Williamson wins it

ORANGE — The conditions this time at the Orange County Cross Country Championships were ideal for Cait Williamson.

No mud to deal with in the 42nd annual event. Unlike like last year, when the rain from the night before ruined the course.

It was back to the traditional three-mile course at Irvine Regional Park instead of the shortened 2.7-mile course due to safety issues.

Almost everyone last year achieved a personal record, which didn’t count.

Williamson’s did Saturday morning. She set a Sage Hill School record.

The senior finished in 18 minutes, 23 seconds and won the Division III race for the first time in her career.

Fourteen seconds separated her from the nearest opponent.

The difference was the hill, the one that was so sloppy last year you could’ve slid down face first. The hill was hard this year as it usually is for runners.

The hill is where Williamson hit her stride at the end of the first mile.

“I love hills,” she said.

Williamson came down the hill a couple of steps away from the leader, Loara junior Brittany Olivia.

One mile later, Williamson took over the lead and no one was about to catch her.

It might have seemed a little unusual to a majority of the 145 runners that someone from a CIF Southern Section Division V program claimed first in a Division III race.

Her coach felt the same way.

“A little odd for us because we’re bumped in there with a lot of big schools and you never know quite what to expect,” Nate Miller said.

Williamson beat her previous mark by five seconds. She bettered last year’s third-place result and the Lightning’s in the team race.

Sage Hill, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Division V poll, moved up three spots and took ninth. The rest of Sage Hill’s top runners were Caroline Grant (20:49, 58th), Jackie Dion (20:54, 62nd), Megan Culberson (22:22, 98th) and Lena Xiao (23:45, 127th).

Estancia placed seventh and Costa Mesa 11th. Santiago edged out Woodbridge, 85-86, for the title.

Freshman Erika Garcia finished with the Eagles’ best mark at 19:36 (20th), followed by Mariah Chapin (20:12, 33rd), Jessica Dominguez (21:17, 71st), Alejandra Peralta (21:51, 86th) and Heather Flores (22:07, 91st).

For the Mustangs, sophomore Hunter Strodel posted the top time of 20:14 (36th), followed by Kaitlin Yamamoto (20:32, 46th), Raquel Friedmann (20:35, 49th), Kelsi Bauermeister (23:07, 116th) and Cheyenne Lopez (23:52, 128th).

“We weren’t really running [well],” said Estancia Coach Charlie Appell, whose Eagles were still recovering from competing at the Clovis Invitational in Fresno last week.

Newport Harbor last week was also at Fresno’s Woodward Park, the site of the CIF State championships.

Woodward Park and Irvine Regional Park are different courses with different lengths.

The Sailors looked different, too.

Newport Harbor, ranked No. 8 in the CIF Southern Section Division II poll, competed in the top race, the sweepstakes.

The Sailors finished last in the 13-team field.

Things were so bad that Newport Harbor’s top four finishers weren’t listed by name in the results sheet.

“It didn’t really matter that much,” Newport Harbor Coach Eric Tweit said of seeing “EXTRA” by where the names of Desiree Alexander (18:40, 40th), Torri Sarris (19:14, 68th), Ava Nelson (19:25, 73rd) and Patti Moddelmog (19:43, 82nd) belonged. “We just didn’t run very well. I have no idea why. Sometimes it happens.

“It’s disappointing because it’s one of our goals to do well in this event.”

The Sailors were without No. 2 runner Erica Pearson for the second straight meet as Tweit said she’s out with knee problems.

Still, Corona del Mar Coach Bill Sumner was surprised by the performance turned in by the Sailors, the defending CIF State Division II champs.

Sumner’s Sea Kings caught some people by surprise as well before placing seventh.

“I was begging to get in it,” Sumner said of the sweepstakes race. “It was crazy.”

Sumner worked his magic.

CdM, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Division III poll, got the invite and it ran well in the race Dana Hills won.

Junior Melanie Powers finished seventh at 17:34 and Laura Bilder was 18th (18:10).

“People are saying we’re in a rebuilding year,” said Bilder, who finished ahead of teammates Kim Condino (18:22, 28th), Kristen Rivera (18:51, 49th) and Allie Garrett (19:09, 64th). “We want to prove them wrong.”

Seeing three Sea Kings finish ahead of Alexander, Newport Harbor’s top senior, made Sumner happy.

Next week for the Newport-Mesa area schools is the Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut, where CdM won’t defend its Division III team sweepstakes title.

“We started out with a whole new team,” said Sumner, whose team is competing in the regular Division III race. “We didn’t have anybody that showed up [before the season] with a sub five-minute mile like we did the last couple of years.

“This isn’t the top-notch team that we wanted to be, but we’re headed that way. Are we done chasing people? No.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].