STATE CROSS-COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS : Garritson Wins Battle of Freshmen

The shoes fit, and Buena Park freshman Heather Garritson wore them all the way to a State cross-country title.

Garritson posted the second-fastest time of the day, 18 minutes 1 second, over the five-kilometer (3.1-mile) course at Woodland Park, to win the title outright and avenge a loss to fellow freshman Elaine Canchola of Ojai Nordhoff in last weekend’s Southern Section finals.

Garritson, who last week inadvertently raced in her younger brother’s shoes, which were 1 1/2 sizes too small, ran away from Canchola in the correct shoes, edging her by six seconds at the finish line. Corona del Mar senior Tracy Clark, the county champion this fall, placed third in 18:18.

“I wore the wrong shoes last week,” said Garritson. “They were the same exact (brand) shoes, just my younger brother’s.”

The title was the third for the Garritson family; Heather’s older sister, Carrie, won one for Buena Park (1993) and one for Sunny Hills (1991).

The day’s fastest time for the girls was run by Santa Rosa sophomore Julia Stamps, who narrowly missed becoming the first prep athlete to break 17 minutes with her 17:06 performance, a course record.

Esperanza senior Courtney Pugmire (18:08), the Sunset League and section Division I champion, outdistanced Irvine junior Jessica Corbin (18:18) for second place behind Stamps.

“(Stamps) just kind of left . . . I wasn’t really worried about her,” Pugmire said.

County champion Adalberto Sanchez of Capistrano Valley posted the fastest time by an area athlete, running 15:35 for fifth in the Division I race.

“I think I went out too fast,” said Sanchez, who won the section Division I race last weekend while leading the entire way.

The surprise of the day came in the Division III boys’ race, in which El Modena secured a second-place finish by scoring 101 points. Nordhoff, the Southern Section champion, won with 69. Livermore placed third with 117.

“We had our top five guys within 17 seconds of each other and that was the key,” Vanguard Coach Tom Weber said. “They are the classic overachievers.”

La Habra (168) finished sixth in the same race; Corona del Mar (184) was seventh.

The Mater Dei boys, the defending county champions, finished fourth (161) in Division II, behind Carmichael Jesuit (72), Mira Mesa Scripps Ranch (106) and Palmdale (152).

The Irvine and El Toro girls, the two top-ranked teams in the county, finished third and eighth in the Division I race.

The Vaqueros, the Sea View League and county champions this fall, earned 127 points. The Chargers, runners-up in the league and county races, scored 197.

In the day’s closest team battle, Clovis Buchanan (108) and Yucaipa (108) edged Sunset League champion Edison (111) for the Division II crown.

Buchanan was awarded the team title based on the faster sixth runner, taking the title from the third-place Chargers, the defending champions.

The El Modena girls placed third in the Division II race (91 points), behind Clayton Valley (65) and Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon (78).

Notes

Brethren Christian senior Brandon Pacheco placed 12th in the Division IV race (16:26) . . . Santa Margarita sophomore Katie Nuanes, who led the Eagles to the State Division III title a year ago, placed seventh in 18:36 . . . Katella senior Jamie Vaicaro (19:19) placed 12th in the Division II girls’ race, followed closely by Edison senior Elyse Homberger (19:21) who was 13th . . . Eliaser Estrada (18:43) of Santa Ana Valley and Nancy Dollar (18:57) of San Clemente placed seventh and 10th in the Division I race . . . Michael Murray posted the fastest time by a 10th-grader in the county, finishing in 16:00 for 10th place in Division III . . . Sunny Hills senior Garrett Jensen, the Freeway League champion, turned in the county’s second-fastest effort, running 15:53 for eighth in the Division II competition.