Laguna to race at CIF finals

Both the Laguna Beach girls’ and boys’ cross-country competed Nov. 9 at the CIF Southern Section preliminaries at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut and each earned second-place heat finishes in Division IV and qualified to run again at Saturday’s section finals.

The finals also will be run on the Mt. SAC course.

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GIRLS

Coach Earl Towner said one of the highlights from Laguna’s prelims performance was to watch members of his squad “run the course correctly.”

“To see the girls run under control and finish second in our heat was a delight,” he said. “The girls have been doing everything right this season and these last two races of the season will be a thrill for all in attendance.

“These girls have a great opportunity to finish this season with a championship performance. They know what it takes and they just have to put the pieces together.”

The 13 teams to advance to the Division IV final are Laguna Beach, Oaks Christian, Morro Bay, Flintridge/Sacred Heart, JSerra, La Reina, Harvard-Westlake, Norte Dame (Sherman Oaks), Templeton, Paraclete, St. Joseph (Santa Maria), Maranatha and Louisville.

Seven teams qualify from the section final for the CIF State meet that will be Thanksgiving weekend at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Laguna’s finals race is at 9:45 a.m. Saturday.

“The girls have a legitimate chance of standing on the podium, the top two at CIF finals, this year,” Towner said. “The position will be determined by how well they run their race tactics and compete as a team for each other.”

Laguna’s team ladder at the CIF Div. IV prelims (place, name and time): 5. Parker Yamasaki, 20:07; 8. Maggie Newton-Neal, 20:19; 15. Camille Borges, 20:36; 17. Kativa Strickland, 20:39; 20. Heather Thomas, 20:44; 22. Taylor Capobianco, 20:53; 38. Melissa Lenker, 21:59.

Laguna’s team time was 1:42.45, the fifth fastest in Division IV, Towner said.

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BOYS

Coach Dave Brobeck held both his league champion and No. 5 runners out of the Division IV prelims race but Laguna still had enough to finish second in its heat and move on to Saturday’s final. Two prelims heats where held with 13 teams competing in each heat.

The top six teams from each heat advance to Saturday’s finals.

“CIF prelims went very well,” Brobeck said. “No hitches is what you want here, and no hitches is what we got. There is also a bit more strategy in this race. You don’t want to show all your cards to the competition.

“I rested our league champ, frosh Matt Neev, as well as our No. 5 runner, sophomore Richard Mattingley. I did this to give them one final rest before this weekend’s CIF finals push and hopefully, a big push at the State meet Thanksgiving weekend. My seven boys who did race ran controlled efforts in their training shoes.”

Laguna’s team ladder at the CIF Div. IV prelims (place, name and time): 8. Yann Panassie, 16:58; 9. Casey Finnerty, 16:59; 13. Blake Hofmeister, 17:08; 20. Jake Johnson, 17:29; 25. Andrew Shapero, 17:39; 29. Sean Pigden, 17:46; 40. Tommy Newton-Neal, 18:08.

The top seven teams to emerge from Saturday’s finals will qualify for the CIF State meet Nov. 24.

Laguna runs at 10:45 a.m. Saturday.

“We have a young but very well-conditioned and mature team,” Brobeck said. “I frankly don’t know what to expect and cannot predict our outcome. I know we’re good. I think we can be really good right now. I don’t see an obvious favorite this weekend. It should be a very close race between five schools. We should be in the mix.”