Woodbridge Finds There’s no Place Like Home

Playing a game at home usually provides such advantages as friendly confines and supportive fans. Woodbridge’s Mary Moore discovered Saturday that the same holds true for running in cross-country races at home . . . and then some.

Moore trailed Julie Kyriacou of Green Valley, Nev., at the two-mile mark of the varsity girls’ Division I race at the Woodbridge Invitational. But when Kyriacou missed a turn, Moore grabbed the lead and held on to win the three-mile race in 18 minutes.

“I took advantage of a mistake,” said Moore, a senior. “I feel bad [for Kyriacou].

“I guess it’s good to have the homecourt advantage. I got lucky, but I’ll take all the luck I can get.”

Moore’s first-place finish and Ellie Stephens’ (18:23) sixth-place finish helped the Warriors compile 120 points, good for second place behind San Diego Rancho Bernardo (100 points).

El Toro won the Southern Section Division II varsity girls’ race with 96 points, edging University (99). However, the Trojans were without their top runner, junior Allyson Marquand, who was out because of flu-like symptoms.

“We realized that we don’t have to rely on one runner and that boosted our confidence as a team,” said University sophomore Jennifer Allen, who finished in 19:23, good for 19th place.

Added teammate Lauren Baker (19:52): “Cross-country relies on the pack and we had a great pack.”

In the boys’ Division II senior race, El Toro’s Danny Lee duplicated his accomplishment last week, when he posted the best time of the day at the Laguna Hills Invitational. This Saturday, he won in 14:38. Unlike last week, Lee was behind by 30 yards at the two-mile mark and thoughts of finishing second seemed more realistic than taking first.

“I thought second place would have been fine,” Lee said. “I wouldn’t have complained. But I started surging as hard as I could [in the last quarter mile].” The result: “This is probably my best time ever,” Lee said.

Tustin’s Leo Gordillo, coming off a disappointing performance at Laguna Hills, won the boys’ Division II junior race in 15:34.

“I didn’t practice the whole week [before the Laguna Hills Invitational],” Gordillo said. “This week I practiced pretty well.”

The Santa Ana boys’ team had another strong outing as the Saints placed five runners in the top 12 of the boys’ Division I junior race to finish first with 32 points. Alfonso Leon (15:35) finished third and teammate Juan Salgado (15:39) was fourth.

Notes

St. Margaret’s Ryan Downey (15:34) finished fifth in the boys’ Division I senior race. Irvine placed second in the boys’ Division I junior race with 56 points. Newport Harbor won the boys’ Division II junior race with 100 points, University was second (131), Tustin third (132) and Santa Margarita fourth (134). Alicia McFall (18:10) was third in the girls’ Division II varsity race . . . Team champions were: Palos Verdes Peninsula (Division I); Newport Harbor (Division II); Yucaipa (Division III); Corona del Mar (Division IV). Long Beach Poly was boys’ grand champion (course record 1:17.40); and Rancho Bernardo was girls’ grand champion (1:35.56).

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In the Manchester cross-country invitational:

Irvine girls place third--The Vaqueros had a team total of 90 points with Erin Zehntner, Valerie Morris and Melissa Livermore finishing 10th, 11th and 12th, respectively, all in 20 minutes over the 3.1-mile course at Derryfield Park in Manchester, N.H.

At the Sunny Hills cross-country invitational:

Anaheim wins--Falvio Guttierez finished ninth with a time of 16:50 as Anaheim won the large-schools division of the Sunny Hills Invitational.

Lakewood’s Rafael Osorio finished first with a time of 16:07 over three miles at Clark Park. Lakewood finished second.

Valencia finished second in the small schools division behind Barstow.

Brea Olinda takes large schools--Michelle Thune ran a time of 19:33 over three miles at Clark Park to finish third and help Brea Olinda to the large-schools title.

Sunny Hills’s Camille Stanley was named the outstanding athlete, finishing first with a time of 19:20.

La Habra’s Maria Agras finished second in the small-schools race with a time of 19:45.