Santa Ana’s Men Expecting to Be in Running for Title

Al Siddons, the Santa Ana College men’s cross-country coach, knows his team has improved as the season has gone along.

But he is well aware that other teams have made great strides as well, especially Orange Coast and Riverside.

For that reason, Siddons is looking for a close, exciting race in today’s Orange Empire Conference championships at Irvine Park. The men run at 9:30 a.m. and the women at 10:30.

Santa Ana, led by talented freshmen Jose Herrera (Loara High) and Alfonso Leon (Santa Ana High), won the conference preview race in mid-September on the same course.

Herrera finished first in 20 minutes 28 seconds and Leon was 10 seconds behind on the four-mile course. Santa Ana, which has a pack of other talented runners, has won three invitationals this year.

“This year we have a little more ability than in the past,” Siddons said. “But they are just another hard-working group that is fun to be around.”

Santa Ana was nine points better than Orange Coast at the conference preview, but the Pirates, led by Juan Sanchez and Chris Monachelli, have run well of late.

OCC finished first in invitational races at Crystal Springs and Bakersfield earlier this month.

“I expect the race to be determined by seven or eight points,” OCC Coach John Goldman said, “no more than that. Everyone is going to have to run well, the way we did at Crystal Springs and Bakersfield.”

The Orange Coast women’s team, which has won the last two state titles, is the favorite in its race.

The Pirates are led by sophomore Zoila Gomez, the defending conference champion, who won the preview race in 19:23 on the 3.2-mile course.

Teammates Berenice Carbajal and Sinfo Orozco were second and third in the race. Heather Shurtleff also has come on to have a solid season for OCC.

Santa Ana’s women’s team has had a strong fall; the Dons have won three consecutive races coming into the conference final.

Francisca Flores, Monica Martinez and Cristal Hernandez finished third, fourth and fifth overall as the Dons won the Santa Barbara Invitational on Oct. 16. The three finished four seconds apart.

THIS WEEK IN FOOTBALL

After six weeks of taking on ranked teams, Golden West (0-6, 0-1 in conference) finally gets a chance to play a team on somewhat equal footing in Fullerton (1-5, 0-1).

The teams meet in a Mission Conference Central Division game at 7 tonight at Cal State Fullerton.

Golden West has shown an improved running game in recent weeks, but the Rustlers have been wounded by turnovers all season.

The Rustlers lost four fumbles and quarterback J.D. Stern had two passes intercepted in a 59-14 loss to Palomar last week.

Fullerton is coming off a 31-17 loss to Santa Ana in which the Hornets had two running backs rush for more than 100 yards, and they led, 17-7, late in the first half.

Santa Ana (4-2, 1-0), which has won four in a row, is at Saddleback (2-4, 0-1) in another Central Division 7 p.m. game.

Santa Ana, which is ranked ninth in Southern California, plays No. 1 Palomar on Nov. 6, but looking ahead isn’t a good idea. Saddleback has been at its best when seemingly overmatched.

Orange Coast (2-4, 0-1) is at Pasadena (4-2, 0-1) in a Northern Division game at 7.

BASEBALL CHANGE-UP

A new baseball playoff format for the 2001 season got final approval from the Commission on Athletics last week.

Under the new format, 16 teams will make the playoffs and be assigned to four, four-team sites in the first round.

One team will advance from each site into the second round, where there will be a pair of best-of-three series. The two winners advance to the state tournament along with the two teams from Northern California.

The format currently is reversed, with the best-of-three series in the first round and the four-team sites in the second round.

“I’m excited about the possibility of going one-on-one with someone in the second round,” said Santa Ana Coach Don Sneddon. “The first round will also generate a lot more interest.”