Esperanza Runs Away With Title

After losing the 1999 and 2000 Orange County Championships by one point, the Esperanza girls’ track and field team left nothing to chance Saturday.

The Aztecs tied the meet record with 102 points, scoring in 12 of 16 events and winning four at Trabuco Hills High. Second-place Woodbridge had 54 points and Santa Ana Valley had 52.

Julie Handy, a junior, won the 300 hurdles in 46.01 seconds and ran a leg on the Aztecs’ winning 400- and 1,600-meter relay teams. Maribeth Buche, who signed with UCLA this week, won the 800 meters in 2:14.92 and ran the opening leg on the 1,600 relay.

“We’ve been so close so many times,” said Buche. “It feels good to finally win.”

Woodbridge sophomore Michelle Sanford stole the show in the individual competition once again, tying the county record in the triple jump with a leap of 40-11 3/4.

“That mark is something I didn’t think would come this fast,” Sanford said.

Sanford had the benefit of a wind gauge for the winning jump, something she didn’t have when she went 40-5 3/4 earlier this season at the Surf City Invitational in Huntington Beach. That mark has been listed as wind-aided.

Sanford equaled the record set in 1996 by Kelly O’Connor of Esperanza, who was on the 1995 team that won the Aztecs’ last county title.

Sanford edged Mission Viejo’s Dana Bethel by a half inch to win the long jump. Sanford, the defending state champion in the event, went 18-9 3/4 on her final attempt, passing Bethel, who had taken the lead minutes earlier.

Bethel won the 100 hurdles in 14.77, almost a second faster than Handy in second.

San Clemente junior Marquita Taylor established herself as the county’s fastest runner, winning the 100 in 12.16 and the 200 in 24.92.

Santa Ana Valley senior Crystal Davis was second in both races (12.26, 25.19) and Sanford was third in the 100 (12.29). Sanford was the defending county champion in the 100 and Davis won in 1999.

Amber Steen of Newport Harbor was a double winner in the 1,600 (5:01.93) and 3,200 (10:48.20).

Magnolia junior Vao Faoa won the discus with a throw of 152-8, bettering her 150-9 at the Arcadia Invitational three weeks ago, which was the fifth-best throw in county history.