Seahawks fly high at CIF-SS Preliminaries

RIVERSIDE – To refer to the season of Ocean View’s boys’ cross country team as a good book would be an appropriate choice of metaphor.

The end is fast approaching, and the Seahawks simply would prefer that this story has no conclusion.

It just keeps getting better.

Ocean View took first in its Division 3 heat in the CIF Southern Section Preliminaries on Saturday at the Riverside City Cross Country Course.

Edwin Montes (15:21) and Ryan St. Pierre (15:23) placed in the top six as Ocean View edged both Cathedral and St. John Bosco, 112-118.

The Golden West League champions earned a return trip to the CIF-SS Finals after making it last year. Those are the only two berths into the championship round in the school’s 41-year history.

All along, the Seahawks figured this had to be their breakthrough year. Ocean View runs five seniors – St. Pierre, Hector Arteaga, Alejandro Tepayotl, Jesus Fuentes, and Daniel Guerrero – in its starting seven.

Given their age, Seahawks coach Daniel Hurtado said the team wants to leave nothing in the tank in what it hopes will be a run to its first state meet.

“On any given day, you could run the best race of your life,” Hurtado said. “We still haven’t won anything. There’s no reason for us to hold back because we still haven’t made it to state.”

Wide grins spread across the faces of the Seahawks when they were shown that they had finished first in their heat. Entering the week at No. 9 in the CIF-SS Division 3 rankings, Ocean View may have felt underestimated.

St. Pierre called the first-place finish a “statement” race.

Hurtado says his team has to prove themselves again next week, and he believes that they will.

“I’m confident,” he said. “I believe that we will be in Fresno on Thanksgiving weekend.”

The CIF-SS Finals are next Saturday back at the Riverside course. Requirements to advance to the meet varied.

Teams participating in a three-heat division had to place in the top eight, while those with two races had to finish in the top 12. Individuals whose teams did not advance moved on by placing in the top 10 in a three-heat format and by being in the top 15 finishers in two-heat divisions.

Gabriel Reiser became Brethren Christian’s first CIF qualifier since 1996 with a strong race at the Academy League Finals.

The senior made the most of his opportunity, continuing his stunning late-season run with an eighth-place finish in his Division 5 heat to advance to next week’s finals.

Individuals face the prospect of training alone, but Reiser didn’t have to. His teammates continued to train for him, and they traveled to Riverside to support him, too.

Advancing as an individual is also a daunting task because the runner must get out fast to keep track of the number of runners in front of them.

“You definitely try to keep count of the people in front of you, those you need to pass to get to that important spot,” Reiser said. “I trained hard for a week, came out here and did my best, and I’m just glad that I was in the top 10.”

Newport Harbor’s Mia Matsunami is also moving on after her ninth-place effort in Division 2.

The individual champion of the Sunset League faced a common danger of the preliminary round. Often, runners can hold back a little too much as they hope to qualify without expending too much energy before the championship weekend.

“I’m not really happy with my race, but all that matters is that I got in,” Matsunami said. “I think I got a little too comfortable, which is something that I need to work on. Looking forward to next week, I have to push it the whole way.”

Corona del Mar’s aces had big days. Raquel Powers won her race in 18:07. On the boys’ side, Leif Hellgren took sixth in 15:13.

As a team, Corona del Mar took second in its girls’ race. The boys advanced by placing 10th.

Sea Kings coach Bill Sumner called attention to the girls’ team performance as it relates to the program’s goal of making the state meet.

“I’m more encouraged by the team run,” Sumner said. “Today, the girls had to be top four. If you can’t do top four this week, don’t look to be top seven next week.”

Both Sage Hill (second, Division 5) and Ocean View (10th, Division 3) saw their girls’ teams advance.

Newport Harbor’s boys (ninth, Division 2) qualified, but Sage Hill’s boys team was not so fortunate. The Lightning missed the cut by one spot, placing ninth in Division 5, which had three heats.