O.C. Teams Use Meet to Settle Scores

After the Orange County Cross-Country Championships were canceled last weekend, the 50th Mt. San Antonio College Invitational served a dual purpose . . . at least for some schools.

Mission Viejo, ranked third in the county and fourth in Division II, finished sixth, ahead of Katella and Santa Ana Saturday in the boys’ Division I and II team sweepstakes race. Katella, ranked second in the county and first in Division II, finished seventh with a team score of 233. Santa Ana, ranked first in the county and third in Division I, was ninth with 240.

“We are unofficially the Orange County champions,” said Mission Viejo Coach Gene Gurule, whose team a had score of 219. “If this doesn’t prove anything on our behalf, then there is something wrong.”

The Diablos’ Mark Gleason was in the lead pack for the first two miles of the three-mile race, but dropped back to seventh before finishing sixth in 15 minutes 32 seconds.

“It was a comfortable race,” Gleason said. “But I’m mad that it was comfortable. I’ll have to go back to the drawing board and see what I need to work on.”

El Toro’s Danny Lee finished second in the Division I and II individual sweepstakes race in 15:30. Tustin’s C.J. Marciales was fourth in 15:36.

“I ran better than I expected,” said Lee, who led the first two miles of the race before he was passed by Riverside Rubidoux’s Gabriel Hernandez (15:15). “I expected to get passed. I knew I couldn’t hold the lead because I went out too fast.”

Santa Margarita won the race with a team score of 138, El Toro was third (166) and Dana Hills was fourth (173).

In the girls’ Division I and II team sweepstakes race, which featured six ranked county teams, Esperanza finished second behind Yucaipa. Esperanza is ranked first in the county and fourth in Division I; Yucaipa is No. 1 in Division I and second nationally.

Mission Viejo’s April Lopez finished fourth in 18:43.

Irvine Coach Randy Rossi, whose team finished fifth, put the race into perspective: “This is a very, very big race with a tough field. We come to the invitational to run on this course. That’s our primary focus.”

The Woodbridge girls’ team, which was scheduled to run in the Division I and II team sweepstakes race but dropped out because of the school’s homecoming Friday night, had the best team time (1:39:38) of the Division II varsity races. Mary Moore won in 18:38 for the Warriors.

The Tustin girls’ team had the third-best team time (1:41:50) in the Division II races, led by Truc Tran (19:58) and Kelly Dickerson (19:59), who finished fourth and fifth in their race.