CdM makes it five straight

WALNUT — Rarely does Bill Sumner second guess his storied Corona del Mar High girls’ cross country program.

At the start of the season, Sumner questioned the Sea Kings.

“We weren’t [ranked as high],” said Sumner, who began asking himself, “Are we that bad? Did we take that much of a hit?”

As the team began to take shape in mid-October, Sumner begged to get CdM in a local sweepstakes race.

The following month, a former runner brought a board the size of a windshield to a league meet. The board was a gift for Sumner.

Glued to it were articles, each laminated, each reminding Sumner of the prolific teams of the past.

Sumner is going to have to make room on the board for another story, another dynamic team.

The Sea Kings claimed the CIF Southern Section Division III championship for the fifth straight season, as they beat Orange Lutheran, 62-71, at Mt. San Antonio College Saturday.

“Five in a row, that’s nuts,” Sumner said. “This is one of the biggest [wins in my career].”

Sumner has been around CdM for 26 years. This is the program’s 10th girls’ section crown.

As for what compares to Saturday’s feat, Sumner brought up guiding the boys’ team to the CIF State championship in 1996, when CdM edged out Granada of Livermore by one point.

The boys weren’t supposed to win that year.

Sumner said before the season no one in the section picked the girls to win the final this year.

If you asked him back in September, Sumner wouldn’t have either.

“You always wonder,” he said.

He no longer doubts what the Sea Kings are capable after Melanie Powers finished in fourth place in 18 minutes, followed by Laura Bilder in ninth in 18:32, Kim Condino in 13th in 18:45, Marisa Cummings in 21st in 19:13 and Kristen Rivera in 26th in 19:22.

One race remains and it might go down as Sumner’s most memorable. Sumner has one question for the Sea Kings.

“Do we have anything left for next week?” he asked.

“We always got another good race in us,” Bilder answered.

The Sea Kings are heading to the CIF State Division III finals Saturday at Fresno’s Woodward Park, where they expect another showdown with Orange Lutheran, the defending state champion.

Newport Harbor and Sage Hill School travel to Fresno as well after qualifying out of their respective divisions.

Unable to defend their Division II section title, the Sailors placed fourth. Newport Harbor will try to defend its state title, a tough task considering Saugus is in Division II and the Centurions blew past the competition to win Saturday’s section race.

The Lightning finished fifth in Division V. They might be without No. 1 runner Cait Williamson, one of the state’s premier Division V runners.

The senior had to be helped at the end of the race as she collapsed.

Last year in this event, Williamson celebrated after becoming Sage Hill’s first runner to claim an individual title in school history.

Williamson’s condition created a buzz. She was visibly hurting while laying on a table and being attended to by medical personnel under a canopy near the finish line.

Other than Williamson, the talk at Mt. SAC was all CdM and how it edged out Orange Lutheran in the Division III final for the second straight year.

Sumner’s girls have all grown up.

Every Sumner team has a superstar. Powers became that in her junior year.

Powers has proved the Sea Kings have a runner who can hang with the lone wolves out in front of the pack.

“Nerve-racking,” Powers explained how it felt beating out Orange Lutheran’s top two runners in Staci Foster and Taylor Williams, who finished fifth and seventh, respectively.

“You don’t know how they’re feeling, or what they’re doing, or what they’re thinking.”

That’s where Bilder comes in on a young team.

With standouts Shelby Buckley and Allison Damon lost to graduation, Sumner said he needed a leader after the senior duo led the Sea Kings last year to their fourth straight section title and a fifth-place showing at state.

Bilder filled that leadership role. For that, Sumner calls Bilder the team’s mother because she’s been so consistent her senior year.

“She’s never had a bad day this year,” Sumner said.

Condino ran varsity last year, but Condino said Sumner likes to say this year was her first year really competing in cross country.

The senior is no longer the behind-the-scenes girl. She finished six spots ahead of Orange Lutheran No. 3 runner Jessica Marquardt, giving the Sea Kings three stellar runners.

Both Cummings and Rivera beat out Orange Lutheran runners. If the junior and freshman can do it again, CdM has a solid chance of dethroning Orange Lutheran and winning the title like it accomplished in back-to-back seasons in 2006 and 2005.

Sumner said his Sea Kings are interchangeable from the fourth runner to the last one.

Junior Amanda Garrett’s mark didn’t count into the final score, but she finished seven seconds and seven spots behind Rivera.

The gaps are so tight that even elite teams can ill afford to have runners dragging behind when their racing CdM.

Newport Harbor’s strong showing had a lot to do with forming a pack.

Erica Pearson finished 23rd in 18:43. Right behind the senior was senior Desiree Alexander (29th, 18:53), sophomore Victoria Sarris (30th, 18:55), freshman Lauren Clemence (35th, 19:09) and junior Ava Nelson (38th, 19:15).

“This was her best [section] finals,” Newport Harbor Coach Eric Tweit said of Pearson, who finished 34th last year. “She’s been with us for four years and she’s either been hurt, sick, or didn’t run as well.

“It was really good for her to really feel good about herself.”

Pearson looked confident. She and Alexander are making their fourth state appearance.

Each trip has been successful, a state team title last season after back-to-back runner-up finishes.

“Considering we’re racing against the No. 1 team in the nation, yeah it will be a little bit difficult,” said Alexander of defending the state crown with favored Saugus in the race. “The challenge is always good.”

Sage Hill has a huge one if Williamson can’t compete at state.

Williamson somehow completed the Division V race in 21:13, good for 22nd place.

The rest of the Lightning runners were freshman Caroline Grant (24th, 21:17), junior Jackie Dion (28th, 21:33), freshman Sanna Taskinen (50th, 22:35) and senior Lena Xiao (61st, 23:05).

“Flu bug, or might’ve been a heat stroke,” Sage Hill Coach Nate Miller said as to what made Williamson collapse. “She had to walk at a couple of spots [during the race]. I saw her walking on Reservoir [Hill] and walking at the end. Someone said she got sick on the switchbacks [at the first mile].

“She’s doing OK. What a great job of toughing it out.”