Santiago Works Out an Impressive Win

The Santiago boys’ cross-country team could never be accused of not working hard enough. If anything, a few key runners work too much.

But at the Central Park Invitational in Huntington Beach Saturday, the Cavaliers took time away from their jobs and won the Division I varsity team title by 19 points over Las Vegas Bonanza.

“A lot of them just say, ‘Well, I’ve got to go to work, Coach, I won’t be at practice today,’ ” Santiago Coach Rex Ressler said. “I can’t deny them that and say you can’t do that, which wouldn’t work out at all and they’d have to quit the team. So you just have them run here, run there and try to get in a few miles in between a dual meet and going to work.”

Rene Rangel was the top finisher for the Cavaliers, ranked fifth in the county. Rangel ran the three-mile course in 15 minutes 57 seconds and finished third overall behind Bonanza’s Cory Jeffers (15:20) and Norwalk’s Puneet Mahan (15:39).

Juan Corona finished seventh overall (16:12) for Santiago, Adrian Delgado was 11th (16:18) and Rudy Corona was 12th (16:20).

Rudy Corona’s result was the biggest lift for the Cavaliers. He was Santiago’s second runner at the Division II state finals behind Rangel last season, but has had the most difficulty integrating his work and training schedules. He has been fitting his training into a third-period physical education class at school, so he can get to work by 4 p.m.

“It’s working out good,” Corona said. “I can run on the track or around the perimeter of the school.”

Corona wasn’t too pleased after finishing fifth in 16:50 in a dual meet against Bolsa Grande last Thursday, but his teammates pulled him aside and set a goal for him.

“The guys got together and said, ‘Rudy, you stay with Adrian Delgado,’ and he did,” Ressler said. “That just put all the icing on the cake.”

In the girls’ competition at the Central Park Invitational:

Kelly takes first--Vanessa Kelly, a Marina junior, won the Division I varsity race in 18:56, easily outdistancing Kelly Sleeth of Torrance (19:08).

Los Alamitos, ranked eighth in the Southern Section, won the Division I team title by 41 points over Chino. Sophomore Jaclyn Power finished third overall (19:20) and junior Katie Mais was fourth (19:29) for the Griffins.

At the Clovis Invitational:

Brea Olinda girls win--Brea Olinda took first in the large schools division on the three-mile state meet course at Woodward Park in Fresno. The Wildcats, ranked third in the Southern Section Division II poll, scored 118 points in 93-degree heat. Clovis was second (142) and Ojai Nordhoff was third (148). El Toro finished 10th and Huntington Beach was 17th.

The Wildcats were led by Michelle DiMeo, who finished 14th overall in 20:13. Amber Kuehnel was 20th (20:27), Jenny Thune 22nd (20:32) and Kathy Sepulveda 26th (20:42) for Brea.

Pacifica won the small schools division with 74 points. Rosary finished sixth. Rosary’s Christi Arnerich was third (19:32) and Pacifica’s Natalie Perkins (19:54) and Christine Krause (19:55) were eighth and ninth.

At the Manhattan College Invitational:

Edison wins heat--The Edison boys’ team finished first in its heat on the 2.5-mile course in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, N.Y.

Edison, which was placed in the fastest of the five heats, was led by Scott Brandos, who finished fourth in 13:04. Kevin McCarter was fifth (13:14), Gabe Vasquez was 17th (13:40) and Artie Moreno was 19th (13:45).