SOUTH COAST LEAGUE CROSS-COUNTRY : Capistrano Valley Girls Run Out of Pack to Take Title

The Capistrano Valley High School girls’ cross-country team has not been one of the South Coast League’s top-ranked teams this season. In the Orange County Cross-Country Coaches Assn. weekly poll, the Cougars have never been ranked higher than sixth. San Clemente, El Toro and Irvine have been grouped at the top of the rankings all season.

But Friday at Irvine Park, Capistrano Valley knocked all reason from the rankings and won the South Coast League title with 53 points. Irvine finished second with 63, El Toro was a close third (64) and San Clemente was fourth (84) followed by Dana Hills (114) and Mission Viejo (124).

“It was just an outstanding group performance by our girls,” Capistrano Valley co-Coach Tom White said. “They show up and perform when pressured to do so. This is great .”

Capistrano Valley, which came into Friday’s championships tied for third with Irvine with a 3-2 league dual-meet record, won the title by placing its top five runners among the top 25.

Although San Clemente junior Terri Smythers had little trouble winning her second consecutive league title, finishing the three-mile course in 18 minutes 32 seconds, Capistrano Valley took second and third with sophomores Jamie Samkus (18:48) and Michelle Skinner (18:49), respectively. Rounding out the Cougar top five were junior Anissa Brindley (seventh, 19:24), freshman Kelly Campbell (16th, 19:57) and junior Jill Hedlund (25th, 20:24).

In the boys’ race, San Clemente, which won the Orange County Cross-Country championships last Saturday on the same course, had little trouble winning again. The Tritons placed five runners in the top 11 places to win with 32 points. El Toro was second with 50 followed by Dana Hills (56), Mission Viejo (112), Capistrano Valley (115) and Irvine (172).

But it was the race for individual honors that proved the most exciting as Dana Hills’ Daniel Niednagel and San Clemente’s Mike Farrell staged a battle of strength and smarts. Prior to Friday’s race, both boys had beaten the other once this season.

This time, Niednagel got the edge, breaking away from Farrell with a half-mile to go to win in 15:24. Farrell finished second in 15:33, and El Toro’s Rick Matson was third in 15:54.

“Dan’s a real good runner, so when he beats me, I don’t get depressed about it,” said Farrell, a senior who outran Niednagel last Saturday to win the county title.

Niednagel, who beat Farrell this season in a dual meet, said, “I’m glad league’s over. Now we don’t really have to compete against each other. We don’t really care who beats who anymore. I’m just glad to get on with postseason.”