SOUTHERN SECTION CROSS-COUNTRY : Sanchez Heads Field at Section Finals

Capistrano Valley’s Adalberto Sanchez, who posted the best time at last weekend’s preliminaries, heads the field Saturday at the Southern Section cross-country championships at Mt. San Antonio College.

Races, which begin at 8 a.m., will be held in each of four divisions for boys and girls. Two section championships (A and AA) will be awarded in each division based on schools’ enrollment figures; however, the top four teams (and top five individuals not on one of the top four teams) in each race advance to the State championships Nov. 26 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The boys’ Division I race begins the day’s competition and features Sanchez, El Toro’s Martin Pennell and the team from Orange, ranked No. 10 in the state, battling Thousand Oaks, the top-ranked team, among others for the I-A title. Santa Ana Valley has to get past second-ranked Palos Verdes Peninsula to win the I-AA championship.

In the boys’ Division II competition, No. 4 Mater Dei is expected to duel No. 5 Palmdale for the II-AA title. Vying for the II-A championship will be Mission Viejo, Edison, Katella, Laguna Hills and Villa Park.

The girls’ competition in Division I features No. 5 Esperanza and Santa Ana Valley battling No. 7 Peninsula for the I-AA championship. Going for the I-A title against top-ranked Thousand Oaks will be No. 3 Irvine, No. 4 El Toro, No. 9 Los Alamitos and No. 10 Dana Hills. San Clemente’s Nancy Dollar will be seeking her second consecutive State championship berth.

In the girls’ Division II race, defending State champion Edison, ranked No. 2 in the state, will battle Laguna Hills, Katella and No. 7 La Puente Bishop Amat for the II-A title. The II-AA championship will be up for grabs between No. 3 Trabuco Hills, No. 6 Yucaipa, No. 9 Agoura, No. 10 Aliso Niguel and Mater Dei. Individual runners include University’s Meisha Wilson and Marina’s Heather Cuthbertson.

Notes

In the boys’ Division III competition, No. 5 El Modena, No. 9 La Habra, No. 8 Santa Margarita and Newport Harbor will battle for the III-AA title. No. 4 Corona del Mar figures to battle No. 2 Ojai Nordhoff for the III-A championship. . . . Brethren Christian senior Brendan Pacheco and St. Margaret’s Ryan Downey are the individual representatives in the Division IV race. . . . El Modena, ranked fourth, No. 7 Foothill and No. 8 Santa Margarita are among the field eligible for the girls’ Division III-AA title. Second-ranked Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon, No. 3 Ojai Nordhoff and No. 10 San Marino figure to give Corona del Mar stiff competition for the III-A championship. Buena Park freshman standout Heather Garritson will run in this race. . . . Orange Lutheran, ranked seventh, Laguna Beach and St. Margaret’s will compete in the Division IV race, which concludes the morning’s competition at 10:20 a.m.