Southern Section Cross-Country : Valencia Boys Stepping Toward Another Title

For the past decade, Orange County high schools have been loaded with talented distance runners. Schools such as Villa Park, Orange, Corona del Mar, Mission Viejo and Edison have built programs that have rivaled the CIF Southern Section’s best.

But none has had the success of Valencia, which has advanced to the Southern Section finals 14 times since 1965 and won a 2-A title in 1978. The Tigers have not finished below third place in league since Mike Cummins became the coach in 1965.

Cummins thinks this season’s team has a good chance to win another boys’ 2-A title Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.

Four championship races for boys and four for girls are scheduled to be run on the hilly, three-mile course at Mt. SAC in Walnut, beginning at 8 a.m.

Valencia emerged as one of the division favorites last week when it had the preliminary meet’s fastest 2-A time. The Tigers posted a cumulative time of 83 minutes, 5 seconds to win their heat. Loyola, which was favored at the end of the regular season, ran 83:27 in winning its heat.

“We’ve known since last year when we finished third that we would have a good chance this season,” Cummins said. “We knew Loyola didn’t graduate anyone from last year’s team, but we felt we had more potential.”

Consistency has been Valencia’s strength. Junior Chris Lugo is the Tigers’ No.-1 runner, and finished in 16:03 at Mt. SAC last week. He was followed by senior Jim Towle, junior Billy Emmel and senior Eric Osgard.

Those four dominated the Orange League championships by finishing 1-2-3-4.

“We’ve done well all season,” Cummins said. “Some of our runners got sick in midseason, but it might have been a blessing because we ran so well at the beginning.”

Here’s a capsule look at the seven remaining finals:

BOYS’ 4-A--Simi Valley, with a team time of 80:20, is a slight favorite over Villa Park, 79:59, and Mission Viejo, 80:49. Five runners, led by Rich Erbes of Glendale at 15:29, were within 10 seconds of one another in last week’s preliminaries.

GIRLS’ 4-A--Defending champion Newport Harbor of Newport Beach is nearly three minutes faster than Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Palos Verdes. Buffy Rabbit of Newport Harbor had the fastest time last week, 18:04, but defending champion Melissa Sutton of Newbury Park will be tough to beat.

GIRLS’ 3-A--Defending champion Arroyo Grande has run 98:44 but should be challenged by Walnut, which has run 100:26. Senior Lisa Rizzo of Newhall Hart, 18:32, is back to defend her title, but freshman Heather Scoby of Saugus, 18:20, looks to have the edge.

BOYS’ 2-A--Dave Schumacher of Long Beach St. Anthony, 15:41, may be pushed by Lompoc’s Tom Campbell, 15:59, and Ted Brown, 16:02, and Indio’s Hugo Rios, 16:07.

GIRLS’ 2-A--Sophomore Tracey Williams of El Monte Mountain View, with a best time of 17:55, is expected to set a fast pace. Amy Dabul of Temple City, 18:29, has a chance to upset the defending champion, but she can’t afford to let Williams build an early lead. Hesperia, 103:23, had the fastest time last week and has run 101:00. Nordhoff, 104:02, is the closest challenger.

BOYS’ 1-A--Sherman Indian, 84:57, should win its fourth straight title and fifth in the last six years. Juniors John Trafecanty of Cathedral, 15:57, and Bret Kimble of Carpinteria, 16:02, second and fourth last year, probably will battle for the individual title.

GIRLS’ 1-A--Morro Bay, 106:56, has a slight edge over Lompoc Cabrillo, 107:49, in a battle of Los Padres League teams. Carrie Barbar of Atascadero is the defending champion, but she was beaten by Evelyn Martino of Santa Maria St. Joseph in the league finals. Roberta Moronez of Azusa, 18:55, had the fastest time in the preliminaries.