PREP ROUNDUP : County Teams Run Well in Section Prelims

Orange County teams enjoyed a banner day at the Southern Section Cross-Country preliminaries at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

Twelve boys’ teams and 15 girls’, along with several individuals, qualified for Saturday’s Southern Section finals.

In boys’ Division I-AA, Saddleback placed second in its heat, defeating favored Santa Ana Valley by 16 points and finishing three points shy of Hoover.

Teams ran in A and AA breakdowns in each of the four state divisions Saturday, but those will be combined for the purposes of state qualifying next Saturday in the section finals at Mt. SAC. Four boys and four girls teams out of each division will advance to the state meet Nov. 30 in Fresno.

The Division I boys’ race will match unranked Saddleback and nine the state’s top 10 teams, including fifth-ranked Santa Ana Valley, Esperanza, Dana Hills and top-ranked Hart.

Laguna Hills, the state’s top-ranked Division III team, won its III-AA heat over Paso Robles, 39-58. The Hawks’ Chris Lynch had the fastest county time while winning in 15 minutes 43 seconds on the three-mile course.

In girls’ competition, Edison ran away with its II-AA race, finishing with 17 points and is favored at state. Senior Shelley Tayor had the second-best time of the day among county runners, 18:28.0.

Individually, Sunny Hills sophomore Carrie Garritson won her II-AA race in a county-leading 17:58.2.