Dana Hills Is Looking to Run the Table This Time

There are goals, major goals and ultimate goals.

The Dana Point Dana Hills girls’ cross-country team has one of each for the upcoming season.

The Dolphins’ first goal is to win their third consecutive South Coast League title and sixth in seven years.

Their major goal is to win the Southern Section Division I championship, and their ultimate goal is to win their first state title.

“I’m sure [winning a state championship is] in the back of their minds,” Coach Beth Niednagel said of her team’s runners.

“That’s their ultimate goal. I’m just telling them to run the best that they can as individuals and the best that they can as a team. If they do that, they’ll have a good chance at winning state.”

Dana Hills, ranked fifth in the nation in Harrier magazine’s preseason poll, placed third behind Palos Verdes Peninsula and Clovis Buchanan in the state finals last year.

But the Dolphins are favored this year because all seven of their runners who competed in the state meet return and they have another six girls capable of breaking into their top seven, according to Niednagel.

“Our top spot could rotate quite a bit, which I think is good,” Niednagel said. “It’s good for every girl to have her day in the sun.”

Sophomore Monika Rothenburger was Dana Hills’ No. 5 runner at the state championships last year after missing most of the season with a stress fracture in her right leg.

She was the Dolphins’ top distance runner during track season, however, and has been among their leaders in workouts this summer.

“This team has so many good girls,” Rothenburger said. “The order is always changing around in workouts and I think you could see the same thing happening in races.”

Senior Julie Johnson, juniors Tarrah Crowley, Emilee Branham and Stephanie Eckl and sophomores Janae Chapin and Kassi Gaffoglio are the other runners who competed for Dana Hills in the section and state championships last year.

Crowley, the Dolphins’ top runner last year, will miss the first few meets of the season after injuring her back and neck in an auto accident last month. .

“I can’t wait to get back,” Crowley said. “We have a very close-knit team that trains well together.

“We’re competitive with each other, but in a good way. We use it to motivate ourselves.”

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Niednagel, a four-time All-American in cross-country and track at UCLA when her last name was Bartholemew, will step down as Dana Hills’ coach at the end of this season because she and her husband, Daniel, are expecting their first child next month.

“I’ll still be around in some capacity,” said Niednagel, 28. “But I won’t be the head coach.”

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Ojai Nordhoff and Canyon Country Canyon are ranked among the nation’s top 25 girls’ teams, but their coaches have t differing views of that fact.

Nordhoff has all seven runners back from a team that finished second in the state Division III finals last year, but Coach Ken Reeves thinks the Rangers’ No. 15 ranking is too high to start the season.

Canyon is ranked 24th, but Coach Dave DeLong figures the Cowboys can be in the top 10 by the end of the season because their top seven runners return from a team that placed fourth in the state Division II finals.

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Sophomores Liza Pasciuto of Murrieta Valley and Lindsey Owen of Nordhoff and seniors Emily Vince of Palos Verdes Peninsula and Julie Allen of Newport Beach Corona del Mar are the Southland’s top returning runners.

Pasciuto, an outstanding soccer player, was the big find of last year as she placed second in the state Division I finals and sixth in the national championships in her first season of cross-country.

Owen was a surprise winner of the state Division III title and placed 18th in the West regional.

Vince was fourth in the state Division I final, 13th in the West regional and ran a career-best 10 minutes 38.1 seconds in the 3,200 in track.

Allen, who transferred from Fountain Valley to Corona del Mar in the middle of her junior year, placed third in the state Division I cross-country finals and ran a career-best 10:39.52 to finish third in the 3,200 at the state track championships in June.

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Birmingham is favored to win the City Section girls’ championship this year with seniors Heather Rosas of San Pedro and Maria Blazquez of Roosevelt expected to battle for the individual title.

Birmingham has three of its top five runners back from last year’s team that finished third in the section finals.

Junior Jennifer Mobarez will move up to the varsity after winning the City freshman-sophomore title last year.

Rosas finished second in the City finals last year and was fourth in the 1,600 at the section track championships in May.

Blazquez finished third in the section cross-country championships and won the 1,600 and placed second in the 3,200 in the section track championships.

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GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY

A look at the top 10 programs in the Southland

1. Dana Point Dana Hills

(SS-South Coast) Gap between Dolphins’ first and fifth runners could be 30 seconds.

2. Canyon Country Canyon

(SS-Foothill) A move from Division II to I shouldn’t hurt the Cowboys.

3. Irvine Woodbridge

(SS-Sea View) Jenny Sears’ transfer from Mater Dei could lead to state Division II title.

4. Ojai Nordhoff

(SS-Frontier) The Rangers are masters at peaking at end of the season.

5. Chino Hills Ayala

(SS-Sierra) The Bulldogs’ top six runners return from last year.

6. Murrieta Valley

(SS-Southwestern) The Nighthawks have quality runners behind Liza Pasciuto.

7. Santa Ana Foothill

(SS-Century) A third consecutive top-three finish in state Division II finals?

8. Hesperia Sultana

(SS-Mojave River) Four of top five runners return for state Division II runner-up.

9. Palos Verdes Peninsula

(SS-South Bay) Emily Vince could battle Pasciuto for state Division I title.

10. Anaheim Esperanza

(SS-Sunset) Junior Alison Costello placed seventh in state Division I final.