Time Off Was Runner’s Break for the Finish

When Sonja Hildebrand finally decided to take a break from running, it was well deserved.

But now she’s back up to speed and already has won three cross-county races this season for Saddleback College.

Hildebrand started running when she was 10, and from age 11 to 13 she lived in Hawaii and competed in events ranging from road races to half-marathons to mini-triathlons.

After Hildebrand’s family moved to Orange County, she competed for four years at Mission Viejo High School. She was a Times All-County selection as a junior and senior.

But the endless training caught up with Hildebrand, who took most of the summer off after high school.

“I knew I was going to go out at Saddleback,” she said. “I just wanted a break. I was so burnt-out.”

She didn’t start training until the team met in the late summer of 1991. It took a long time for Hildebrand to get into shape, and she didn’t win a race the entire year.

But she did improve each week, finishing 13th in the Southern California meet and 33rd in the state meet in the final two weeks of the season.

Still, she didn’t win a race, and it was something she wanted to be sure to do this year. She ran track at Saddleback last spring. Then in June, she went to North Carolina to spend some time with family and begin to train, running between three and five miles a day.

Hildebrand started the season by winning the San Diego Mesa Invitational, then added victories at the UC Riverside Invitational and at the Orange Empire Conference Festival race at Irvine Regional Park.

She will be back on the course Friday in the Irvine Invitational. Hildebrand hopes to to win the race, but is more interested in bettering her time each week so she is at her strongest in the final weeks of the season.

She and Coach Dave Murphy agree that she has to improve her speed in the final stages of races.

“She’s a really solid runner,” Murphy said. “She’s smart and she trains really well. I really haven’t had to change anything she does.”

Schedules and polls: Saddleback (4-0) travels to Santa Ana Stadium to play Rancho Santiago (1-2), and Golden West (1-2) plays host to Orange Coast (3-1) at OCC as Mission Conference Central Division football play starts Saturday. Both games are at 7 p.m.

Saddleback is the top-ranked team in the J.C. Grid-Wire national poll as well as in the Southland Poll.

Bakersfield (3-0) is second in the Southland Poll and Pasadena (3-0) is third.

Moorpark (3-0) is fourth, Mt. San Antonio (3-1) fifth, El Camino (2-1) sixth, San Bernardino Valley (3-0-1) seventh, Orange Coast (3-1) eighth, Palomar (3-1) ninth and Los Angeles Harbor (3-0) 10th.

Orange Coast’s first appearance in the poll this season comes thanks to a 42-7 drubbing of Palomar Saturday.

“We woke up today,” OCC Coach Bill Workman said after the game Saturday. “Now we know how we can play if we put our minds to it.”

Moving on up: Saddleback offensive standouts quarterback Tim Snowden and running back Marcellus Chrishon, both sophomores from Mission Viejo High School, are moving up the all-time lists at the college.

Snowden has passed for 3,121 yards in his career and is in fourth place on the Saddleback list.

With six games to go, Snowden--if he stays healthy--should have little trouble taking over the top spot from Mike Douglass (1983-84) who passed for 3,496 yards in two seasons.

Chrishon has run for 1,647 yards in his career and is in third place on the school list. But the top spot isn’t within realistic reach for Chrishon.

Toby Whipple (1969-70) rushed for 3,088 yards, which is also the Mission Conference career mark.

The Golden West water polo tournament, which features five of the state’s top-10 teams, is Saturday.

Golden West, the three-time defending state champion and the No. 1-ranked team in the state this season, plays Palomar at 9 a.m.

In other first-round games: Cuesta, No. 5 in the state, plays Saddleback at 7 a.m., No. 4 Grossmont and Fullerton meet at 8 a.m., and No. 3 Long Beach and No. 6 San Diego Mesa play at 10 a.m.

The semifinals are scheduled for 1 and 2 p.m. and the title match is at 5 p.m.