Breakers earn title split

The Laguna Beach High girls’ cross-country team reigns supreme in the Orange Coast League, but an injury-plagued Laguna boys’ team fell just short of the grand prize.

Both teams were in action on Nov. 6 at the Orange Coast League finals at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa. In the girls’ competition, Laguna scored 28 points to capture first place. In the boys’ race, Laguna finished second to Estancia, 34-41.

? Laguna girls

The Breakers won the league title by edging Estancia (32 points), Costa Mesa (76), Godinez (100) and Calvary Chapel (142).

Four Breakers set personal records at the league finals’ girls’ race: junior Kativa Strickland finished in second place with a time of 19 minutes 16 seconds, freshman Natasha Strickland was third at 19:23, junior Gerry Artman placed sixth (19:55) and freshman Marisa Merchant was eighth (19:59).

Estancia sophomore Mariah Chapin won the race in 19:11.

Next up for the Breakers is Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Division IV preliminaries at Mount San Antonio College. Laguna races at 11:40 a.m.

Kativa Strickland, Natasha Strickland, Artman, Merchant and Parker Yamasaki all earned all-league status.

Laguna ran the league finals race without McKenna Nokes, who usually is a top-five runner on the team.

Laguna also won the girls’ junior varsity league championship.

“We went into league finals more focused,” Laguna girls’ coach Steve Lalim said.

“We knew we needed to be more aggressive from the start, we talked about it all week. We also emphasized taking advantage of the downhills and working the lower section of the course. I think the girls really wanted the league title. It stung a little last week to lose to Estancia. The girls ran a very good race. I’m very proud of them.”

Lalim had the following to say about his team’s individual performances that added up to a league championship in his first year as head coach:

Kativa Strickland: “Ran great. Had the lead with 250 yards to go but was out-kicked by a girl from Estancia to finish second. Kativa has worked so hard this year, it’s paying off and she’s going to continue to improve in the coming weeks.”

Natasha Strickland: “Ran a very strong race, finishing third as a freshman.”

Gerry Artman: “Really stepped up for us. Throughout the season, Gerry has been running in the six-seven spot and at League Finals, she finished third for us. I thought she really ran well. A 35 second PR, almost a minute faster than (last week’s) league cluster.”

Marisa Merchant: “Ran a 30 second PR. Really ran aggressive in the second mile.”

Parker Yamasaki: “Didn’t feel well during the race. Ran very tough with how she felt. I think she’s really going to come on strong here at the end of the season.”

Melissa Lenker: “It was her first race in six weeks. She’s been battling some little injuries. I thought she really ran well in her first race back in awhile.”

? Laguna Boys

Three Breakers earned all-league honors as Laguna placed second to Estancia.

Senior Casey Finnerty was Laguna’s top runner with a sixth-place finish in a time of 16:09. Junior Blake Hofmeister ran a 16:16 to take seventh place and senior Jordan Festa ran a personal record 16:22 “” which was 23 seconds off his previous best time “” to earn eighth place. All three made all-league.

Junior Tommy Newton-Neal also finished in the top 10 by running a 16:24 to take ninth place.

Estancia senior Fernando Orozco won the boys’ race in 15:29.

At last year’s league finals, Orozco finished fourth and Estancia was runner-up to league champ Laguna.

The Breakers ran league finals without their No. 1 runner, sophomore Matt Neev, who had been dominant in previous meet action.

Laguna boys’ coach Dave Brobeck said that Neev has been held out of action due to a hip injury.

The Breakers also were without their regular No. 5 runner, junior Andrew Shapero, who Brobeck held out of the meet due to a light hamstring pull. Shapero, he said, is “better now.”

“Our hands were tied though by injury “” and still will be “” for another week, at least,” Brobeck said. “Matt will sit another week at CIF this Saturday. We’re treating him with therapy and kid gloves, hoping for a CIF finals and State finish.

“We’re still on the course that we set out on, but we cannot afford to have any more training lapses or average performances any longer.”

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (949) 494-4321 or by e-mail at [email protected].