Orange Coast Women Breeze to Cross-Country Championship

The battle for the women’s team title couldn’t have been more one-sided and the fight for the men’s title couldn’t have been any closer at the Orange Empire Conference cross-country championships Saturday at Laguna Niguel Regional Park.

Orange Coast, the top-ranked team in Southern California, took the first five spots to win the women’s title with 15 points. Saddleback (68) was second and Santa Ana (71) third.

But the lack of drama in the women’s race was more than made up for in the men’s race, where Saddleback and Santa Ana tied with 41 points.

Riverside’s Neil Smart won the individual men’s title with a time of 20 minutes 47 seconds on the four-mile course and Saddleback’s Dan Gaston was second in 21:07. Santa Ana’s Edgar Reyes, Juan Soto and Mike Avellan took the next three spots.

Saddleback’s Tony Trueba was sixth, Kent Roberts ninth, Mark Regener 11th, and Ronnie Alvarez finished 13th. Santa Ana’s other two scorers were Jimmy Patino (14th) and Victor Aranda (15th).

Getting a part of the title was nice for Saddleback Coach John Klink, who has taken a program that had a one-year hiatus four years ago and turned it into a conference champion.