Esperanza’s Wait to Raise Trophy Finally Ends

After waiting 16 years, Esperanza girls’ cross-country Coach Rich Medellin finally got to hoist the championship trophy.

Esperanza placed five runners among the top 25 and won the Division I team championship with 79 points, topping second-place Chino Hills Ayala’s 93 during Saturday’s Southern Section finals at Mt. San Antonio College.

Esperanza was one of three county teams to win championships Saturday. El Modena won the Division III title, its fourth consecutive section championship, and Orange Lutheran won the Division V crown.

Individually, Buena Park junior Heather Garritson (17 minutes 21 seconds) won the Division III race, outkicking Newport Harbor sophomore Alicia McFall (17:25) in the final 300 meters. Kristin Groncy (18:23) won the Division V race to lead Orange Lutheran to its team title.

Saturday’s fast times came on Mt. SAC’s primarily asphalt “rain course,” which was about 150 meters short of three miles. Meet officials decided not to use Mt. SAC’s hilly, mostly dirt course because of its condition after the recent rains.

The competitors stormed the faster course, especially in the Division II race.

Palmdale Highland senior Andrea Neipp proved last week was no fluke and handed University sophomore Allyson Marquand her first defeat of the season, winning the Division II race in 16:12.

Last week on Mt. SAC’s traditional course, Neipp won her preliminaries heat in 17:45, topping Marquand’s preliminary time of 17:51.

Marquand finished second in Saturday’s Division II race in a county-best 16:34 and she qualified for the state meet as an individual along with Santa Margarita’s Katie Nuanes (16:45), who finished fourth. Also advancing to the state meet was Woodbridge’s Mary Moore (17:22), who was seventh.

Dana Hills (105 points) and Mission Viejo (135) finished third and fourth in the Division II team competition to qualify for the state meet, finishing behind Yucaipa (60) and Ventura (91).

Irvine (101) and El Toro (162) qualified for the state meet by finishing third and fourth in Division I behind champion Esperanza and second-place Ayala. Irvine will make its seventh consecutive trip to the state meet.

Notes

In Division I, sophomore Erin Zehntner finished fourth in 17:24 to lead Irvine and sophomore Becky Miske finished ninth in 17:35 for El Toro. . . . In Division II, sixth-place Sydney Leonard (17:08) led Dana Hills and 17th-place Angela Schorr (17:53) led Mission Viejo. . . . In Division III, El Modena’s Jessica Dahlberg finished 11th in 18:07 to help senior teammate, Katie Kennedy, win her fourth section team title. Kennedy finished 12th in 18:08, although she was running with a stress fracture in her lower left leg. Laguna Hills’ Brooke Thomas (17:34) finished third and Katella’s Jill Santibanez (17:46) finished sixth to qualify for the state meet. . . . In Division IV, freshman Jill Quaye finished 18th in 18:33 to lead Corona del Mar to a third-place finish and state-meet berth behind Ojai Nordhoff (34 points) and La Canada (78).