ORANGE COUNTRY GIRLS’ TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS : Mission Viejo Runs Away With Fourth Title in Row

Fred Almond, coach of the Mission Viejo High School girls’ track team, expected a stronger challenge Saturday at the Orange County Championships. Instead, the Diablos ran away with the team title at Rancho Santiago College.

Mission Viejo scored 87 points and runner-up Woodbridge had 43. Orange Lutheran, a 1-A school, was third with 40 points and Mater Dei fourth with 39.

“Last year, this meet was about Mission Viejo and Woodbridge,” said Almond, whose Diablos won their fourth consecutive championship. “This year, the talent was really spread out, but we were right there in all the races.”

Junior Andrea Dean led Mission Viejo, placing second in the 100 and 200 meters and anchoring the winning 400- and 1,600-meter relays. Teammate Tammy Graham won the triple jump with a leap of 38 feet 2 1/2 inches and was third in the long jump at 17-1 1/4.

Mater Dei’s Melissa McDonald won the long jump at 17-10 and the high jump (5-6). Mission Viejo’s Heather Sterlin was second at 17-6 3/4.

The closest race of the day was the 1,500-meter run, in which Orange Lutheran’s Amber Parkinson, who was named distance runner of the meet, edged Ocean View’s Christie Engesser.

On the final lap, Engesser opened up a 10-meter lead on Parkinson, but Parkinson didn’t give up and charged after her. Both were timed in 4 minutes 39.98 seconds and finished in a dead heat. After reviewing a photo of the finish, Parkinson was named the winner.

“In my head, I was thinking that I could catch her,” said Parkinson, who also won the 3,000 and anchored her team’s 1,600 relay. “I was just thinking that I needed to run strong.”

Orange Lutheran Coach Jonathan Zimmerman said Parkinson, a sophomore in her first season of high school competition, wanted to pick up the pace on the third lap.

“We wanted to push that lap really hard because we knew Christie was an 800-meter runner, and if the race came down to a kick, both she and Amber would be tired,” Zimmerman said. “It was an advantage to us because Amber is so mentally tough.”

Fountain Valley’s Elinor Tolson and Los Alamitos’ Cavetra Mitchell also put on a show. Tolson, who went to the State meet last year as a freshman, won the 100-meter hurdles in 14.52, breaking her meet record. She also placed fourth in the 100 and came back to take the 300 hurdles in 44.73, her best time.

Mitchell, sister of former sprint star Erik Mitchell, broke the meet record in the 100 meters, running 12.18. The previous record of 12.21 was held by Esperanza’s Trisch Aubuchon, set in 1984. Mitchell also won the 200 (25.09).

“I came out for the track team this year because I got jealous of Erik’s running,” Mitchell said.

San Clemente athlete Jackie Roberts was struck by a discus during the meet. She was treated at a nearby hospital and released.