Hobbled Santa Margarita Narrowly Wins Girls’ Title

Santa Margarita’s best sprinter stayed home because of a slight muscle pull. Its top distance runner showed up, but another nagging injury left her far from 100%. And the Eagles’ best athlete was feeling the strain of three straight weeks of tough competition.

Not the best day to pursue a title at the Orange County girls’ track and field championships.

Most teams would feel that way, but Santa Margarita showed it’s powered by more than a handful of good athletes after winning the team title Saturday at Trabuco Hills.

“I’m really surprised because Amanda [Shanklin] has been hurt and her ankles have been bothering her, so she wasn’t able to do everything,” said Shannon Roy, a senior who finished sixth in the 400 meters. “And Meghan [Atkinson] is our strongest sprinter and she couldn’t run anything at all today, so we were coming in optimistic that we would maybe make top three, but we weren’t expecting to win at all.”

Shanklin still carried a heavy load for the Eagles, who won their second team title in three years, edging second-place Esperanza, 48-47. The senior won the 300-meter hurdles in 44.99 and was second in the 100 hurdles and triple jump.

Lori Mann, who finished second in the 3,200 as a freshman last season, couldn’t come close to matching that performance because of a quadriceps injury. Mann finished 15th, about 47 seconds slower than last year’s time.

But the Eagles compensated with a second-place finish in the 800 by freshman Sommer Owens, and third-place finishes by freshman Meghan Mainwaring in the 1,600 and junior Christine Von Der Ahe in the pole vault.

Owens led the 800 into the final turn, but Corona del Mar junior Liz Morse sped by and won in 2:16.35. It capped an impressive comeback for Morse, who bloodied her knees, elbow and shoulder after tumbling across the line while winning the 400 in a county-leading 56.93.

Mission Viejo sophomore Dana Bethel won the 100 hurdles (14.47), long jump (18-4), was second in the 300 hurdles and fourth in the 100.

Santa Ana Valley sophomore Crystal Davis won the 100 (12.23) over Woodbridge’s Meryl Stone (12.42) and El Modena’s Juanita Lawson (12.48). Stone and Davis traded places in the 200.