Mann Dedicates Victory to Her Late Grandfather

Santa Margarita senior Lori Mann won the Serra League girls’ cross-country title Thursday at Central Park in Huntington Beach, then dedicated the race to her grandfather, who had died two days earlier.

“He never got a chance to see me run,” said Mann, who won her third consecutive league title. “That was all I was thinking about today.”

Clarence Mann had planned to drive from his home in Palm Springs to watch Lori run at the Orange County Championships three weeks ago, but he suffered a heart attack. He fell into a coma in recent days and died Tuesday of pneumonia.

Mann said she last talked to her grandfather after she set the school course record against Mater Dei last week. A former runner himself at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Clarence Mann always looked forward to Lori’s post-race phone calls.

“Whenever I spoke to him, [running] is all we talked about,” Mann said. “I wanted to win this for him. He was my biggest fan.”

Mann’s victory was one of the few highlights for Santa Margarita, which finished last in the team standings. Mater Dei won with 45 points, followed by Rosary (50), Lakewood St. Joseph (58) and Santa Margarita (67).

Because all four teams are ranked in the top 10 in their Southern Section divisions, each was guaranteed a berth in the Southern Section preliminaries next week at Mt. San Antonio College, regardless of where they finished in league.

Mater Dei junior Jenny Sears finished second in 18 minutes 10 seconds, seven seconds behind Mann.

In the Serra League boys’ finals:

Murray defends title--Santa Margarita senior Steven Murray defended his individual title by 25 seconds at Central Park in Huntington Beach, winning in 15:19.

Bellflower St. John Bosco had six runners in the top nine and easily won the team title by 27 points over Santa Margarita.