Scott, bright spot among locals

ORANGE — Corona del Mar High senior Tim Scott is just getting into the swing of things.

He said he hasn’t been practicing particularly hard this year, until this week.

A week of practice went a long way for Scott, who placed 10th in the Division II boys’ race to lead CdM to the race’s team title at the Orange County Championships, held on Saturday at Irvine Regional Park.

“I’ve been third on the team the whole year,” said Scott, who finished in 15 minutes, 45 seconds. “This is the first meet I’ve really run hard. One week of practice makes a world of difference.”

His teammates had his back, including juniors Thomas Dialynas in 16th place (15:53) and John Leonard (16:07) in 25th place.

Senior Tommy Hutchison (29th, 16:13) and Tri-Vien Nguyen (47th, 16:40) also scored for the Sea Kings, whose total time of 1:20:38 beat out second-place Orange-Lutheran (1:20:54).

Newport Harbor (1:21:07) was third.

“This team is mostly made up of juniors and seniors,” Sea King Coach Bill Sumner said. “They got 11th overall for the day, and they were only out of sixth place by five or six seconds. We’re in the hunt.”

Sumner added that the CdM boys don’t mind being in the shadow of the powerhouse Sea King girls’ team, if they are at all.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the shadow, it matters how you deal with it,” he said. “If you want to stay there and you’re comfortable and you turn into a mushroom, then go ahead. Ivy grows toward the sunshine, and mushrooms don’t; so you have your choice which one you want to be. I think these guys are looking for sunshine right now.”

Newport Harbor’s boys’ team was led by junior Rex Nelson, who finished 14th in 15:52, which was a second off a personal-record. Teammate Mike Puncel, also a junior, was just five seconds behind that time in 18th place.

“It wasn’t our best race overall, as a team,” Sailors boys’ Coach Nowell Kay said. “We can do better, but they ran pretty well. Our sophomores both cramped up a bit toward the end of the race.”

Sage Hill School’s Connor Rose, a junior, was second in the Division III boys’ race in 16:02 and teammate Sean McElroy (16:23) was sixth.

Rose, who finished a second ahead of rival Cole Pavlovich of St. Margaret’s, said the race was helpful because the Lightning’s Academy League finals are also at Irvine Regional Park.

“It’s nice to be on this course and get a good time down,” Rose said. “It should pay off for us in league finals.”

Costa Mesa senior Mitch Friedman was the Mustangs’ top varsity boys’ finisher, placing 21st in the Division III race in 16:55.

“He did fantastic,” Costa Mesa Co-Coach Mike Sciacca said. “That was a breakout performance for him. Races like that really give us a lot of optimism.”

On the girls’ side, Newport Harbor was third in the sweepstakes race, placing three runners — seniors Melissa Mead (13th, 18:06) and Taylor Bryson (26th, 18:26) and sophomore Desiree Alexander (30th, 18:39) in the top 30.

“It’s good competition, so it makes you run faster,” Mead said. “We all performed well; we’re coming together.”

The trio finished well despite a false start on the race, which only added to the muddiness factor on a damp day.

“The start was a little bad, especially because it was a false start and we had to re-do it,” Bryson said. “There was mud all over us.”

Sage Hill sophomore Cait Williamson was eighth in the Division III race, clocking in at 19:01.

“It was nice to run with some of the top runners,” Williamson said. “It’s one of my faster times.”

Teammate Aiyana Bobrownicki (11th, 19:26) finished just out of the top 10 for the Lightning.

“We have such a great team this year,” Williamson said. “It’s crazy for us. I don’t think we’re used to the success.”

An already young Costa Mesa team, which was missing senior Emily Cotton because she was taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test, had freshman Wendi Way (62nd, 21:37) and sophomore Courtney Green (71st, 22:11) as its top two finishers.

“We have everybody, seniors to freshmen, they run together,” Green said. “It’s a great team, and we have the greatest coaches.”

Orange County Championships

Division II Boys

1. Shawel (Troy), 15:21; 2. Arcos (Marina), 15:24; 3. Kopczynski (Tesoro), 15:28; 4. Brown (Laguna Hills), 15:32; 5. Cameron (Mission Viejo), 15:33; 6. Paredes (Santa Ana), 15:33; 7. Salinas (La Habra), 15:35; 8. Gallardo (Mater Dei), 15:37; 9. Olivarrias (Tustin), 15:44; 10. Scott (Corona del Mar), 15:45.

Others: 14. Nelson (NH), 15:52; 16. Dialynas (CdM), 15:53; 18. Puncel (NH), 15:57; 25. Leonard (CdM), 16:07; 28. Lewis (NH), 16:11; 29. Hutchison (CdM), 16:13; 41. Dawson (NH), 16:32; 44. Figueroa (NH), 16:35; 47. Nguyen (CdM), 16:40; 60. Licorish (CdM), 16:47; 94. Converse (CdM), 17:08; 117. Shaw (NH), 17:34.

Division III Boys

1. Muthala (Rancho Alamitos), 15:54; 2. Rose (Sage Hill), 16:02; 3. Pavlovich (St. Margaret’s), 16:03; 4. Santana (Savanna), 16:04; 5. Flores (Rancho Alamitos), 16:12; 6. McElroy (Sage Hill), 16:23; 7. Smith (Huntington Beach), 16:24; 8. Singh (Huntington Beach), 16:26; 9. Martinez (Beckman), 16:28; 10. Shiba (Beckman), 16:38.

Others: 21. Friedman (CM), 16:55; 41. Wintemute (SH), 17:31; 72. Rosello (CM), 18:43; 77. Simon (SH), 18:51; 80. Burnette (CM), 18:53; 84. Jimenez (SH), 19:05; 88. Stucker (CM), 19:11; 94. Beitman (SH), 19:27; 104. Sun (SH), 20:31; 105. Diaz (CM), 20:39.

Division III Girls

1. Pelayo (Bolsa Grande), 17:54; 2. Mitchell (Tustin), 18:30; 3. Ponce (Bolsa Grande), 18:37; 4. Carlos (Savanna), 18:43; 5. Asrat (Bolsa Grande), 18:48; 6. Aguilar (Loara), 18:53; 7. Thompson (Marina), 18:59; 8. Williamson (Sage Hill), 19:01; 9. Coates (Huntington Beach), 19:14; 10. Davis (JSerra), 19:23.

Others: 11. Bobrownicki (SH), 19:26; 26. McKeon (SH), 20:05; 54. Faris (SH), 21:12; 61. Dion (SH), 21:29; 62. W. Way (CM), 21:37; 65. Muhonen (SH), 22:00; 66. Conlogue (SH), 22:01; 71. Green (CM), 22:11; 75. B. Way (CM), 22:41; 81. Lopez (CM), 23:58.