Mt. SAC Cross-Country : Corona del Mar Boys Chase Away Complacency to Finish in Third Place

Corona del Mar High School’s boys’ cross-country team has dealt with many challenges this season, but none as potentially dangerous as the one it met Saturday at the Mount San Antonio College Invitational cross-country meet.

The challenge?

The Sea Kings themselves, who, after being saturated all season with high rankings and high praise, realized last week that complacency had begun to take the place of courage.

“Basically, Coach (Bill Sumner) told us we were acting too content; that we weren’t thinking toward a higher level (of competition),� said runner Paul Scott. “I think we all realized it was true. We had been cruising through workouts. It was time to get serious.�

And so they did, finishing third in the team sweepstakes division, comprising the top 16 teams in the state. Arroyo, the top-ranked team in Southern Section 3-A, finished first, and Palos Verdes, top-ranked in 4-A, was second.

Eddie Lavelle and Jim Robbins led Corona del Mar, ranked second in 4-A. Lavelle finished sixth in 15 minutes 39 seconds; Robbins was seventh in 15:42.

Greg Shryock (20th, 16:05), Scott (33rd, 16:16) and Hunter Pierce (40th, 16:28) helped give the Sea Kings their best combined team time in history, 80:10.

“Mentally, we had to deal with the challenge of the other teams,� Lavelle said. ‘We were more aggressive than we’ve ever been, and we did well. But we can’t dwell on that. Now we know we have to look forward.�

In the individual boys’ sweepstakes, Igor Daza of Valencia got an unexpected third-place finish in 15:29, more than a minute faster than his previous best at Mt. SAC.

Daza, who finished second to La Habra’s Terrence Mahon at last Saturday’s Orange County Championships, started the three-mile race in the front pack, passing the first mile in fifth place.

But Mahon and Gashu Tadese of San Diego Crawford surged along the steep Switchbacks, leaving Daza 20 yards back at the top of the hill. Tadese continued to pull away, leaving Mahon on the downhill. Mahon continued to fall back, eventually finishing eighth in 15:51, but Daza stayed strong, passing several runners in the final mile.

“I think I could go a lot faster here,� said Daza. “Next time (at the Southern Section preliminaries Nov. 7) I’ll go faster on the downhills.’

Marina’s Shanon Winkleman finished fifth, in 15:42.

With the absence of Orange County’s two top-ranked girls’ teams--Santa Ana Valley and Villa Park--El Toro had the fastest county time in the girls’ team sweepstakes.

Freshman Shannon Liddy finished ninth (19:17) to lead the Chargers, after trying to maintain pace with eventual race winner Ashley Black of Palos Verdes (18:35).

Barbara Kozlowski of Irvine ran the fastest time (19:09) for Orange County girls, helping the Vaqueros to fifth place in the team sweepstakes. Teammate Andrea Caminiti finished third (19:23).

Freshman Martha Pinto of Katella, who ran the fastest girls’ time at the Orange County Championships, tried to keep up with eventual winner Kira Jorgensen of Rancho Buena Vista, considered one of the top prep runners in the nation, for the first mile, but finished 15th (19:52) behind Valencia freshman Heather Killeen (14th, 19:44).

Orange County fared well in the girls’ sophomore division, with Marina winning the sweepstakes. Tustin was second, Mission Viejo third and Santa Ana Valley fourth.

Notes As the boys’ team sweepstakes race was about to start at 9:43 a.m., many noticed something was missing. Dana Hills, ranked second in the county to Corona del Mar, had not yet appeared. Dana Hills Coach Tim Butler said: “It was raining this morning in Dana Point. I thought they’d use the rain course (which runs on pavement). The team met in my family room, took a vote and decided, 4-2, not to go. I didn’t want them to get that pounding (from the pavement), and some of them were sick, too.� Once the Dolphins found out the regular dirt course was being used, Butler and the Dana Hills junior varsity appeared in time for their late afternoon race. The Dolphins took first place.