Cross country: Boys and girls advance for Sailors

Tony Altobelli

WALNUT - There was a familiar face and a not-so-familar face among

the leaders at the CIF Southern Section Division II girls cross country

preliminaries Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.

Two-time Sea View League and defending Division II champion Amber

Steen was on top of her heat with a winning time of 18:05.8, the

second-fastest time of all four heats.

Joining Steen near the top of the heat was freshman Lauren Paul, who

finished fourth in her heat (15th overall) with a strong time of 19:15.1.

“That was very nice to see,” Sailors Coach Eric Tweit said. “She’s

worked so hard all year and to see her run a solid race like that is very

encouraging.”

The Sailors, ranked No. 4 in Division II, had the lowest point total

in their heat with 36 and trailed only Sultana’s 35 for lowest score in

the division.

“We did what we came here to and that’s qualify for the CIF finals,”

Tweit said. “I told the girls to run what they felt was comfortable for

them. It’s scary to tell runners take it easy because you never know what

can happen then.”

Five of the top-17 places went to Harbor, including a strong run from

Erin Friedman, who took seventh with a 19:34.3.

“We’ve had her for four years and she’s always been on the brink of

doing something outstanding for us, but something would always seem to

get in the way of that,” Tweit said. “She hadn’t come in under 20 minutes

all year and today, she runs a 19:34, which is really exciting. I’m

extremely happy for her.”

Seniors Sonya Mechkor (14th, 20:14.3) and Natalie St. Andre (17th,

20:24.2) round out the Sailors’ top-five.On the boys side, the Sailors

Coach Bim Barry wanted his team to qualify and qualify only. His wish was

his runners’ command.

Newport came in fourth in its heat with 158 points and despite no

top-10 marks, Barry was pleased with what was accomplished.

“We made it to CIF finals and that’s all we wanted to do out there

today,” Barry said. “We’ll put our best seven guys out there next week

and we’ll see what happens.”

Senior Chris McMillen was Newport’s top runner, placing 13th with a

time of 16:04.7. Jesus Santana was another top-20 runner, coming in 18th

with a 16:15.2.

John Peschelt (45th, 16:46.0), Ivan Romero (47th, 16:47.5) and Dan Moyer (49th, 16:50.3) all finished in the top-half of the pack, which was

good enough to qualify.

“Chris and Jesus ran well, but I thought we were running slower than

expected,” Peschelt said. “But I think we’ll be ready for next week. It’s

going to be an awesome race. This is a great course. It’s what cross

country is all about.”

The Sailors will tone down on the amount of running this week, but

will increase the intensity, according to Barry.

“All we can do is run our best,” he said. “On this course, I think the

downhill portions will be the difference. The stronger runners will run

hard on the downhills, not just recover from the uphills.”