Fountain Valley takes fifth, behind El Toro’s first OC girls’ cross-country title

Depending on who is asked, rankings may or may not matter.

The county rankings released by PrepCalTrack.com on Monday served a couple of purposes. Most consequential was their impact in determining the field for the Orange County Championships sweepstakes races.

Both of the Ocean View High boys’ and girls’ teams and the Corona del Mar girls were among those to bust the barrier of the top 15 for small school teams (Divisions 3-5) hoping to make the cut.

The other benefit of a ranking system is to establish a favorite and an underdog. Between those given the honor of topping the county rankings as teams and individuals, three of the four stood up.

Third-ranked El Toro was the outlier, as its girls’ team claimed its first county title in program history on Saturday at Oak Canyon Park.

El Toro defeated Capistrano Valley 81-85. Chargers senior Ashley Messineo finished fourth in 17 minutes, 53 seconds, and Alexis Neuville took sixth in 18:02. Grace Griffin, Jasmine Thompson, and Taylor Slouka rounded out the scoring quintet.

“I told the girls, ‘Everyone says that you’ve got a chance. So does your coach,’” Chargers coach Ken Chai said. “The last thing that I told them was, ‘Go out and enjoy it because you already made history, as far as I’m concerned.’ They did today.”

Chai indicated that his team had a sort of innocence about it. The Chargers will happily deal with the challenges that come with defending success.

“They’re just humble,” Chai said. “They don’t know how good they are, which is amazing. They’re super, super hard workers, and they just love each other. It’s a team effort.”

The girls’ individual title went to Capistrano Valley’s Haley Herberg for the second consecutive year. Her time of 17:16 was eight seconds better than runner-up Sara Leonard.

This is the meet’s first year at Oak Canyon Park after previously being held at Irvine Regional Park. A stretch of gravel at the starting line was the least favorable part of the course to the runners, but overall, it passed its first test.

“I did not feel at risk for getting lost, but I did have to look up to make sure that I was running the tangents because there were a lot of turns,” Herberg said. “It was pretty well marked off.”

Fountain Valley was fifth, the best placing by a local program in either sweepstakes race. The Barons were led by Ashley Faller (18:12, ninth), Julia Svartstrom (18:26, 14^th), and Sara Feitz (18:28, 16^th).

Behind Svartstrom came another freshman standout. Annabelle Boudreau (18:40, 23^rd) paced CdM to a 10^th-place finish.

Ocean View was 16^th, led by Adriana Gil’s time of 19:52.

On the boys’ side, Dana Hills won comfortably over El Toro 79-105. The Dolphins won their third straight county crown, their ninth since 2002.

Dolphins senior Jack Landgraf (14:48) was unable to defend his individual title, as JSerra sophomore Anthony Grover (14:45) chased him down in the last 800 meters.

Four runners were given a share of the top spot among the county boys coming into the meet. Newport Harbor’s Alexis Garcia was arguably the hottest, having beaten Grover straight-up at the Clovis Invitational the week prior. He also finished 24 seconds faster than Landgraf on the same course.

“At Clovis, Alexis just got in front of me and controlled the pace,” Grover recalled. “I didn’t really think about it too much before the race, but I just underestimated the competition at Clovis. You can’t underestimate the competition.

“[Winning the Orange County Championships] means a lot because there is a lot of good competition in Orange County. It just really boosts my confidence for the later races.”

Ocean View clipped Newport Harbor 328-349 for the top local showing in the boys’ sweepstakes. David Brito (15:42) and Edwin Montes (15:43) led the Seahawks, finishing 32^nd and 34^th, respectively.

BOYS’ CROSS-COUNTRY

Orange County Championships

At Oak Canyon Park

3-mile course

Sweepstakes Race

Team Results

1. Dana Hills 79; 2. El Toro 105; 3. Mission Viejo 149; 4. Trabuco Hills 149; 5. Valencia 190; 6. Sunny Hills 236; 7. Aliso Niguel 250; 8. Brea Olinda 268; 9. Canyon 269; 10. Los Alamitos 270; 15. Ocean View 328; 16. Newport Harbor 349

Individuals

1. Grover (JSerra) 14:45; 2. Landgraf (Dana Hills) 14:48; 3. Chavez (Mission Viejo) 14:55; 4. Vargas (El Toro) 14:57; 5. Fuller (Dana Hills) 14:58; 6. McKenna (Aliso Niguel) 14:59; 7. Garcia (Newport Harbor) 15:00; 8. Herold (JSerra) 15:05; 9. Frisone (Valencia) 15:07; 10. Dodd (El Toro) 15:10.7; 32. Brito (Ocean View) 15:42

Division 2

Team Results

1. Woodbridge 51; 2. Beckman 108; 3. Fountain Valley 117; 4. San Clemente 129; 5. Marina 133; 6. San Juan Hills 148; 7. El Modena 226; 8. Segerstrom 240; 9. Villa Park 255; 10. Huntington Beach 271; DNP Edison

