Pack Mentality Makes Irvine Leader of Pack

All week the Irvine girls’ cross-country team stressed the laws of the pack. At the Southern Section finals Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College, the Vaqueros followed it to perfection.

Irvine won the Division I team title with a surprising victory over top-ranked Esperanza, benefiting from a tight group of runners on the hilly three-mile course.

The Vaqueros, ranked fifth in Division I, finished just under 18 seconds apart and totaled 92 points. Esperanza was second (108), Thousand Oaks third (141), and University fourth (152). Second-ranked Palos Verdes Peninsula and third-ranked Yucaipa failed to qualify for next weekend’s state meet at Woodward Park in Fresno.

“We had a team meeting in Catalina and we talked about the laws of the pack and we focused on that,” Irvine Coach Randy Rossi said. “The laws of the pack mean never hold back and never go without encouraging a teammate to go with you. Always try to push yourself forward, look for the pack, and keep your eyes up.”

Irvine’s pack was led by freshman Jordan Bechtold, who finished in 19 minutes 14.21 seconds. Junior Valerie Morris finished 16th (19:14.61), freshman Kirra Mettra was 17th (19:15.18), senior Melissa Livermore was 20th (19:26.73), and freshman Jenny Ormes was 24th (19:32.72).

The Vaqueros raised eyebrows when they placed second to Esperanza at the Orange County Championships last month, then had their top five runners run under 19:41 at last weekend’s preliminaries at Mt. SAC.

“This has been coming on. We had a 34-second, five-girl gap at the Orange County Championships, and again last weekend,” Rossi said. “We’ve worked on packing throughout the season, everything we do together we do as a team.”

University’s Allyson Marquand finished second (17:55.05) to Canyon Country Canyon’s Lauren Fleshman (17:24.29). Corona del Mar won the Division IV title by eight points over Ojai Nordhoff and Santa Maria St. Joseph (77). It was the sixth section title for the Sea Kings.

Corona del Mar was lifted by a strong performance from sophomore Katie Quinlan, who finished third (19:05.70.). Teammate Liz Morse was sixth (19:22.35), Jenny Cummins 11th (19:42.93), Jean Garcia 21st (20:02.09), and Jill Quaye 22nd (20:06.38).

Quinlan was 10th midway through the race, but moved ahead of several runners in the last mile. It was the first time Quinlan had finished ahead of Morse this season.

Costa Mesa’s Jamie Denoewer won the Division IV race in 18:52, but it wasn’t enough to qualify the Mustangs, who finished fifth. Elizabeth Huipe of Estancia also qualified individually in Division IV (19:42.60).

In the Division II race, Woodbridge qualified with a second-place finish (91). Third-place Brea Olinda (94) and fourth-place Santa Margarita (116) will also be running next weekend. Mater Dei’s Jenny Sears (18:53.85), Laguna Hills’ Brooke Thomas (19:11.33) and Pacifica’s Natalie Perkins (19:13.30) qualified individually in Division II.

Other teams qualifying were El Modena in Division III and St. Margaret’s in Division V.