STATE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS : Ocean View Wins Division II Title, No Doubt About It

There were no lingering doubts for the Ocean View girls’ cross-country team Saturday at Woodward Park. On a cool, clear day, a season-long chase finally ended with the Seahawks clearly the winners.

In four previous meetings this season, Ocean View could only nip at the heels of top-ranked Edison. The Seahawks lost a dual meet by more than 20 points, were well-beaten at the Orange County championships, lost by three points at the Sunset League finals and by one point at the Southern Section Division II-AA final last week.

But Saturday, Ocean View recorded a decisive victory over Edison to win the CIF State Division II title. Christie Engesser’s third-place finish of 18 minutes 48 seconds led a pack of four finishers in the top 25.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better finish to my cross-country career,” said Engesser, a senior who has had better success running the 800 meters on the track. “I always enjoyed running cross-country, but you enjoy it more when you’re running well.”

Two other Orange County teams won championships Saturday: Corona del Mar won girls’ Division III, and Newport Harbor took boys’ Division III.

Jaime Martinez, a junior from Orange, put the finishing touches on his first cross-country season, running the fastest time of the day by a county runner, 15:25 for 5,000 meters. Mayra Medina of Laguna Hills, which finished second behind Corona del Mar, had the fastest time by a county girl (18:32).

There were disappointments, however. Edison, which had been the state’s top-ranked Division II team and sixth-ranked nationally, finished third (111 points) behind Ocean View (52) and Escondido San Pasqual (100). And Katella, second-ranked in the boys’ Division II and top-ranked in the county, also was third (109), trailing San Diego Mission Bay (93) and second-place Agoura (100).

Unlike last week’s confusing section final in which Edison won the sub-division but Ocean View won the overall division, there was no question the Seahawks were winners this time.

“Last week made the team hungrier, I think,” Ocean View Coach Beth Chilcott said. “We really wanted that (section) championship.”

Instead, the Seahawks ran away with a State title, and that seemed to suit Engesser just fine. Slowed by complications from having her wisdom teeth extracted earlier this season, Engesser was often beaten by two or more teammates. But over the rolling hills of the course’s second mile, she began to put it together.

“If I started out slow at least I didn’t fall backward,” said Engesser, who was second in the CIF State meet 800 last June.

At the finish, only Michele Cox of Escondido (18:26) and Kim Nelson of Canyon (18:40) were ahead.

For Nelson, this was a chance at redemption after a 27th-place finish in last year’s meet.

“This feels really good,” Nelson said. “I knew I wasn’t going to let myself finish that far back again.”

Corona del Mar’s victory capped a season-long blitz on Coach Bill Sumner’s racing tactics. Despite Sumner’s best efforts to remain calm, cool and collected, the young Sea Kings always seemed to take him by surprise.

At the State meet, he asked his runners to be among the top 30 by the mile mark. What he saw at that point was a well-packed group, but one that was too far back to win.

“I got to the mile and said, ‘Where is everybody?’ ” Sumner said. “But things calmed down after a mile and a half.”

Eventually, they moved forward and won with 66 points to Laguna Hills’ 84. Tracy Clark, a sophomore who ran 18:49, was Corona del Mar’s first finisher, placing fifth.

Newport Harbor was fifth and El Modena was seventh in that race.

The Newport Harbor boys’ team had been preparing close to seven months for this day, according to Coach Bim Barry. The Sailors’ 89-94 victory over San Marino was a fitting conclusion to a well-planned effort, he said.

“Our goal last May was to get to State and run our best race of the year here,” Barry said. “We got here and had a good race. Maybe not our best race, but it was good enough to win.”

Notes

Irvine, led by Kelly Roda’s fourth-place finish in 18:35, was a surprising second behind Agoura in the girls’ Division I race. Carrie Caulkins of Esperanza finished ninth overall with a time of 18:53. . . . The Santa Ana boys’ team was eighth in the Division I race. . . . After running among the leaders for close to two miles, Tustin’s Lizza Alexander finished 13th (19:14) in the girls’ Division II race. . . . Sara Valdez of El Dorado ran 19:02 to place 10th in the girls’ Division III race. . . . Brendon Mahon of La Habra finished fourth in 15:55 in the boys’ Division III race. . . . Laguna Beach, led by Tara Roades’ 16th-place finish, placed third with 161 points in the girls’ Division IV race. Amber Parkinson of Orange Lutheran finished 10th in 19:32.