Dons’ Runners Get Off on Wrong Foot at Meet

Rancho Santiago, expected to do well at the Johnie O cross-country invitational Saturday at Moorpark College, didn’t even have enough runners to register a score.

The Dons, consistently one of the 10 best teams in Southern California this season, were derailed long before the race started.

Teams need five runners to compete, but Coach Al Siddons had only four available. One over-slept and failed to show up in time to catch the van and the another forgot his uniform top.

“I really feel for our guys who were there and ready to run,” Siddons said. “It made me think of all the work we put in over the summer, then all the training we did. It’s too bad.”

By not scoring at the meet, the Dons fail to qualify for the State meet, which is Nov. 19 at Woodward Park in Fresno. The top 14 teams from the Moorpark meet go to the State race.

Siddons said the performance of the women’s team was also hampered.

“This program is really a family-thing with us and it’s too bad we had all these other people affected,” Siddons said. “Some coaches asked me if maybe we could have held off leaving for a few minutes. Maybe we could have, but it’s the principle of the thing that matters to us.”

The Irvine Valley women’s team finished fourth at Moorpark to earn a berth in the State meet. The Lasers are the defending State champions. The Orange Coast women’s team also earned berth with a 13th-place finish.

Fullerton (13th) earned the only State berth for an Orange County men’s team.

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More cross-country: The Orange Empire Conference championships are Saturday at Fairview Regional Park in Costa Mesa. Irvine Valley is the favorite in the women’s race, which starts at 9 a.m. Riverside should dominate the men’s division in the 10 a.m. race.

In the women’s division: Riverside’s Charlotte Mayock, who has been the strongest runner in Southern California this fall, is the clear favorite.

Irvine Valley’s Mayra Medina, Orange Coast’s Erin Remy, Fullerton’s Teresa Vega and Golden West’s Kim Foster also are strong runners. Medina was fourth, Vega sixth and Remy eighth at Moorpark. Mayock won the Moorpark race.

On the men’s side: Wilhelm Gidabuday of Riverside is the favorite and teammate Aberrazak Merchoud is his most likely challenger. The pair finished one-two at Moorpark.

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Tackles: Despite the struggles of the Saddleback football team, which is 1-5-1, linebacker Andy Osborne and safety Morgan Bannister are having strong seasons.

Osborne was in on 15 tackles in Saturday’s 25-23 victory over Riverside. He has 199 tackles in his career and needs eight more to become the Gauchos’ all-time leader. Scott von der Ahe (1991-92) had 206 tackles. He is currently a red-shirt at Arizona State.

Bannister was in on 16 tackles and had an interception against Riverside. After getting a total of 20 tackles and an interception in his first three games, Bannister has 54 tackles, two interceptions and a fumble recovery in the last four games.

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Football poll: El Camino (7-0) remains atop the Southland Poll with Rancho Santiago (6-1) second.

Los Angeles Valley (7-0) is third, Long Beach (7-1) fourth, Bakersfield (6-1) fifth, Moorpark (5-2) sixth, Grossmont (6-1) seventh, Cerritos (5-2) eighth, Fullerton (4-2-1) ninth and Chaffey (5-2) 10th.

In games involving top-10 teams: El Camino is at Long Beach, Bakersfield is at L.A. Valley and Grossmont is at Chaffey.

There is a possible top 10 meeting between Orange County teams when Fullerton and Rancho Santiago meet Nov. 12 at Cal State Fullerton but each teams needs a victory this Saturday.

Fullerton, which has won three of four, is at Orange Coast in a 1:30 p.m. game. Orange Coast lost its first six before beating Southwestern, 42-38, Saturday. Rancho Santiago, which has won six in a row, plays Southwestern (0-6-1) at Santa Ana Stadium at 1:30 p.m.

The Fullerton-Rancho Santiago game will be the 71st meeting between the teams. Each team has won 33 games and there were four ties.