LBHS Cross Country
Varsity Squads Lose Two to Estancia
By BOB CAMPBELL

The Estancia Eagles cross country team will long remember the day they handed top-ranked Laguna Beach their first ever Orange Coast League loss by a score of 24 to 31 on Halloween

Photo by Bob Campbell Sophomores Beverly Ronses and Alex Kempler battle to a one-two finish, leading the JV squad to victory in the Orange Coast league cluster meet at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa.

eve at Fairview Park in Costa

Mesa. Local News 's No. 3 ranked CIF and fourth ranked state division IV Breakers

It doesn't matter that boys' Coach Dave Brobeck chose to rest his two top runners, or that his team had competed in only one race over the previous four weeks. "They earned the win," said Brobeck. "We'll give them a much better race this next Thursday [Nov. 6] at league finals."

An off day on Oct. 11 and a broken-down-bus on Oct. 24 that kept Laguna from attending the Mt. SAC Invitational left the Oct. 18 OC Championships as the only fuel the Breakers had to keep their competitive fire burning over the past month.

Estancia, led by the duo of Fernando Orozco and Jorge Martin, went out fast, putting the Breakers in an early hole. And with senior Casey Finnerty and sophomore Matt Neev watching from the sidelines, Laguna didn't have the horses to close the gap. Still, with Finnerty and Neev scheduled to return for the finals, the Breakers should be able to reverse the outcome and claim another league title.

Senior Tommy Newton-Neal, who took third in a time of 16:06, led the way for Laguna. Junior Blake Hofmeister (16:08) finished right behind Newton- Neal in fourth. Juniors Andrew Shapero (16:39) and Richard Mattingley (16:41) and senior Jordan Festa (16:45) finished six seconds apart in eighth, ninth and 11th to round out the scoring five.

All five Orange Coast league schools raced at the same time in what is called a cluster meet, and the results were tallied as if each team had raced separately against the other four. Estancia's varsity boys finished with a record or 4-0. Laguna was 3-1, Costa Mesa 2-2, Calvary Chapel Santa Ana 1-3 and Godinez 0-4.

The lady Breakers also lost a tough decision to Estancia by a single point, 27 to 28. And considering the Eagles' top five finishers were freshmen, it looks as though the Laguna girls will have their hands full with Estancia for the next several years.

Like the guys, Coach Steve Lalim's girls also had raced only once in the past four weeks, and, he says "they were a little flat." Still, Lalim thinks his team has a chance to unseat the defending league champion Eagles if they get a little more aggressive.

"Last week [Oct. 30] we ran hard," said Lalim. "This week [Nov. 6] we need to race."

The Strickland sisters and junior Parker Yamasaki led the way for Laguna. Freshman Natasha (19:40) finished third, two seconds ahead of junior Kativa (19:42), who finished fourth. Yamasaki (19:43) was fifth. Junior McKenna Nokes (19:54, 7th) and freshman Marissa Merchant (20:40, 11th) completed the scoring for the Breakers.

The Estancia varsity girls finished 4-0. Laguna was 3-1, Costa Mesa 2-2, Godinez 1-3 and Calvary Chapel Santa Ana 0-4.

The rest of the Breakers did their best to ease the sting of Estancia's varsity sweep. Both JV teams took the top five spots in their races to notch perfect scores of 15, while the boys' frosh/soph squad also dominated with a near perfect total of 20 to win their race. Barring any major setbacks, all three teams should capture league titles.

Senior Horacio Acosta led the JV sweep with a time of 17:05. He was followed by juniors Sean Pigden (17:13), Alex Young (17:18), and Sean Mulville (17:29), and senior Brian Yale (17:55).

The JV girls, who swept the top eight spots, were led by the duo of sophomores Beverly Ronses and Alex Kempler, who battled it out to a one-two finish with identical times of 21:02. Sophomore Sophie Radach (21:10) and freshmen Hannah Jonus (21:38) and Julia Millang (21:39) rounded out the top five.

The quintet of sophomores Aaron Swartz (17:10, 1st), Kevin McQuaid (17:24, 3rd), and Wyatt Fair (17:31, 4th), freshman Jeff White (17:34, 5th), and sophomore Alec Toro (17:42, 7th) made up the scoring five for the frosh/soph team.

Although both Laguna varsity squads must win the finals at Fairview Park to capture the league championship, they need only finish in the top two to advance to CIF preliminaries on Saturday, Nov. 15, at Mt SAC in Walnut.