SOUTH COAST LEAGUE CROSS-COUNTRY : Roda, Niednagel Help Irvine, Dana Hills Win

Kelly Roda led Irvine High School to the girls’ South Coast League cross-country championship, and Daniel Niednagel of Dana Hills won the boys’ race and helped the Dolphins to the co-championship Friday at Laguna Niguel Regional Park.

The Irvine girls, who placed four runners in the top 10, had 40 points to Dana Hills’ 63. El Toro was third with 76. Roda, a sophomore, won in 18 minutes 12 seconds for the three miles; teammate Jennifer Gillis was second (18:34).

On the basis of the teams’ regular-season league record and league-meet finish, Irvine advanced to the Nov. 10 Southern Section prelims at Mt. San Antonio College as the South Coast’s No. 1 team, followed by Mission Viejo and Dana Hills.

El Toro won the Friday’s boys’ race with 38 points. Dana Hills was second (50) and Mission Viejo third (71). El Toro and Dana Hills shared the league championship, followed by Mission Viejo. All three teams advanced to the Southern Section meet.

Niednagel, the top boys’ runner in the county and one of the best in the state, ran unchallenged, winning the three-mile race by 200 yards in 15:17. El Toro’s Rick Matson was second in 15:47, and teammate Blake Rothschild was third (16:00).

Dana Hills ran without its No. 2 runner, Brendan Sullivan, who was diagnosed Monday as having a stress fracture of his left femur.

Niednagel, a senior who hopes to advance through Southern Section prelims and finals to the Nov. 24 state meet, said he wanted to run close to 15 minutes Friday.

“I needed some fast races to prepare for the next few weeks of competition,” he said. “So I needed to get a real fast one in today.”

The Dana Hills girls, ranked second in the county, were led by Raja Espinosa’s fourth-place finish in 18:56. Dana Hills, which had early-season problems with injuries, won one league meet during the season, its first in two seasons.