Cross country: The finals have arrived

Tony Altobelli

WALNUT - Make a fresh, strong pot of coffee and pack up the car.

The CIF Southern Section cross country finals have arrived and they’re

starting early today.

The Newport Harbor High boys team tackle the legendary Mt. San Antonio

College course at 8:05 a.m. in the Division II finals, while Estancia and

Corona del Mar follow at 8:45 a.m. in Division IV.

On the girls side, Newport Harbor competes in Division II at 9:45,

while CdM and Estancia run at 10:25.

The Sea Kings’ girls are the team to beat in Division IV. They cruised

to a top qualifying time as a group, a full two minutes ahead of

runner-up Orange Lutheran.

All seven CdM runners finished in the top 21, with the front five of

Season Meservey, Katie Quinlan, Diana Hossfeld, Lindsay Yourman and Jenny

Cummins placing in the top 13.

Newport’s girls put together the second-fastest team time in the

preliminaries and are led by senior standout Amber Steen, whose 18:05.8

bettered her heat by 33 seconds. Only Agoura’s Laura Jakosky’s 17:47.9

bettered Steen in all of Division II.

The Eagles’ girls are paced by the duo of senior Liz Huipe and

sophomore Diana Rosette. Huipe placed fourth in her heat with an 18:59.7,

while Rosette came in eighth with a 20:02.7. Appell is shooting for a CIF

state preliminaries berth for both.

Newport’s boys qualified for the finals without a top-10 finish in the preliminaries, but according to Coach Bim Barry, he sees the boys racing

a top-quality race today.

“The kids have done their work,” Barry said. “It takes five runners to

be successful and they all need to step up and have great runs out

there.”

The Eagles’ boys are going to be battling more than an elite pack of

runners today, according to Coach Charlie Appell.

“Our team is trying to fight a flu bug that’s going around,” Appell

said. “We’ve got three runners at about 50% and this will put a little

different picture on the race.”

For the Eagles to be successful, Appell needs big runs from youngsters

like sophomores Aaron Van Geem and Gerardo Orozco and Abel Flores. “They

have to take three big steps forward today,” he said.

Corona del Mar’s Travis Beardslee and Josh Yelsey each finished in the

top 10 in their preliminary heat, but will need big races from juniors

Dustin Hodges and John Grod to bring the Sea Kings close to the top of

the team competition.