Kiwanis unites rivals ahead of Battle of the Bell

On the eve of their in-city rivalry, the high schools of Estancia and Costa Mesa were placed in the same room.

In almost any rivalry, this would be a recipe for disaster. Why not light the match right there? The fireworks are bound to happen.

What happened on Thursday afternoon in one of the banquet halls of the Costa Mesa Country Club was an entirely different deal.

The room lacked the animosity characteristic of a rivalry, but the respect certainly was there.

Instead of provocative statements expressing their desire to beat each other in Friday’s softball rendition of the Battle of the Bell, Estancia’s Michael Hunter and Costa Mesa’s Heather Orduna put their differences aside for an afternoon to celebrate two great contributors to their teams.

“CIF puts the student before the athlete,” Hunter said prior to introducing Eagles catcher Kalena Shepherd to the crowd.

He called Shepherd a “high-desire” player, one that exudes the best qualities of the student-athlete.

As Orduna stepped up to honor her school’s female athlete of the month, the Mustangs coach began to shed some tears.

She was thinking about the sacrifices that junior Haley Sheffner has made for her team. Sheffner would normally be an outfielder. After the team lost three pitchers in a variety of ways, Sheffner has taken up pitching for the Mustangs.

“Everything is for her teammates,” Orduna said. “She refuses to give in.”

The Kiwanis Club of Costa Mesa works in concert with the city’s two high schools to honor a male and female athlete from each school every month.

Costa Mesa’s Carter Chapman and Estancia’s Colin Gardner received the honor for the boys. Both are baseball players.

COUNTY CROWN UP FOR GRABS

The coastal cities have produced a sizable crop of invitational-level talent this season.

That bodes well for their chances to nab some of the first-place crowns at the county track and field championships on the campus of Mission Viejo High on Saturday.

The area’s best odds lie in the field, where local athletes have been a regular threat in the throws and the pole vault.

Marina’s Kyle Tsu and Newport Harbor’s Cole Smith figure to be in the running to take the boys’ shot put and discus.

Smith will be the top seed in the shot put at 61 feet, 8 inches. Tsu will hold that position in the discus at 176-8.

Costa Mesa’s Felicia Crenshaw is the prohibitive favorite in girls’ discus. She will have good competition in Los Alamitos’ Faimalie Sale in shot put. Sale is three inches off the lead in the CIF Southern Section with a personal best of 46 feet, 6 inches.

The local quartet of Ryan Fegan (Newport Harbor), Alex Escalera (Sage Hill), Michael Chadwick (Edison), and Michael Magula (Marina) have the market cornered in boys’ pole vault.

Two girls who could make noise on the track are Edison’s Amanda Herrington in the hurdles and Fountain Valley’s Cora Davis in the sprints.

Herrington and Santa Margarita’s Nikki Merritt are the only two girls in the county to go under 15 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles this year.

Davis leads the county in the 100 with a time of 12.14 seconds.

The boys’ track standouts reside in mid-distance, with Mark Field (Newport Harbor) and Leif Hellgren (Corona del Mar) scheduled to run in the mile.

Fountain Valley’s Nathan Willoughby does well in the hurdles, but Los Alamitos’ Jose Rubio and Mission Viejo’s Quinn Williams may present greater obstacles than the hurdles themselves.

Orange County Track and Field Championships

Where: Mission Viejo High

When: Saturday, Apr. 22. The first race is at 8:30 a.m. Field events also begin at 8:30 a.m.

Fan Info: Admission is $10 for adults. It is $5 for students without an ASB card and seniors. Students with an ASB card are $3. Children under 10 years of age are $2. Parking is free on the Mission Viejo High campus, but it is limited.

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner