Notebook : Santa Margarita’s Nuanes Is Peaking at Perfect Time

Katie Nuanes, a Santa Margarita junior, saved her kick for the end of the season.

She had the county’s fastest time at the state cross-country championships on Nov. 25 in Fresno, clocking 18 minutes 5 seconds for third place in the Division II final.

A week later, Nuanes dropped her time by five seconds on the same 3.1-mile Woodward Park course and earned the seventh of eight Western Regional qualifying spots to the Foot Locker National Cross-Country Championships on Saturday in San Diego.

“I really wasn’t expecting to make it to nationals,” she said. “Coming in sixth in California, and with 12 states in the race, I didn’t think I would come in seventh--but I did.

“We had a really strong state. I don’t know what to say.”

Nuanes won the Sea View League title, upsetting defending champion Jessica Corbin of Irvine, then took second in the Southern Section Division II-A final.

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When Servite and El Toro play for the Southern Section football title, they will meet halfway.

The Division V championship game will be played 7:30 p.m. Friday at Santa Ana Stadium.

Orange Lutheran won’t be so lucky.

The Lancers will try to win the Division X championship Saturday at Antelope Valley High in Lancaster.

It’s about 20 miles south of Rosamond, Orange Lutheran’s opponent.

Antelope Valley is about four miles off Highway 14, taking the Avenue I exit and making a right on Division.

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Tickets for the two-day Nike Extravaganza, featuring some of the top high school boys’ basketball teams in the nation, can be purchased from Ticketmaster, at participating schools or at the door on the nights of the event. Tickets are priced from $6 to $12.

The tournament, being hosted by Mater Dei, is Friday and Saturday in the Bren Center. The defending Division I state champion Monarchs meet Oak Hill Academy of Mouth of Wilson, Va., in the feature game at 9 p.m. Friday. Oak Hill is ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today.

Friday’s other games: Tustin and Woodbridge at 6 p.m. and Compton Dominguez vs. St. John’s at Prospect Hall of Frederick, Md., at 7:30.

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After most water polo teams win a championship, the coach gets thrown into the pool, and Foothill Coach Jim Brumm wasn’t let off the hook after the Knights beat Villa Park for the Southern Section Division I title last month.

Brumm and several other Foothill coaches joined the players in the pool at Belmont Plaza hugging and treading water for about five minutes before climbing out for the award ceremony.

The biggest splash was yet to be made, however. As Brumm held the championship plaque over his head, Foothill fans, some stripped down to their pants, jumped in.

About 50 Knight faithful took the plunge, including several who jumped fully clothed from a grandstand seven feet above the surface of the water.

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Times staff writers Martin Beck and Paul McLeod contributed to this story.