Youth shine in cross-country race

9 from Laguna Beach compete in county championships.Nine youth cross-country runners representing Laguna Beach put on an outstanding performance at the Southern California Municipal Athletic Federation Orange County Cross-Country Championships at Eisenhower Park in Orange.

The runners, coached by Fred Pichay, earned two first-place, one second-place, two third-place, one fourth-place and three fifth-place finishes at the annual event.

Tyler Cheves, who ran to a second-place finish at last year’s boys’ Division 98 race, bettered that run by 20 seconds, as he went 5:05.87 to finish in first place in the one-kilometer event.

In the boys’ Division 96 race, Laguna runners finished one-two. Rory Saunders won the event in a time of 6:12.41, and teammate Casey Koprowski was second in 6:45.56.

It was the second consecutive first-place finish for Saunders, who also won in 2004 with a time of 7:13.

Two runners raced to third-place bronze medals, as Gerry Artman went 18:44 in the girls’ Division 91 three-kilometer run and Sophie Radach ran a 12:42 in the girls’ Division 92 two-kilometer run.

Adam Redding-Kaufman placed fourth in the boys’ Division 94 two-kilometer run for a second consecutive year, but he bettered his mark by nearly 48 seconds, improving from a 9:40 in 2004 to 8:52.52.

His teammate in the event, Nicholas Kinsman, was right behind in fifth-place with a time of 9:11.

Two other Laguna runners earned fifth-place finishes: Sebastian Schott went 12:58 in the boys’ Division 92 three-kilometer run, and Ryan Cavanaugh in the boys’ Division 94 two-kilometer run.