Gleason, Marquand Win at Dana Hills

Orange County showed off its present and future at the Dana Hills Invitational cross-country meet Saturday at Dana Hills High.

Mission Viejo junior Mark Gleason (14 minutes 41 seconds) and University sophomore Allyson Marquand (16:54) had the fastest times on the three-mile course and three county teams swept the senior boys’ divisional races.

Dan Gaston and Tony Trueba of Huntington Beach (both at 14:56) helped the Oilers win the Division I senior race. Manuel Estrada of Santa Ana Valley (14:48), along with Gleason, also broke the 15-minute mark.

But Gleason wasn’t the only highlight for the Diablos.

Although Gleason and David Santos (15:44) helped the Diablos finish second in the Division II junior boys’ race and their teammates managed third- and fourth-place finishes in the Division II freshman and sophomore team competitions, the Mission Viejo girls’ team also made a statement.

Amanda Fleskoski (18:27) had the third-fastest time for a freshman, and sophomores Julie and Alison Casserly finished fourth and fifth to help the Diablos win the Division II sophomore race.

“Mission Viejo is a bit of a surprise,” said Glenn Forster, Dana Hills girls’ cross-country coach. “It looks like Mission will be our toughest competition in league.”

Dana Hills, which has won three of the last four South Coast League titles and is ranked No. 1 in the county, was led by Sydney Leonard (17:58). But team depth helped them finish second in the Division II junior/senior race, behind Yucaipa, which was no disgrace.

“Yucaipa was ranked No. 3 in the nation last season,” Forster said.

Mission Viejo Coach Mark Cleary has lofty dreams for the Diablos, ranked ninth in the county. That might sound strange considering Mission Viejo finished fourth in their league last season.

“We’ve always had talent at Mission Viejo and now we’re just tapping into it,” Cleary said. “We’re young, but now we’ve seen that we can beat those top teams.”

Eight of the county’s top-10 boys’ teams made an impact Saturday. Anaheim, ranked eighth in the county, won the Division II senior race with Patricia Mejia (15:39) and Edgar Reyes (15:51) leading the way. Tustin, ranked third in the county, won the Division III senior race behind Daniel Smith (15:14) and Tom Coffey (16:05).

Top-ranked Santa Ana won the Division I sophomore race and second-ranked Santa Ana Valley won the Division I freshman race and placed second in the junior race.

Orange County had other strong performances from its sophomore class.

Santa Ana’s Juan Salgado (15:35) won in Division I and Costa Mesa’s Bruce Hancock (15:33) won in Division III. Besides Marquand’s victory in Division II girls, Irvine sophomore Erin Zehntner (17:59) won in Division I. Melissa Livermore (18:22) finished in second behind Zehntner to help the Vaqueros win that team race.

In the Sonora Invitational:

Garden Grove finishes third--James Sparks of Garden Grove took top honors in divisions I and II at the Sonora Invitational held at Carbon Canyon Park in Brea. He finished in 15:39 on the 2.95-mile course.

Garritson leads Buena Park--Heather Garritson finished in 19:09 on the 2.95-mile course as Buena Park wins Division III at the Sonora Invitational held in Carbon Canyon Park in Brea.

At the Bellflower St. John Bosco Invitational:

Corona del Mar boys win small division--Corona del Mar’s Tyler Beardslee ran a time of 16:02 over three miles at La Mirada Park at the St. John Bosco Invitational. The Sea Kings (45 points) won the division and Brea Olinda (77 points) finished second.

In the large division, Santa Margarita’s Michael Murray tied the course record with a time of 15:22 to win the individual title. The Eagles were third with 67 points.

Nuanes breaks course record--Santa Margarita’s Katie Nuanes won the girls’ large division with a time of 17:53, setting a course record by 30 seconds. Teammate Dani Rope finished second, 49 seconds behind Nuanes. The Eagles finished second behind Chino Hills Ayala. Sunny Hills was third.

Corona del Mar finished second in the small division. Corona del Mar’s Vanessa Jamieson was the top county finisher, placing third in 19:34.

In the Bell-Jeff Invitational:

Buwalda wins girls’ division--Lindsay Buwalda of Laguna Beach won the race in 18:13 on the three-mile course at Griffith Park. Estancia’s Melissa Inouye placed third in 19:28 to pace her team to a second-place finish.

In the boys’ division, Manuel Orozco placed fourth (16:22) and Alberto Munoz was fifth (16:27) to lead the Eagles to third place.