.

But listen to Sumner talk, and the passion that the 67-year-old still holds is obvious.

The goal of every cross country season at CdM is to end up at Woodward Park in Fresno for the CIF State Meet, where CdM’s girls have won seven state titles, most recently in 2009.

“We’ve got to get there,” Sumner said Wednesday afternoon as the Sea Kings trained on the track at CdM. “”It’s still in my blood. Everybody goes, ‘You still think about that every day?’ I say, every day.’ They created the state championships 25 years ago, and [CdM has] been there 23 out of 25 [years].”

Last year’s CdM girls made it back to the state meet after the two-year absence, finishing ninth in Division 3.

Sumner knows that the state championships aren’t until November. He said he doesn’t want to get too ambitious too soon, but he also knows his girls made a statement last Friday night at the Woodbridge Invitational at Great Park in Irvine. Sumner said they exceeded his expectations by winning the white (Division 4) team title with 66 points, easily besting second-place Segerstrom.

CdM junior Raquel Powers finished second individually in 17:56, followed by seniors Jacqueline Choe in sixth (18:30), Lilly Schmidt in 15th (18:55) and Hannah Crane in 16th (18:56). Freshman Gigi Lee was the final scoring runner, placing 27th in the race in 19:17.

“We just wanted to have a good day,” Sumner said. “We weren’t really going for the win. We actually wanted to save that for a little bit later.”

The meet that Sumner wants to go all out is next weekend at the Clovis Invitational because, you guessed it, it’s at the same course as the CIF State Meet. First, CdM, ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 3, runs Saturday at the Sunny Hills Invitational at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton.

Every year, Sumner tries to shape a winner. It’s tough this year, as he lost Kirsten Hansen, Tess St. Geme, Elin Wolker and Emily Meckler to graduation.

“Four studs, gone,” Sumner said. “It takes about three or four years to make them, then you get a good year out of them and they’re all gone. Then I’ve got to start all over again.”

Of course, three of his top four runners this year are seniors as well. One thing that pleases Sumner is that the CdM girls’ junior varsity team, which also won its race at Woodbridge, is strong this year. Senior Erin Hatch, who placed fifth in the JV girls’ white division race in 19:44, will move up to varsity for now.

“As long as I’m still doing it, I’ve got to worry about next year,” Sumner said. “If I stop worrying about next year, you can tell somebody I’m probably thinking about retiring. But right now, I’m worrying about next year.”

Yes, it’s still in his blood.

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•Two top boys’ runners this year are juniors on either side of the bay. CdM’s Leif Hellgren and Newport Harbor’s Ben Wilson have had standout performances.

Hellgren finished third in his race at Woodbridge in 15:28, which matched his personal-best. CdM overall finished seventh in its race.

“It felt pretty good coming up to the mile and a half,” Hellgren said. “I was sticking with the top guy. At about the two-mile mark, he really took off and I lost him ... I just couldn’t catch up. I ended up third place.”

Wilson finished second at the Sunset League Preview Meet on Tuesday at Huntington Beach’s Central Park, crossing the line in 15:35.

Sumner said that Hellgren has stepped up his work ethic this year, and it’s showed.

For Wilson, Newport boys’ Coach Nowell Kay said it was a solid finish. Kay said that Wilson is definitely one of the better juniors in the county. He finished well at the Sunset League race, out-kicking talented Fountain Valley senior William Hua down the stretch.

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•Newport Harbor senior Emily Bacon, the Sailors girls’ top runner, is impressing on and off the course.

Bacon finished fifth at the Sunset League Preview Meet and is a leader for Newport Harbor, along with fellow senior and team captain Holly Clemence.

Bacon, who raced in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 finals last year, also was recently announced as a winner of a CIF Southern Section Champions for Character award. The awards will be presented at a dinner Monday night at The Grand in Long Beach.

The CIF Southern Section selects the winners for their “fierce competitive nature” and for trustworthiness, responsibility, respect, fairness, caring and citizenship. Bacon was one of just two Orange County athletes to earn the award, along with Emma Reed of Aliso Niguel High.

“She’s a great teammate and a hard worker,” Newport girls’ coach Eric Tweit said. “Very humble. Just a great young lady.”

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•Sage Hill’s girls finished a strong second place at the Academy League meet Tuesday at Irvine’s Mason Park, paced by a second-place individual finish by junior Julia Lowe (19:08). Lowe is returning after making the CIF State Meet last year, the first Lightning girl to do so since 2008-09.

The Lightning girls, ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 5, are different this year as their next three top runners — Emma Dickenson, Maya Jaffe and Olivia Lowe — are all freshmen. Olivia is Julia’s younger sister.

Sage Hill Coach Nate Miller, in his 16th season, said that it’s the strongest group of freshmen he’s had. He believes that the Lightning girls can challenge defending champion Crean Lutheran for the league title. Two freshman boys, Kylen Patel and Luke Nataupsky, also are looking strong.

The Lightning boys and girls travel to the Brentwood Small Schools Invitational on Saturday. Sage Hill is the defending race champion in both genders.