Third at division, boys sprint to state meet

Laguna cross-country team will attempt to defend title in Fresno.Although his runners were not as sharp as he had expected, coach Dave Brobeck’s Laguna Beach High boys’ cross-country team did well enough at the CIF-Southern Section cross-country championships at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut Saturday

The Breakers, in fact, are Fresno-bound.

By finishing among the top teams in Division IV, Laguna has qualified for the state championships, which will be run Saturday at Woodward Park.

The boys’ team will be joined there by Earl Towner’s girls’ squad, which also qualified Saturday.

Laguna’s boys’ team is the defending Division IV state champion.

Boys

Laguna finished third in the Division IV race with 73 points. The Breakers were behind champion Big Bear, which scored 28 points, and second-place Orange Lutheran, which finished with 70 points.

Orange Lutheran had been ranked No. 1 in the Division IV poll throughout the season.

Laguna had a team time of 1:23.26.

“This was not quite the race we all expected. Not that it was all that bad, it just wasn’t that big pop that we all thought it would be,” Brobeck said. “We didn’t look sharpened. In fact, I thought we looked a bit tired. Rest assured though, the peak is not here yet.”

Max Mullender, Aman Bhatia and Andrew Raub each earned All-CIF honors.

Mullender, Laguna’s top finisher in the race, was third overall with a time of 15:58. Bhatia was second among Laguna runners and eighth overall at 16:26. Raub was the next Laguna finisher and ninth overall at 16:27.

Finishing in fourth through seventh places for Laguna were Yann Panassie (17:02, 26th overall), Corey Hedden (17:33, 44th), Peter Hastings (17:36, 47th) and Matt Ross (17:54, 58th).

Running personal course records were Raub (nine seconds under previous best), Panassie (12 seconds), Hedden (21 seconds) and Hastings (35 seconds).

With CIF finals behind them, Laguna can now concentrate on defending its state title.

“There’s two things left to do now -- rest and sharpen,” Brobeck said. “The work is essentially done, and the only way we can realize and enjoy the gains made by our hard work in training over the past four months is to really recover.

“We can be in contention again for a state championship, but it has to be the will of all our guys now. The only team I’m concerned with is us. I don’t care about our competitors and how good/bad they are. Thinking about how they might race is just wasted energy. We can only control ourselves. The best is yet to come.”

Girls

Laguna has earned a spot at Saturday’s state championships in Fresno.

The Breakers scored a 147 and finished in fifth place in the Division IV team standings. Top-ranked Orange Lutheran finished first, followed by Maranatha, Paraclete and Marlborough.

Alex Crawley led the Laguna contingent by running an 18:55, good for fifth place. 20051125iqe5oeknMARK DUSTIN / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Laguna Beach’s Aman Bhatia, center, keeps his lead over Orange Lutheran’s Kyle Ross, left, teammate Andrew Raub, behind Bhatia, and La Salle’s Alex Leos, right, at division meet.