Eagles, Tars compete in finals today

league finals outlook for WedsEstancia cross country teams and Newport Harbor’s girls’ tennis team in league showdowns.The Estancia High boys’ and girls’ cross country teams may be limping and sneezing at the Golden West League finals today at Huntington Beach’s Central Park, but they’ll be there, and both squads expect to qualify for the CIF Southern Section Division III Preliminaries.

The Estancia boys are 6-0 in league this season, but Eagles Coach Charlie Appell said several runners on both his boys’ and girls’ squads are recovering from illness or minor injuries, which could make them vulnerable.

“We expect Santa Ana to be hot on our heels because some of our runners have been sick,” Appell said.

Tito Castaneda leads the way as the Eagles’ No. 1 runner.

“We want him to place in the top five in league and qualify for the CIF [Southern Section Division III] prelims,” Appell said.

C.J. Buchmann, Hector Gomez and Enrique Vivar could give the Eagles enough depth to reach CIF. The top four teams move on to the CIF preliminaries.

The Estancia girls’ top runner, Sydney Barloon, is recovering from the flu, but she’s expected to compete. Paula Negrete is slated to run despite nursing a sprained ankle and Karina Rios should also give the team a boost.

Appell said how well his teams do depend on how well they deal with adversity.

“It depends on how much grief they can put up with,” he said. “We could send both teams to CIF or we could only send a few individuals.”

* The Newport Harbor High girls’ tennis team, which captured its third consecutive Sea View League title Monday by defeating Irvine, 17-1, competes in the league individual finals at 2 p.m. today at Woodbridge High.

The Sailors (14-2), who finished a perfect 10-0 in league this year, were outright league champs in 2003 and shared the league championship last season.

A 10-8 victory over Woodbridge recently sprung the team the league title. Woodbridge is ranked No. 9 in CIF Southern Section Division I, while Newport Harbor is currently unranked.

The Sailors were dealt a blow when freshman phenom Nelly Radeva decided to leave the team early in the season. But other players on team picked up the slack.

The doubles team of Sasha Dunlap and Chrissy Schwartz has been dominant, posting a 22-2 league record.

Senior Jill Casserly leads the way in singles, while other key players include seniors Megan McKay, Melissa Chinn, Brittany Cluck, Brittanny Sturgess and Carly Adams, along with sophomore Alex McIntosh and freshman Natalie Small.