Photo finish for top four Sea Kings

CdM girls cross countryAnnie St. Geme, Cummings, Damon and Buckley all cross the tape together in win over Laguna.NEWPORT BEACH -- Although it was race day for the Corona del Mar High girls cross country team, it was business as usual, said CdM Coach Bill Sumner.

The Sea Kings (5-0) romped over Laguna Beach Wednesday at Bonita Creek Park, 15-50, as the top four overall finishers -- Annie St. Geme, Sarah Cummings, Allison Damon and Shelby Buckley -- each crossed the line at 19:05.

“We took it easier than usual today,” said St. Geme, one of CdM’s four first-place finishers.

“The thing with these girls is that there are no egos on the team,” said Sumner. “Nobody is trying to get their name in the paper.”

CdM’s Nicole Slykhous finished fifth in 19:13, No. 6 Christie St. Geme finished in 19:23, and No. 7 Alison Gushue finished in 19:41.

The Breakers ran without All-Pacific Coast League junior Alex Crawley, who was out due to shin splints.

“This was just one of many races,” said Breakers Coach Earl Towner. This wasn’t a big, important race. I’m just proud all my girls finished.”

The Laguna girls, who took a wrong path leading them 15 feet in the wrong direction, captured eighth through 12th place with a top time of 21:27, and weren’t the only ones who took the day in stride.

“We worked hard this week, so today was more of a tempo run,” Sumner said.

The Sea Kings, which broke the course record at the Clovis invitational in Fresno last weekend, look forward to the Orange County championships Saturday at Irvine Regional Park in Orange.

With next weekend on their mind, the girls paced themselves against the Breakers.

“We wanted to take it easy today,” said St. Geme. “We viewed it more as a workout. We wanted to save some for the OC championships.”

The CdM seven-pack reached the midway point as a group at 9:04, 1:10 ahead of the Breakers, and finished over two minutes ahead of the top Laguna finisher.

“We ran really well this week,” said St. Geme. “We opened up in stride, and used today to loosen up our legs for this weekend.”

200510130S1JR1Q4No Caption20051013ioa2tgknKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)From left, Corona del Mar’s Allison Damon, Annie St. Geme, Shelby Buckley and Sarah Cummings cross the finish line together in first place during Wednesday’s meet against Laguna Beach.