Loyola’s Matusak Wins on a Slower Pace

Mark Matusak of Los Angeles Loyola fell short in his bid to set a course record but still rolled to his fourth consecutive victory of the season Saturday at the Bell-Jeff Invitational cross-country meet.

Matusak, a junior who placed third in the state Division I final last year, won Saturday’s Division I race with a time of 14 minutes 29 seconds over the 2.8-mile course at Griffith Park.

The time was good for a 40-second winning margin over runner-up Van Nguyen of Huntington Beach Marina, but was nine seconds slower than he ran in last year’s Bell-Jeff meet and 19 seconds off the course record by Glendale’s Richard Erbes in 1986.

“I was thinking about [the course record], but it didn’t happen,” Matusak said. “I didn’t feel as strong on the hills this year as I did last year. But we really haven’t done much work [on the hills] yet. So that will come later in the season. I’m not worried about that.”

Nguyen’s effort helped Marina, No. 5 in The Times’ Southland rankings, win the team title with 91 points. No. 10-ranked Loyola finished second with 98 points.

Loyola, the defending state Division I champion, had three runners ahead of Marina’s No. 2 finisher. But the Vikings’ superior depth propelled them to victory.

Marina also won the Division I girls’ title with a 59-97 victory over runner-up Simi Valley.

Marina senior Anna Attard won the girls’ race in 18:03. Freshman teammate Caprice Thompson was second in 18:24.

Thousand Oaks La Reina senior Katie Gose posted the fastest girls’ time overall with a 17:05 clocking to win the Division IV race.

Gose’s time placed her fourth on the all-time course list. Senior Lauren Magdaleno of Santa Fe Springs St. Paul, the Division IV race runner-up, is ninth on the all-time course list after running a 17:14.

McFarland, a Central Section school that has won a record nine state titles, won the Division IV boys’ title with a 24-85 victory over Los Angeles Cathedral.

-- John Ortega

Mohamed Trafeh of Duarte won the boys’ Division IV race in 15:16 -- the fastest time of the day -- over a 5,000-meter course at the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto.

Trafeh outran Felton San Lorenzo Valley’s Alex Dunn, who finished second in 15:24. Chino Don Lugo won the Division I team title with 99 points.

Liza Pasciuto of Murrieta Valley won the girls’ Division I race in 18:01 to lead the Nighthawks to the team title with 39 points.

Covina’s Andrew Tachias clocked 15:46 to win the boys’ Division III race and Lindsay Flacks of North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake won the girls’ Division IV race at 17:58.

*

Chris Lingle scored seven goals for the Anaheim Servite boys’ water polo team as the Friars upended previously unbeaten and top-seeded Santa Ana Foothill, 16-9, for the championship of the South Coast tournament at Corona del Mar.

Servite (8-0), ranked No. 4 by the Times, benefited from five first-half goals by Lingle to go up 7-4 at intermission. The Friars led, 3-0, after the first quarter.

Besides Lingle’s scoring, the Friars got three goals by Adam McCall and two each from Adam Hewko and Matt Garcia.

Foothill (7-1) struggled to climb out of the early hole, but Frank Reynolds, who had five goals, scored the first one of the second half to cut the Knights’ deficit to 7-5. They stayed within 8-6 before Servite scored five times in a row.