Sea Kings double pleasure

LAGUNA HILLS — One reason for the success of the Corona del Mar High girls’ cross country team is that every meet is approached with the utmost importance.

Whether it is the Stanford Invitational featuring top teams from around the country or a Pacific Coast League meet with overmatched locals, the Sea Kings may sometimes conserve energy, but winning is never sacrificed.

That, and they’re all fast.

As usual, the Corona del Mar girls, the defending CIF Division II state champions, were faster than the competition Thursday at a cluster meet featuring all of the league schools. CdM Coach Bill Sumner said the meet would be scored like a league invitational, giving the Sea Kings (4-0) a victory for each of the four schools that finished behind them.

The girls’ team finished with 23 points, well ahead of second-place Irvine (56). All seven of the Sea Kings’ runners finished ahead of Irvine’s second finisher.

Sarah Cummings finished first again in a time of 17 minutes, 58 seconds with Shelby Buckley right behind her at 18:03.

The boys won by a much closer margin — a single point over Laguna Hills which notched 29.

Tommy Dialynas finished first for the Sea Kings (4-0), second overall, in 15:58.

“I’m pretty happy about getting [the Hawks] at their course,” Sumner said. “They ran a tactical race.”

Sumner said Laguna Hills held all seven of its runners behind Corona del Mar’s seven through the first two miles.

Then the Laguna Hills Hawks hit the accelerator.

Tim Scott helped seal the victory for the Sea Kings. Scott, whom Sumner said sputtered in the final quarter mile at the Stanford Invitational Saturday, did just the opposite moving from seventh to fourth overall at the end, securing crucial points in the process.

“He stepped up to the plate,” Sumner said.

Dialynas, a junior, has emerged as one of the Sea Kings’ top runners and while he stressed the significance of the meet, the true level of importance can be seen on his head.

Dialynas is currently sporting a large bushy hairstyle that defies the aerodynamic needs of a runner.

“I want to keep it as long as I can before I have to cut it,” Dialynas said. “I’ll cut it when things get serious. There’s too much wind resistance.”

Dialynas added that the continued success of the girls’ team has placed more pressure on the boys, but the two teams’ relationship has never been strained.

“We look up to them,” Dialynas said.

The girls’ opponents finds themselves doing the same: looking up at the Sea Kings.

Corona del Mar came to the Stanford Invitational, which featured seven of the top 20 teams in the United States, without its top runner from last year, Annie St. Geme, and having lost in 2005 by a point.

The No. 2-ranked Sea Kings easily surpassed No. 7-ranked Torrey Pines by 70 points. In the total team time, the margin equated to a half mile Sumner said.

“We went in there with a lot of respect for those other schools,” Sumner said. “We have seven girls that run well. We lost a full minute when Annie left, but the other girls all gained 15 seconds. So we got our minute back.”

Cummings, who finished fourth overall in 17:40, said the Sea Kings were quiet and nervous before the race but raucous and excited afterward.

“We just stuck to the plan,” Cummings said. “We always start conservative. Our coach’s philosophy is never go out too hard. Sometimes when other teams start to get a lead, you get anxious. If he sees someone gaining, he’ll tell us to start to speed up slowly.”

Cummings said the Stanford Invitational is looked at by the team as one of its top races along with the Nike Team Nationals and the CIF State meet.

“That’s one of our aces,” she said.

In what is becoming a trend for Cummings and Buckley, the two finished separated by only four seconds. Cummings said her finishing ahead of her teammate isn’t planned.

“We’re together the whole time,” Cummings said. “We just run for the team. Our goal is to stay together.”

The Sea Kings will now prepare for the upcoming Orange County Championships at Trabuco Hills High.

The meet is on Oct. 14.