Foothill, Corona del Mar, Woodbridge Win Titles

There were enough story lines to fill a Broadway musical at the state girls’ cross-country championships Saturday.

Foothill, Corona del Mar and Woodbridge were favored in their divisions, and each went home with a state title on the 5,000-meter course at Woodward Park. Throw in a dazzling second-place finish by Fountain Valley sophomore Julie Allen in the Division I race, and county athletes ably represented their portion of the state.

It was only the second time three girls’ teams from the county took home state titles. In 1993, Irvine, Edison and Santa Margarita were also victorious.

Foothill opened the meet with a three-point victory over Santa Margarita in Division II. It was the first state championship for the Knights, who were runners-up in 1990.

“We’ve had a really unbelievable season,” Foothill Coach Jeff Farr said. “We weren’t ranked anywhere at the start of the season.”

Sophomore Laura Strachan was the top runner for Foothill, placing ninth overall in 18 minutes 46 seconds, one spot behind Santa Margarita junior Lori Mann (18:42).

Foothill scored the deciding points when its second runner, freshman Katie Strachan, finished 14th overall. Santa Margarita’s second runner, Meghan Mainwaring, came in 32nd. The resulting seven-point advantage was a big lift for Foothill.

“My second-place runner was the main girl,” Farr said. “She came through and was way ahead of their second-place girl. It was pretty even after that.”

The Knights received other key performances from senior Brittany Swanek in 36th, sophomore Emily Haigh in 44th and junior Lyndsey Kuehn in 57th.

Brea Olinda finished fifth in Division II, the third consecutive year the Wildcats have placed in the top five. Backed by Amber Steen’s fifth-place finish (18:23), Newport Harbor finished sixth in the same race.

Corona del Mar has owned the top spot in the Division IV state rankings all season and the Sea Kings showed why, edging defending champion Nordhoff, 42-55, for their first state title since 1992.

Corona del Mar’s first five runners finished among the top 20, led by junior Katie Quinlan in fifth (18:54). Quinlan was followed by junior Jenny Cummins in 10th, senior Liz Morse in 13th, freshman Jennifer Long in 16th and senior Jill Quye in 20th.

“We’ve been going for a state title for the last three years, and to finally get it is awesome,” said Morse.

Woodbridge won its second state title in three years with another strong team effort. The Warriors’ first five finished among the top 37, which added up to a 34-point victory over Rancho Bernardo, the top-ranked Division I team in the state going into the postseason.

The Warriors were paced by freshman Kristen Berglas, who was 12th overall (18:52). Sophomore Meghan Bellotti finished 16th, junior Jessica Kanin was 22nd, senior Nicole Scott was 31st and senior Erin Kredel was 37th.

“We knew at the beginning of the race that Rancho Bernardo had four runners ahead of our No. 2 runner,” said Woodbridge Coach George Varvas. “But at the same time I knew that Meghan was going to come on and I knew that Jessica was holding back on purpose today.”

Esperanza finished fourth in Division I and University was sixth.

Northwood had an outside chance to give the county a fourth title, but the TimberWolves finished third behind Palos Verdes Chadwick and San Francisco University.

The best individual performance by a county athlete came from Allen, who ran on the heels of Glendale Hoover’s Anita Siraki for the entire race before finishing seven seconds back in 17:42.

Allen’s strategy was much more successful than her plan the week before at the section finals, when she raced out to the lead and then dropped back to third, finishing 43 seconds behind Siraki.

“I was going to be patient the first mile, not go out too fast,” Allen said. “And then the second and third mile just stay with her.”

Other top individual performances belonged to El Modena’s Christine Eckstaedt, who finished seventh in Division II (18:34); Mater Dei’s Jenny Sears, who finished ninth in Division I (18:41); Estancia’s Liz Huipe, who finished ninth in Division IV (19:07); and St. Margaret’s Ligaya Lange, who finished 13th in Division V (19:54).