A championship hangs in the balance
If all roads lead to Rome, then Rome in the sport of cross-country is the league finals.
Only by performing on that stage can teams secure their spot in the CIF Southern Section’s postseason meets.
The gravity of that meet impacts season-long approaches to the year. It’s one of the reasons why Newport Harbor High didn’t run at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational.
Newport Harbor boys’ coach Nowell Kay and the Sailors opted to skip the meet because the physical test falls too close to the league finals.
The Sunset League Finals take place on Saturday morning at Central Park in Huntington Beach.
One can understand the decision to miss Mt. SAC, considering the Orange County Championships were just the week before. Sailors’ sophomore Alexis Garcia announced his rising stardom in the sport by taking second in the Boys’ Sweepstakes there.
Now, the moment that they have waited for has arrived. Newport Harbor will be seeking its first league title since 2008 when it toes the starting line at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
Back on Sept. 21, Newport Harbor edged Los Alamitos, 44-49. The Sailors have successfully dodged the injury bug throughout the season. Assuming everything goes according to plan, Kay expects the five-point gap from the preview meet to widen.
“I think that the point differential has gotten bigger,” Kay said. “I think that we’ll run a lot better than we did at the preview meet.”
“Obviously, the key for us all season has been closing that gap down. Michael Davey [the No. 4 runner] has done a good job of that.”
The inconsistencies of Newport Harbor at the No. 5 spot have Edison game-planning for the possibility of a surprising victory.
Chargers coach Brian Brierly believes his team is getting healthy at the right time, and it has performed better as of late.
Cody Groom and Tyler Bond lead the Chargers’ lineup, and Brierly is hopeful that No. 3 runner Will Worth can break into the top seven on Saturday.
“We’re talking always of how to disrupt Newport,” Brierly said. “They have a very strong front three, but they can have some weaknesses at their four and, especially, at their five.
“Hopefully, if we run the way that we’re capable of running, we can start to exploit that a bit and maybe surprise some people.”
And then there were two
There isn’t much doubt who the top two teams in the girls’ varsity race will be in Saturday’s Sunset League Finals.
Fountain Valley narrowly defeated Los Alamitos, 34-36, in the preview meet. The Barons were able to accomplish this with a scoring five of Kristen Prado, Sara Feitz, Ashley Faller, Maddie Jahshan and Isabella Guerra.
Edison would appear to be a pretty safe bet to take the league’s third bid into the CIF-SS rounds, owing to the 51-point gap between itself and fourth-place Marina back in September.
Just give them a chance
Only three teams will advance from Saturday’s Sunset League Finals to the CIF-SS Preliminaries on Nov. 12 at the Riverside City Cross-Country Course.
Beyond that, individuals will have the opportunity to extend their season. To do so, Sunset League runners must place in the top six of their varsity race to move on.
Given the likely scenario that Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos will fight for the boys’ title, only one more team can sneak into the postseason. Edison held off Huntington Beach, 77-82, for third in the league preview.
Among those teams, Huntington Beach’s Alekos Mitchel and Edison’s Groom and Bond would appear to be in contention for individual spots if necessary.
Newport Harbor’s Mia Matsunami is likely to advance as an individual from the girls’ field.
Dates and times of remaining league finals:
Saturday, Oct. 29 – Sunset League Finals at Central Park, Huntington Beach
Wednesday, Nov. 2 - Orange Coast League Finals at Irvine Regional Park, Orange
Wednesday, Nov. 2 - Golden West League Finals at Central Park, Huntington Beach
Thursday, Nov. 3 – Pacific Coast League Finals at Mason Park, Irvine
Thursday, Nov. 3 – Garden Grove League Finals at Mile Square Park, Fountain Valley
