How the Golden West was won

The fall of 2016 was somewhat of a storybook season for Ocean View High’s boys’ cross-country team.

Everything came together, as a team with five seniors went out on top, capturing the program’s first league title since 1983.

With much turnover on the varsity roster, the perception outside of the Ocean View camp was that the previous season had been one-of-a-kind. It could not happen again.

Even Seahawks coach Daniel Hurtado had his suspicions that Santa Ana would rise up and prove itself the class of the Golden West League once again.

In the midst of the invitational season, the Seahawks kept a watchful eye on Santa Ana, turning every common course into a virtual dual meet. At one invitational, the point spread had widened to 15 points in favor of the Saints.

Then, right before the Orange County Championships, a miracle happened. Ocean View seized victory from the jaws of defeat, rallying in the final 300 meters of their league dual meet against Santa Ana to win 27-28.

Hurtado remained unsure of how things would go in the rematch. Although his team was assured a share of the league crown by going undefeated in the dual meets, taking the outright title seemed to be a major question mark.

Lightning struck twice for the Ocean View boys’ cross-country team this season, as the Seahawks pulled off another dramatic comeback to beat Santa Ana 27-31 to take their second straight league title.

“If I could compare it to last year, last year, I was extremely confident that it was going to happen,” Hurtado said of winning the league title. “Now, we were the ones with a target on our back.

“We were able to pull two miracle races back-to-back. I didn’t know if it was going to happen, but again, I told the guys before the race that they have the most heart and the most grit that I’ve seen of any other team I’ve coached before.”

Seahawks junior Edwin Montes won the race in 15 minutes, 35 seconds, with senior teammate David Brito placing second in 15:55.

“We knew that people doubted us in the beginning,” Montes said. “We were just a one-time thing.

“That gave us the motivation to keep going and try to do better. We wanted to defend our title.”

Montes and Brito were the only two Ocean View athletes running up front, while Santa Ana had five runners in the top seven after the first mile. When the race circled back from the hill at the midway point, both teams had four runners among the top 10.

Humberto Molina (5^th, 16:12) and Jason St. Pierre (7^th, 16:20) had made huge leaps to jump in front of the back end of Santa Ana’s scoring quintet. Parker Walpole, Miguel Flores, and Alex Hernandez also became first-time league champions for Ocean View.

The celebration was on after the win, with Hurtado being subjected to the obligatory Gatorade shower.

“If they keep winning, they can do this every year,” Hurtado said while shivering and smiling.

Ocean View’s girls also qualified for CIF by taking third place with 52 points. Romie Smith (6^th, 19:59), Adriana Gil (7^th, 20:01), and Micayla Shook (9^th, 20:05) finished in the top 10 for the Seahawks.

Juniors Duncan Taylor (2^nd, 15:08), Ian Turner (3^rd, 15:12), and Joey Cianfrani (5^th, 15:22) all placed in the top five, leading Corona del Mar’s boys’ cross-country team to a second place finish in the Pacific Coast League finals on Wednesday.

Woodbridge won the boys’ team title 29-39, behind Brett Knutson’s victorious time of 15:04.

Freshman Annabelle Boudreau (3^rd, 17:48) and junior Gigi Lee (5^th, 18:09) produced top-five finishes for the Sea Kings in the girls’ race, but Northwood came away with the team title 40-55.

CdM’s boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams will compete in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 Preliminaries next week.

In their third league meeting of the season, it was San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s that won the rubber match between two of Division 5’s powers in girls’ cross-country.

The fourth-ranked Tartans overthrew No. 3 Sage Hill 22-45, trotting out their full lineup for the first time after they were missing two varsity runners in defeat in the second league cluster.

St. Margaret’s Andi Carnell won the race, running 17:39 on the Mason Park course on Tuesday. Sage Hill’s Brooklyn Button was second, coming in at 17:45.

Sage Hill’s boys comfortably qualified for CIF, taking the third of four bids offered to the seven-team Academy League. The Lightning were led by Luke Nataupsky (11^th, 16:33) and Kylen Patel (12^th, 16:34).

