PREP ROUNDUP : Garritson, Martinez Qualify for Final

For Carrie Garritson of Buena Park High, it was expected.

To Jaime Martinez of Orange, it came as a surprise.

The result was the same, however, as each placed among the top eight finishers in the Foot Locker West regional cross-country championships Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno to qualify for the national championships Dec. 11 in San Diego.

Garritson finished third in the girls’ race with a time of 17 minutes 53 seconds over the 5,000-meter course to become the third runner from the West region to qualify for four consecutive national championships.

The others were Kira Jorgensen of Vista (1985-88) and Deena Drossin (1987-90) of Agoura.

Garritson was in second place for most of the race before Sarna Renfro of Bellarmine Prep High in Federal Way, Wash., passed her in the final 500 meters to finish in 17:50.

The race for first was not close, as junior Melissa Lucas of Beaverton Jesuit (Ore.) ran 17:08.9 to narrowly miss the course record of 17:07 set by Marnie Mason of Klamath Falls, Ore., in 1984 and tied by Drossin in 1990.

“You always want to win, but when I saw how fast (Lucas) went out, I said, ‘There’s no way I can stay with that,’ ” Garritson said. “I really thought she would come back to us, but she didn’t.”

Martinez, who finished 10th in last year’s national championships, was not among the top 10 runners for most of the boys’ race, but he picked off several competitors in the final 800 meters to finish sixth in 15:10.

“I didn’t expect to finish in the top eight,” Martinez said. “But I managed to stay in about 12th or 13th for most of the race and maintain contact. There were a couple of times when I thought they were going to get away from me, but I managed to hang in there so I’m happy,”

In wrestling:

Santa Ana dominated the El Toro Wrestling Tourament in team and individual matches, with five of its wrestlers taking first place in individual matches. In team competition, Santa Ana had a perfect record of 8-0. Capistrano was second with 7-1 and Irvine finished third with 6-2.

The Saints’ Miguel Valencia was awarded most valuable player for the lower weight classes and Terry Tuzzolino of Capistrano Valley was named MVP for the upper weight classes.

In the Norta Vista Tournament:

Sunny Hills 2, Canyon Springs 1--Doug Howes and Brett Ackerman scored a goal for Sunny Hills in the second game of consolations. The game was called at halftime because an altercation between a Canyon Springs player and officials. In an earlier game, Colton defeated Sunny Hills 2-1. Aaron Siefker scored the only goal for Sunny Hills.