Locals aim to advance

Throughout the high school cross country season the focus of the intense regimen has been to peak at the right time — to not tire from training too early nor have eased up too soon. Saturday at the CIF Southern Section finals at Mt. San Antonio College is the right time.

Three Newport-Mesa schools, Corona del Mar High, Sage Hill School and Estancia, bring both girls’ and boys teams to the event. Newport Harbor brings its girls’ team to the final.

Each of the teams ran the same Mt. SAC course Saturday at the preliminaries, and while schools were divided into separate heats and energy was certainly reserved for the final, the results gave a glimpse of how the teams and individuals stack up against one another.

The Sea Kings and Sailors girls’ teams finished with the lowest overall times in Division III and II preliminaries respectively and have positioned themselves for a shot at section titles.

Vying for individual section titles, Corona del Mar’s Sara Cummings, a senior, was the fastest girl in Division III on the three-mile course with a time of 17 minutes, 37 seconds. Cummings won the Division III sweepstakes race at the Mt. SAC Invitational and the Pacific Coast League title.

Sage Hill junior Connor Rose finished with the second fastest time in the Division V preliminaries at 16:32. Rose also won the Academy League title.

The Corona del Mar girls’ team comes in as the defending section and state champion and has been ranked at the top of Division III the entire year. After Cummings, junior Shelby Buckley finished third overall (18:03), junior Allison Damon was fourth (18:04), junior Allison Gushue was sixth (18:43) and senior Hilary May was 14th (18:51).

The Sailors girls’ team took a different route to the lowest time in the Division II preliminaries. Newport Harbor finished the season as the No. 3-ranked team, rising as high as two, but was third at the Sunset League finals.

What the Sailors lack in a dominant runner they make up for in a one-two combination of seniors Melissa Mead, who finished 11th overall in 18:17, and Taylor Bryson, who was 17th in 18:27.

The Sage girls’ team, which finished the year ranked No. 4 in Division V, is on the fringe of competing for a section title. The Lightning finished with the fourth lowest time at the Division V preliminaries. Sage Hill has a strong top two in sophomores Cait Williamson, who finished fourth overall in 19:47, and Aiyana Bobrownicki, who was eighth in 20:09.

Sage Hill won its first Academy League title this season.

Junior Katie McKeon, freshman Jackie Dion, Erica Faris, freshman Courtney Conlogue and sophomore MacKenzie Muhonen, provide depth and finished within a minute and a half of one another.

The CdM boys, ranked No. 6 in Division III at the end of the season, is another on the edge of making a run for a section championship. The Sea Kings finished with the fourth fastest time at the preliminaries. Senior Tim Scott had the 13th fastest time overall in 16:01, while junior Thomas Dialynas was 19th in 16:09.

The top three have rotated CdM and any are capable of filling the top slot.

The Eagles boys’ and girls’ teams finished with the 10th fastest time overall. Sophomore Fernando Orozco finished 37th overall in 16:31 for the boys and senior Sydney Barloon was 17th in 18:57 for the girls, who like Sage Hill, won their first league title this season in the Orange Coast League.

Junior Sean McElroy finished fourth overall for the Lightning boys’ who had the 12th fastest time last week.