Individuals

1. Prado (Fountain Valley) 15:40; 2. L. Mitchel (Huntington Beach) 15:46; 3. Sutherland (Marina) 15:51; 4. Terefe (Woodbridge) 15:56; 5. Ahmed (Woodbridge) 16:02; 6. Lasting (San Juan Hills) 16:06; 7. Tadros (Fountain Valley) 16:11.7; 8. Alcerro (Villa Park) 16:11.8; 9. Choi (Woodbridge) 16:11.9; 10. Sech (San Clemente) 16:16; 11. Groom (Edison) 16:20

Small Schools (Friday)

Team Results

1. Corona del Mar 76; 2. Servite 78; 3. Mater Dei 89; 4. Esperanza 162; 5. St. Margaret’s 165; 6. Costa Mesa 168; 7. Santa Margarita 172; 8. Orange Lutheran 179; 9. Pacifica 247; 10. Laguna Hills 265; 15. Sage Hill 399; 22. Estancia 617; DNP Los Amigos

Individuals

1. Byrne (Santa Margarita) 15:39; 2. Howard (Santa Margarita) 15:46; 3. Mowery (Orange Lutheran) 15:49; 4. Wacker (Mater Dei) 15:52; 5. Rosales (Servite) 15:56; 6. Cianfrani (Corona del Mar) 15:59; 7. Van Dorpe (Mater Dei) 16:04; 8. Welch (Esperanza) 16:06; 9. Soto (St. Margaret’s) 16:07.4; 10. Taylor (Corona del Mar) 16:07.6; 15. Aguilar (Costa Mesa) 16:22; Nataupsky (Sage Hill) 16:36; 113. Barajas (Estancia) 18:54; 137. Cabrera (Los Amigos) 20:37

GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY

Orange County Championships

At Oak Canyon Park

3-mile course

Sweepstakes Race

Team Results

1. El Toro 81; 2. Capistrano Valley 85; 3. Mission Viejo 117; 4. Dana Hills 123; 5. Fountain Valley 125; 6. Canyon 166; 7. Los Alamitos 216; 8. San Juan Hills 224; 9. Tesoro 239; 10. Corona del Mar 257; 16. Ocean View 409

Individuals

1. Herberg (Capistrano Valley) 17:16; 2. Leonard (Canyon) 17:24; 3. Hines (Mission Viejo) 17:41; 4. Messineo (El Toro) 17:53; 5. Johnson (Mission Viejo) 17:55; 6. Neuville (El Toro) 18:02; 7. Hall (Foothill) 18:04; 8. Sanacore (Los Alamitos) 18:11; 9. Faller (Fountain Valley) 18:12.2; 10. Bautista (Capistrano Valley) 18:12.5; 23. Boudreau (Corona del Mar) 18:40; 66. Gil (Ocean View) 19:52

Division 2

Team Results

1. Valencia 143; 2. Segerstrom 148; 3. Aliso Niguel 149; 4. JSerra 158; 5. Beckman 160; 6. Santa Ana 176; 7. Kennedy 180; 8. Marina 227; 9. Villa Park 245; 10. University 258; 12. Huntington Beach 307; 15. Newport Harbor 356; DNP Edison

Individuals

1. Hernandez (Santa Ana) 18:43; 2. Lowengrub (University) 18:49; 3. Schuerger (Aliso Niguel) 18:56.4; 4. Peterson (Villa Park) 18:56.8; 5. Silvar (Segerstrom) 18:58; 6. Jeon (Valencia) 18:59; 7. Paredes (Sunny Hills) 19:02; 8. Dorff (Edison) 19:06; 9. Silengo (Kennedy) 19:08; 10. Avendano (Godinez) 19:09; 17. Rule (Huntington Beach) 19:24; 27. Glassen (Newport Harbor) 19:54

Small Schools (Friday)

Team Results

1. Esperanza 116; 2. Laguna Hills 120; 3. Santa Margarita 131; 4. Brea Olinda 134; 5. Bolsa Grande 134; 6. Mater Dei 134; 7. El Dorado 210; 8. Century 219; 9. Yorba Linda 224; 10. Sage Hill 230; 15. Costa Mesa 346; DNP Los Amigos; DNP Estancia

Individuals

1. Vincent (El Dorado) 17:56; 2. Molina (Costa Mesa) 18:12; 3. Button (Sage Hill) 18:33; 4. Williams (Laguna Hills) 18:48; 5. Douge (Brea Olinda) 18:52; 6. Reeves (Esperanza) 18:57; 7. Lopez (Century) 19:03; 8. Jones (St. Margaret’s) 19:04.4; 9. Kanuho (Bolsa Grande) 19:04.5; 10. Turner (Laguna Hills) 19:05; 60. Garduno (Estancia) 21:05; 108. Reyes (Los Amigos) 23:25

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner