SEA VIEW LEAGUE CROSS-COUNTRY : Corona del Mar Girls Upset Tustin

The Corona del Mar High School girls’ cross-country team upset heavily favored Tustin Thursday at Irvine Regional Park to finish first in the Sea View League final, gaining a share of the league title with the Tillers. Saddleback took the boys’ title outright.

The Sea Kings, who came into the finals in fourth place in league, had five girls finish in the top 15 for 54 points. Woodbridge was second with 63 points and Tustin, previously undefeated and ranked fourth in the Southern Section Division II, finished third at 64.

Junior Kirsten McFarland finished in third place in a time of 18 minutes 8 seconds over the three-mile course to lead Corona del Mar. Freshman Alicia Boice was ninth (18:37), Heather Bray 13th (19:02), Mollie Flint 14th (19:07) and Kristen Shryock 15th (19:08).

Tom Cheese, in his fourth year as the Corona del Mar girls’ coach, said his team was ready to run well, but he didn’t expect them to win.

“I was surprised by the final outcome,” said Cheese, whose Sea Kings are ranked fourth in Division III and finished third at the Division II state meet last season. “I thought we had a decent shot at getting second, but I didn’t get my hopes up to win.”

Cheese said Corona del Mar’s victory was due more to the team’s overall improvement than to any one or two runners doing well.

“There were not any big surprises, it was just a matter of everyone running well,” he said. “I was really stunned to see five of them come in that quick.”

Woodbridge’s Kay Nekota won the girls’ race in 16:58, out-sprinting University’s Tanja Brix over the last 50 yards. Nekota, a 13-year-old freshman who was pushed by Brix throughout the race, raised her fist in a victory salute and let out a little yell as she passed the finish line.

“I’m really not that demonstrative,” Nekota said. “But I never thought I would break 17 (minutes) this year.”

Saddleback, ranked No. 2 in Division I, easily won its second consecutive boys’ title with 21 points. Corona del Mar was second (71) and Woodbridge third (75). Saddleback’s Eddie Salinas won in 14:59, but he was nearly upset by Corona del Mar’s Mike Marumoto, who finished second in 15:10.

Mel Silva, the Saddleback boys’ coach, said he was disappointed with his team’s performance at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational Oct. 20, when the Roadrunners finished third in the sweepstakes race behind Madera and Hart.

“We had a team meeting after the race,” Silva said, “and we talked about whether we were going to get serious and do well or we were going to slack off.

“Now I have a little thorn to get out of my side when we get to the Southern Section (preliminaries) because the last time we ran the course (at Mt. San Antonio), we didn’t perform well.”