For Woodbridge, Time Proved Right to Take a Step Up

If it were any other year, the Woodbridge girls’ cross-country team would most likely feel overmatched heading into the Southern Section preliminaries Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Warriors were bumped up to Division I this season when the school’s enrollment spilled over the Division II cutoff by 20 students. Only Beverly Hills, Mater Dei and Santa Barbara have lower enrollment figures than Woodbridge among the 131 Southern Section teams competing in Division I.

But the seven Woodbridge runners won’t be looking for a place to hide when the gun sounds shortly after 9 a.m. for the start of their three-mile race.

The Warriors, who won a Division II state title in 1997 and were runners-up last season, are ranked fourth in the Division I state coaches’ poll behind San Diego Rancho Bernardo, Palos Verdes Peninsula and San Diego Mt. Carmel, and second in the Southern Section behind Peninsula.

“I’m glad it turned out this way with the team I have,” said Woodbridge Coach George Varvas, in his 19th year at the school. “This is by far the best team we’ve had.”

Woodbridge is led by senior Nicole Scott, junior Jessica Kanin, freshman Kristen Berglas and sophomore Meghan Bellotti. Last Thursday the four recorded the fourth-, fifth-, sixth- and seventh-fastest times in school history on the Irvine Regional Park three-mile course during the Sea View League finals.

Kanin was a second-team Times’ all-county selection last season and was the Warriors’ top finisher at the state finals. She chose not to train during the summer because she was involved in senior activities that took up a lot of her time, which slowed her progress this season. But her league final time was only 12 seconds off her league final time of last season.

Scott was the top finisher at last week’s league finals and took first at an earlier meet in Greensboro, N.C. Berglas was the top finisher for Woodbridge at the Orange County Championships, and Bellotti won at the Mt. SAC Invitational.

The remaining runners, seniors Erin Kredel and Ellie Stephens and sophomore Christian Fairing, have also contributed to Woodbridge’s success.

“It’s a very special group,” Varvas said. “Each runner has different strengths. Some have the mental and character strengths and some have the physical strengths. They bring out the best in each other.”

The Warriors are ranked second in the county but have steadily closed the gap on No. 1 Corona del Mar, which is also the top-ranked team in the state and Southern Section Division IV polls.

Woodbridge finished 14 points behind Corona del Mar at the Orange County Championships last month with a team time that was 29 seconds slower than Corona del Mar’s time. A week later at the Mt. SAC Invitational, Woodbridge ran in a separate race and its team time was 12 seconds faster than Corona del Mar’s.

OUT OF WHACK

A hot topic among many county coaches this season has been the imbalance in the number of teams that make up each of the state’s top four divisions.

There are approximately 260 California high schools in Division I this season, 180 in Division II, 150 in Division III and 190 in Division IV. Because half of the state’s Division I teams are in the Southern Section, some strong teams could get squeezed out of the state finals, while much weaker programs from other sections will advance.

When the sport added a fifth division four years ago, their boundaries were set by simply dividing the school’s enrollment figures by five. But as populations began to climb in Southern California high schools, the numbers were never adjusted.

To compound the problem, the responsibility of adjusting the enrollment figures was handed to the 10 commissioners that head each of the state’s 10 sections. Each commissioner was given one vote on whether to readjust the figures, even though the Southern Section is considerably larger than some Northern California sections.

Because the lower divisions are occupied predominantly by Northern California schools, the six commissioners from that part of the state were in no hurry to adjust the numbers from three years ago and increase the number of schools in the lower divisions.

“Our high schools are getting bigger, but instead of building new schools, we put in more portables,” said Varvas, who is president of the California Coaches Alliance. “In Northern California they get new schools.”

If you have an item or idea for the cross-country report, you can fax us at (714) 966-5663 or e-mail us at ocsports@latimes.com

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Cross-Country Polls

Southern Section Coaches’ Poll

BOYS

Division I--Chino Don Lugo, 2. Katella, 3. Long Beach Poly, 4. Rialto, 5. Santa Ana Valley, 6. Mission Viejo, 7. Canyon Country Canyon, 8. El Toro, 9. Murrieta Valley, 10. Edison.

Division II--1. Santiago, 2. Newport Harbor, 3. Agoura, 4. Santa Margarita, 5. Villa Park, 6. Lake Arrowhead Rim of the Wold, 7. Lake Elsinore Temescal Canyon, 8. Newbury Park, 9. Tustin, 10. Pacifica.

Division III--1. Covina South Hills, 2. Rosemead Don Bosco, 3. Ridgecrest Burroughs, 4. La Canada, 5. San Luis Obispo, 6. Goleta Dos Pueblos, 7. La Puente, 8. La Puente Bassett, 9. La Puente Bishop Amat, 10. Mission Hills Alemany.

Division IV--1. Agoura Oak Park, 2. Ojai Nordhoff, 3. Corona del Mar, 4. Estancia, 5. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 6. La Canada St. Francis, 7. Fillmore, 8. Los Angeles Salesian, 9. San Marino, 10. Apple Valley Granite Hills.

Division V--1. La Canada Flintridge Prep, 2. Lancaster Desert Christian, 3. Downey Calvary Chapel, 4. Riverside Woodcrest Christian, 5. L.A. Baptist, 6. Sierra Madre Maranatha, 7. Pasadena Poly, 8. Oxnard Santa Clara, 9. Claremont Webb, 10. Palos Verdes Chadwick.

GIRLS

Division I--1. Palos Verdes Peninsula, 2. Woodbridge, 3. Hesperia Sultana, 4. Rialto, 5. Redlands East Valley, 6. Yucaipa, 7. Thousand Oaks, 8. Esperanza, 9. El Toro, 10. Canyon.

Division II--1. Foothill, 2. Santa Margarita, 3. Westlake Village Westlake, 4. Brea Olinda, 5. Newport Harbor, 6. Agoura, 7. Pacifica, 8. Tustin, 9. El Modena, T10. Newbury Park, Moorpark.

Division III--1. La Canada, 2. Covina South Hills, 3. San Luis Obispo, 4. Lompoc, 5. Rosary, 6. La Puente Bishop Amat, 7. La Verne Bonita, 8. South Pasadena, 9. Calabasas, 10. L.A. Southwest.

Division IV--1. Corona del Mar, 2. Ojai Nordhoff, 3. Woodland Hills Louisville, 4. Morro Bay, 5. La Canada Flintridge Sacred Heart, 6. Pasadena La Salle, 7. Orange Lutheran, 8. Laguna Beach, 9. Lancaster Paraclete, 10. Malibu.

Division V--1. Palos Verdes Chadwick, 2. Lancaster Desert Christian, 3. Northwood, 4. Bermuda Dunes Desert Christian, 5. Sierra Madre Maranatha, 6. La Canada Flintridge Prep, 7. Pasadena Poly 8. Ontario Christian, 9. Ojai Thacher, 10. Carpenteria Cate.