El Modena Streak Is Stopped by Foothill

The Foothill girls’ cross-country team took seven of the top eight spots Wednesday and ended El Modena’s streak of 33 consecutive dual-meet victories with an 18-45 decision in a Century League meet at Irvine Park.

Sophomore Laura Strachan was the first to complete the three-mile course, and her time of 18 minutes 25 seconds was three seconds better than that of her freshman sister, Katie.

After Christine Eckstaedt finished third in 18:44 for El Modena, Foothill’s Brittany Swanek crossed the line in 19:17, followed by teammates Missy Ellsworth (19:33), Emily Haigh (19:37), Jessie Chavez (19:40) and Lyndsey Kuehn (19:45).

“It feels really good to finally beat them,” Swanek said. “Especially with all seven of us in before their No. 2. We’ve got to keep that up at league finals.”

El Modena’s streak dates back to 1993 and didn’t appear in jeopardy at the beginning of the season. But the Vanguards have had to move three varsity returnees down to the junior varsity because their club soccer schedule has taken too much of a physical toll, Coach John Ahearn said.

“They were just getting too banged up,” said Ahearn, who has guided the Vanguards to eight consecutive state meet appearances.

Foothill’s season has gone in the opposite direction. The Knights weren’t even ranked in Southern Section Division II at the start of the season, but have climbed all the way to No. 1. The Strachans have been responsible for a lot of that success, but other runners have stepped up as well.

“We knew about Katie coming into their program, but Ellsworth’s improvement has been the biggest surprise,” Ahearn said.

In other Century League meets:

Canyon 25, Orange 34--Merissa Stenger, Canyon’s top finisher, placed third in 20:35 over three miles at Irvine Park as the Comanches (3-2) took the third through eighth places to win the meet.

Villa Park 19, Santa Ana Valley 41--Sophomore Hannah Stagner won in 19:57 over 3.0 miles at Irvine Park for Villa Park (2-3).

In the Orange League:

Savanna 17, Anaheim 45--Ciamara Franco and Susie Garcia tied for first (20:59) over three miles at Savanna for the host Rebels.

In the South Coast League:

Dana Hills 20, Trabuco Hills 41--Tarah Crowley won in 19:23 over the three-mile course at Trabuco Hills for Dana Hills (3-0).

Mission Viejo 25, El Toro 31--Sarah Rettman of Mission Viejo won in 19:48, and teammate Katy Hill (20:04) was second over three miles at O’Neill Park in Trabuco Canyon. Carly Edmonds was El Toro’s top runner, finishing third in 20:13.

In Century League boys’ cross-country:

Canyon 25, Orange 31--Nick Hoppe fell in the last half-mile but got up, passed two Orange runners and ran a personal-best 17:43 over three miles at Canyon High to finish fifth for the Comanches (2-3). David Kim won in 17:13 for Canyon.

Santa Ana Valley 25, Villa Park 36--Augie Escobar and Keven Williams won in 16:16 over three miles at Irvine Park for Villa Park (3-2). Escobar and Williams are undefeated for the Spartans.

Francisco Chamu finished third in 16:28 for Santa Ana Valley (5-0), which completed its fourth consecutive undefeated league season.

In the Freeway League:

Sunny Hills 26, La Habra 29--Daniel Lee placed second (17:07) and Kristian Fernandez (17:12) finished third over three miles at Clark Park for Sunny Hills (4-0).

Tony Cuen won in 16:56 for La Habra (3-1).

In the Orange League:

Anaheim 15, Savanna 53--Marques Chamorro won in 16:42 over three miles at Savanna for visiting Anaheim, which swept the top five places.

In the South Coast League:

Dana Hills 20, Trabuco Hills 41--Dana Hills’ Devin Segal finished second in 16:19 over three miles at Trabuco Hills for the Dolphins (2-1).

Sam Marquez won in 15:51 for Trabuco Hills.

Mission Viejo 28, El Toro 29--Although El Toro runners took first and second, Mission Viejo (3-0) won on the strength of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-place finishes.

Senior Chirs Wilcox (16:11) won for El Toro (2-1) on the three-mile course at O’Neill Park in Trabuco Canyon and teammate Mark Cipolla was seven seconds behind him to finish second.

Jacob Gustafsson was Mission Viejo’s top finisher, taking third in 16:19.