There’s No Rest for Santa Ana Valley’s Estrada : Cross-country: Instead of taking time off, junior trained hard and is now among the county’s elite.

Summer break not only separates high school classmates for three months, but it also sets apart the elite prep cross-country runners from the pretenders.

Santa Ana Valley junior Eliaser Estrada grew tired of losing to less-talented distance runners, so she decided to devote the past summer to running seriously. The hard work has paid off and Estrada has quickly risen to the top of the county’s cross-country scene.

“She took a good, long look at herself after she got really beaten badly at last year’s Kinney regional meet in the sophomore race,” Falcon Coach George Payan said.

“I think it was at that point that she realized you have to train hard to keep up with the best. She realizes now that you can’t take an extended period of time off.”

Estrada agreed. “I think I am running better because of the training I did during the summer,” she said.

Estrada has come into her own this fall, posting times among the county’s top seven in each of the four invitationals she has competed in. After opening the season as one of seven county girls to finish under 19 minutes at the Laguna Hills Invitational, Estrada posted the fifth-fastest time (18:17) among county runners at the Woodbridge Invitational.

The recent Orange County championships brought her even more success. She ran shoulder to shoulder with the county’s best, finishing third in 18:12. The only local girls to outrun Estrada were three-time Kinney National finalist Carrie Garritson of Buena Park and Kim Nelson of Canyon, who has yet to lose in her four-year Century League career.

“I just want to run my best in every race, so I went out in that race and just tried to run a fast time,” said Estrada, who is 5 feet 6 and 95 pounds.

Said Payan: “You could say now she is bearing the fruits of her labor.”

Estrada also benefits from a training partner who can not only push her, but also occasionally beat her.

Estrada and Valley sophomore Maribel Delgado are a formidable duo, each bringing unique characteristics to their running relationship.

Estrada has the endurance to persevere 3,200 meters on the track, while Delgado, who has been the Falcons’ top finisher in two meets this fall, has found a niche on the school’s track team at 800 meters.

“Maribel and I are really close,” Estrada said. “She pushes me a lot and we really help each other in workouts and races.”

Payan sees the same mutually beneficial relationship: “They really work well together. They hang out together and really talk and communicate well with one another.”

The long-term goal Payan and Estrada are shooting for is an individual berth in the State championships Nov. 27 at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

“Our goal for Eli has been making the State meet, and I think she’s going to do it,” Payan said. The top five individuals at the section finals, not including members of qualifying teams, advance to the State meet.

Payan and Estrada agree that her State meet chances become more possible with every practice, but the Mt. San Antonio College course, on which the section preliminaries and finals are contested, is one that Estrada needs to master.

“I think the next time I run there, I will be more mentally tough and push it a little more on the hills,” said Estrada, who ran 19:02 at the recent Mt. SAC Invitational. It was the second-fastest time by a county girl, behind only the 18:25 turned in by Garritson.

“If she gets to know that course, she could run some pretty fast times there,” Payan said.