BOYS’ CROSS-COUNTRY

Academy League finals

At Mason Park, Irvine

3-mile course

Q – denotes CIF individual qualifier

Team Results

1. Crean Lutheran 23; 2. St. Margaret’s 32; 3. Sage Hill 85; 4. Oxford Academy 114; 5. Whitney 114; 6. Brethren Christian 184; 7. Downey Calvary Chapel 187

Individuals

1. Miller (Crean Lutheran) 15:06.24; 2. Weiss (Crean Lutheran) 15:15.56; 3. Soto (St. Margaret’s) 15:51.30; 4. Graham (St. Margaret’s) 15:57.66; 5. Kochan (Crean Lutheran) 15:59.64; 6. Fitzgerald (Crean Lutheran) 16:09.47; 7. Villamil (St. Margaret’s) 16:15.54; 8. Colglazier (St. Margaret’s) 16:22.38; 9. Sutherland (Crean Lutheran) 16:31.13; 10. Capelle (St. Margaret’s) 16:33.07; 11. Nataupsky (Sage Hill) 16:33.79; 12. Patel (Sage Hill) 16:34.20; 32. L. Montgomery (Brethren Christian) 18:16.93

Golden West League finals

At Central Park, Huntington Beach

3-mile course

Q – denotes CIF individual qualifier

Team Results

1. Ocean View 27; 2. Santa Ana 31; 3. Segerstrom 78; 4. Loara 134; 5. Westminster 136; 6. Orange 161

Individuals

1. Montes (Ocean View) 15:35.99; 2. Brito (Ocean View) 15:55.96; 3. Soriano (Santa Ana) 16:04.93; 4. Palacios (Santa Ana) 16:08.54; 5. Molina (Ocean View) 16:12.15; 6. Amato (Santa Ana) 16:19.30; 7. J. St. Pierre (Ocean View) 16:20.31; 8. Avila (Santa Ana) 16:26.91; 9. Garcia (Segerstrom) 16:34.47; 10. Duran (Santa Ana) 16:35.32

Pacific Coast League finals

At Irvine Regional Park

3-mile course

Q – denotes CIF individual qualifier

Team Results

1. Woodbridge 29; 2. Corona del Mar 39; 3. Beckman 68; 4. Northwood 113; 5. University 125; 6. Irvine 130

Individuals

1. Knutson (Woodbridge) 15:04; 2. Taylor (Corona del Mar) 15:08; 3. Turner (Corona del Mar) 15:12; 4. Terefe (Woodbridge) 15:13; 5. Cianfrani (Corona del Mar) 15:22; 6. Suhr (Beckman) 15:24; 7. Adel (Woodbridge) 15:39; 8. Choi (Woodbridge) 15:43; 9. Pantigoso (Woodbridge) 15:47; 10. Aggarwal (Beckman) 15:48

GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY

Academy League finals

At Mason Park, Irvine

3-mile course

Q – denotes CIF individual qualifier

Team Results

1. St. Margaret’s 22; 2. Sage Hill 45; 3. Crean Lutheran 72; 4. Whitney 107; 5. Oxford Academy 147; 6. Downey Calvary Chapel 148; 7. Brethren Christian 187

Individuals

1. Carnell (St. Margaret’s) 17:39.96; 2. Button (Sage Hill) 17:45.97; 3. Jones (St. Margaret’s) 18:46.52; 4. Arundale (St. Margaret’s) 19:25.04; 5. Sellas (St. Margaret’s) 19:26.84; 6. Warden (Sage Hill) 19:36.64; 7. Kochan (Crean Lutheran) 19:48.11; 8. Oquendo (Crean Lutheran) 19:48.63; 9. Larson (St. Margaret’s) 19:50.81; 10. Jaffe (Sage Hill) 19:54.52; 26. Timblin (Brethren Christian) 21:51.00

Golden West League finals

At Central Park, Huntington Beach

3-mile course

Q – denotes CIF individual qualifier

Team Results

1. Santa Ana 37; 2. Segerstrom 48; 3. Ocean View 52; 4. Loara 110; 5. Westminster 130; 6. Orange 179

Individuals

1. Hernandez (Santa Ana) 18:32.42; 2. Razo (Segerstrom) 19:35.62; 3. Silvar (Segerstrom) 19:37.55; 4. Villagrana (Loara) 19:42.53Q; 5. Arenas (Santa Ana) 19:47.72; 6. Smith (Ocean View) 19:59.63; 7. Gil (Ocean View) 20:01.36; 8. Aguirre (Santa Ana) 20:02.11; 9. Shook (Ocean View) 20:05.04; 10. Mateo (Santa Ana) 20:10.18

Pacific Coast League finals

At Irvine Regional Park

3-mile course

Q – denotes CIF individual qualifier

Team Results

1. Northwood 40; 2. Corona del Mar 55; 3. Beckman 84; 4. University 84; 5. Woodbridge 105; 6. Irvine 169

Individuals

1. Muller (Northwood) 17:16; 2. Langlois (University) 17:23; 3. Boudreau (Corona del Mar) 17:48; 4. Lowengrub (University) 17:54; 5. Lee (Corona del Mar) 18:09; 6. Masud (Woodbridge) 18:15; 7. O’Connell (Northwood) 18:18; 8. King (Northwood) 18:19; 9. Tung (Corona del Mar) 18:19; 10. Klauke (University) 18:23

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner