Nordhoff Makes It a Clean Sweep

The Nordhoff High girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams entered the Southern Section championships at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday intent on reaffirming their reputations as big-meet performers.

The Saugus boys’ squad was simply looking to resurrect a once-proud championship tradition.

Each team got what they came for by winning titles. The top four teams and the top five individuals on non-qualifying teams advanced to the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 29.

The Nordhoff girls, paced by record-setting senior Elaine Canchola, defeated runner-up Corona del Mar, 43-55, to win their second consecutive Division IV title and fourth in a row overall. The first two came in Division III.

Canchola clocked 18:19 over the three-mile course to remain undefeated this season and become the first runner to win four consecutive section titles.

“I think it’s totally cool,” Canchola said. “It’s really exciting to be the first person to achieve something like that.”

Corona del Mar had beaten Nordhoff by 88 points in winning the Division IV sweepstakes race of the Mt. SAC Invitational on Oct. 24, but the Rangers are known for peaking at the end of the season.

The evidence can be seen in the cumulative time of their top five runners. It was 97:31 on Saturday, 5 1/2 minutes faster than at the Mt. SAC Invitational.

“The key was our third, fourth and fifth runners,” Nordhoff Coach Ken Reeves said. “The goal was to get our fifth runner within 10 seconds of their fifth runner and she did better than that.”

Senior Jenny Hunt was Nordhoff’s No. 5 runner, placing 17th in 20:04, two places and one second behind Corona del Mar’s fifth girl.

The Nordhoff boys rolled to a 40-117 victory over Costa Mesa Estancia to win their third section title in four years.

Seniors Victor Ochoa and Dusty Herman paced the Rangers by finishing second and third behind Isaiah Festa of Morro Bay.

Festa, the defending state champion in the 3,200 meters, ran 15:03 for the fastest time of the meet, with Ochoa at 15:14 and Herman at 15:19.

Festa and Herman came through the first mile in 4:32 before Festa broke the race open at the two-mile mark.

“They went out fast,” Reeves said. “But that’s what this race is about. It’s about taking risks and chances.”

Saugus Coach Pam Thompson figured the Centurions had blown an opportunity to win their first section title since 1985 when the Division II boys’ race ended.

But she was pleasantly surprised when the results showed Saugus had edged Mission Viejo, 85-94, for first.

“A couple of our guys didn’t run as well as they usually do, so I thought we had missed our chance,” Thompson said. “But we had some other guys who really came through for us.”

Saugus junior Jacob Boeding, in his first season of cross-country, finished seventh in 15:54 and junior Dan Klawer was ninth in 15:58.

Kim Garnic of La Canada was the other winner from the region.

Garnic missed three races earlier this season because she was having breathing problems, but the Spartan junior clocked 18:21 to win the Division III title by 19 seconds.

Junior Lauren Fleshman of Canyon ran 17:58 to finish second in the Division I girls’ race and Quartz Hill placed third in the team standings.

Senior Danielle Day led Quartz Hill with a third-place time of 18:18.