Sea Kings’ title streak ends in rain

ORANGE — A drizzle came down, not as much rain as the night before.

The sweepstakes race involving locals Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools at the 41st annual Orange County Championships was minutes away.

Bill Sumner, getting his Sea Kings ready, took the time to look back. When was the last time the county championships were hit by showers?

“I really can’t remember,” said the coach in his 25th year at CdM. “It rains twice a year here [in Orange County] and [Saturday] happens to be one of the days.”

No blaming the rain for CdM’s shot of winning their third girls’ county title in a row. It ended as soon as the sprinkles stopped, a bigger force, Trabuco Hills, won out in the shortened 2.7-mile course at Irvine Regional Park Saturday.

The Sea Kings fell to sixth place with 192 points, far from the Division I schools, fifth-place Foothill (150), fourth-place Esperanza (111), third-place Fountain Valley (92) and second-place Dana Hills (84). Newport Harbor placed ninth at 231.

This time Sumner, the man leading CdM to its fifth CIF State title last year, finally knew where his third-ranked Southern Section Division III team stood with the Mt. SAC Invitational next week, followed by the Pacific Coast League finals and the Southern Section and state finals approaching.

“The only thing hurting us is lack of experience,” he said, referring to one freshman, two sophomores and one junior, all finishing between 61st and 91st. “I’m proud that they are learning. We’re at the halfway point. We’re not going to be left in the dust every time.”

Senior standouts Shelby Buckley and Allison Damon made sure CdM didn’t slip too much — despite competing on a slick course, starting off muddy before hitting the asphalt.

Buckley hit the ground running again. And again she took second place at 15 minutes, 57 seconds, two weeks after her second-place finish at the Stanford Invitational Division III race. Buckley improved on last year’s fifth-place showing at county.

“We struggled as a team, but we were excited that we finished ahead of [seventh-place] Orange Lutheran,” said Buckley, whose team finished third, behind Orange Lutheran at the Stanford Invitational.

Damon was also happy to finish ahead of the top-ranked Division III school. She placed sixth at 16:09 and with a fast time, better than 11th and the 17:54 recorded last year. Everyone seemed to post personal bests, with Woodbridge’s Christine Babcock running a 14:59, even besting 50 runners in the boys’ sweepstakes race, to defend her county title.

But the records don’t count because of the hill portion of the race was taken out due to safety issues. The hill was in bad shape, and eliminating it cut runners’ times by almost 70 seconds because the traditional three-mile course was shorter.

“I really wanted to run the hill, because that’s where I get going,” Damon said.

Some runners were thrilled not having to run the hill, which marks the end of the first mile. When it was announced that the course would be around 2.7 miles, Newport Harbor assistant coach Keira Kirby heard girls yell, “I’m going to PR!”

The Sailors adjusted and Erica Pearson and Sophia Ditty, like they have all year, recorded the team’s best marks, 26th (16:42) and 30th (16:47), respectively. Also standing out was freshman Tori Sarris, close by at 32nd (16:52).

“That’s a very good sign,” said Coach Eric Tweit, who last year guided the Sailors to their second straight runner-up finish at the state finals. “We were solid and we’re getting back Jennifer Cain, who ran in the JV race because her leg has been hurt most of the year. Cain was our No. 5 runner last year and she helped us a lot.

“It was a great race. Everyone knew Babcock would win, but it was surprising how much she won by.”

The Division III race, which Estancia took ninth in, Sage Hill 12th and Costa Mesa didn’t have enough runners to place, had a much closer individual finish.

Cait Williamson of Sage Hill came close to winning. She placed third at 17:02, eight seconds back of champ Megan Petkovic of Pacifica. Teammate Katie McKeon was 30th (18:29).

Estancia’s top runners were Sindy Ramirez (29th, 18:27) and Eunice Rodriguez (34th, 18:37). The Eagles came in without their top runner, Alexa Aguilar (stress fractures), and fifth runner, Katharine Fuentes (flu).

Arlene Sanchez led Costa Mesa at 19:57 (79th).

“We were really beat up going into the event with some tough teams,” said Estancia Coach Charlie Appell, referring to Segerstrom, which won with 85 points, finishing ahead of second-place JSerra (112), third-place Loara (126), fourth-place Pacifica (145), fifth-place Troy (148), sixth-place Beckman (187) and seventh-place Laguna Beach (195). “We have Laguna Beach next and we’re both undefeated in league.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].