CdM girls see the light

Bryce Alderton

Light faded away as the sun disappeared along the horizon, but Corona

del Mar High’s girls 1,600-meter relay team seemed to master the

incoming darkness as if it was a creature of the night.

The edges of the track were clothed in darkness as the stadium

lights at Trabuco Hills High began to gleam brighter with each

passing second at the 12th annual Trabuco Hills Invitational

Saturday. Ideal conditions for a solid CdM relay.

Sara Claster, Anne St. Geme, Kelly Morgan and Melissa Swigert

brought a smile to Coach Bill Sumner’s face with a 4:02.35, second

only to Long Beach Poly (3:49.80). Morgan ran a personal-best split

of one minute during the third leg, making up ground on the back

stretch.

“I was just trying to outrun the other bodies,” said Morgan as she

stood in a circle with her relay teammates.

“We’re so excited about second,” said a giddy Claster, who

finished 11th in the girls 400 earlier in the day. “We weren’t

expecting that.”

Their CdM teammates on the boys side did fairly well in the 1,600

relay as well.

Kevin Artz, Blake Dillion, Brandon Borcoman and Chris Ringstrom

led the way in their heat, crossing the finish line in 3.25.6. The

Sea Kings would finish fourth as Long Beach Poly broke its own meet

record with a 3:14.6 Saturday.

“We’ve trained a lot for this,” said Borcoman, who ran the third

leg of the relay. “Last we week we ran a 3:26 and we haven’t faced

this type of competition in dual meets or at the Irvine Invitational.

When you see the third and fourth place runners out there, it just

pushes you a lot harder. [Ringstrom] pulls an amazing course.”

Ringstrom, who took the SAT’s Saturday morning, finished third in

the 400 earlier Saturday in 50.56.

“It was tough, my brain is pretty tired right now,” he said.

Costa Mesa’s boys team of Ivan Ruiz, Huu Luu, Omar Ruiz and Luis

Gonzalez crossed in 3:53.03 in the 1,600 relay.

The festivities Saturday began around 8 a.m. and didn’t finish

until almost 7 p.m., giving plenty of time for other area athletes to

shine.

St. Geme finished third in the 1,600 (5:13.82) with Becky Cummins

finishing sixth in the 3,200 (11:38.43), gaining momentum the final

two laps and making up three places from the beginning stages of the

race. Swigert took seventh in the 400 (1:00.08).

Newport Harbor’s Courtney Harris finished sixth in the girls 1,600

(5:19.61) with fellow Sailor Alec Urtusuastegui crossing the line in

15th place (2:02.61) in the boys 800.

CdM’s Bo Weidner and Mike Rudinica clocked a 10:20.67 and

10:24.75, respectively, in the boys 3,200, good for 16th and 18th

places. Ahlia Kattan placed 16th in the girls 3,200 (12:11.16).

Mesa’s Rhondi Naff took second in her heat and finished 18th overall

in the girls 400 (1:02.47) while teammate Jasmin Day placed 19th in

the 800. CdM’s Keelan Cuyler clocked a 2:30.95 to finish 18th in the

800, which also included Newport Harbor’s Elda Hernandez (2:32.76)

and Taryn Kawata (2:37.89).

In the boys 800, Mesa’s Zach Powell finished 19th in 2:05.27 with

Dillion coming in at 2:07.92.

Sea King Matt Morris sprinted to a 16th-place finish in the boys

200 (23.54) while Mesa’s Zach Powell finished 20th in the boys 300

intermediates (43.63), and CdM’s Stefanie Sitzer raced in at 55.01 in

the girls 300 hurdles.

Artz took 21st (4:42.71) in the boys 1,600 and was joined by Costa

Mesa’s Mario Herrera, who finished 27th (4:42.23). Juan Avilez

(4:46.48), Marco Huipe (4:47.36), Ivan Ruiz (5:02.57), Jorge Raya

(5:08.05) and Saul Palomar (5:13.21) also finished for Mesa.

Costa Mesa’s Christine Bjelland raced to ninth in the 3,200

(11:53.13) while Mesa’s boys 4 x 1,600 relay team of Avilez, Huipe,

Palomar and Carlos Ibarra finished eighth in 19:34.67.

Mesa’s Danny Krikorian, who is also playing volleyball for the

school’s team this season, finished 20th overall in the triple jump

(37-8 3/4) while teammate Ziad Pepic placed 21st (37-5 3/4).

Krikorian also finished 20th in the long jump (19).

Krikorian, Luu, Gonzalez and Omar Ruiz teamed up in the 800 relay

to take 14th place (1:38.88).

Catherine Connell, Day, Kyla Flores and Hahn Nguyen clocked a

23:28.95 to finish ninth in the girls 4 x 1,600 relay.

Flores (5:57.77) and Nguyen (6:04.29) both finished the girls

1,600. Powell, Omar Ruiz, Luu and Gonzalez finished the 400 relay in

18th place (47.13).