Ocean View’s Elizabeth King victorious at Golden West League cross-country finals
A three-mile race rarely gets decided in the first mile.
Ocean View High cross-country runner Elizabeth King had jumped out to leads in the Golden West League cluster meets this season, only to finish as the runner-up twice.
The sophomore opted to employ a new strategy on Wednesday in the Golden West League finals at Central Park in Huntington Beach.
At the midway point of the race, King was part of the lead pack, but junior teammate Natalie Miller was the leader. By the time the runners returned from their lakeside run, King had taken a slim lead that she would not relinquish.
King crossed the finish line in 18 minutes 53.59 seconds, becoming Ocean View’s first league champion on the girls’ side since Kaylynn Gallo in 2001.
“I actually changed strategies from the first league meets,” King said. “My coach [Hugo Avina] had told me that in order to get the league title, I would need to change it up instead of just going out really quickly.
“Instead of going out really quickly, I let them take the lead a little bit. By the time we got to the hill, I could stay with them and have the energy to bring it home.”
Segerstrom won the girls’ team title 31-56 over Ocean View. Jaguars coach Imelda Nava said that it was Segerstrom’s 14th league championship in the past 15 years for the girls.
Despite the long reign of success, this one came as a pleasant surprise to Nava, who pulled up two girls — senior Dianne Ramirez (eighth, 20:19.40) and junior Liliana Ramirez (10th, 20:23.84) — from the junior varsity team.
“I saw strong teams,” Nava said. “I saw Ocean View leading. I saw Godinez in a pack. After the first mile and a half, that’s when I saw my girls pulling it through.
“I’m real proud of them. I didn’t expect it, honestly, because I brought two JV girls up, so I’m real proud of them.”
King, Miller (fourth, 19:28.02), freshman Esther Hile (15th, 20:48.37), junior Lizbeth Isita (16th, 20:52.54) and sophomore Delilah Espindola (20th, 21:33.97) contributed to Ocean View’s second-place showing.
The top three teams in the six-team league advanced to the CIF Southern Section preliminaries, which will be held on Nov. 15-16 at the Riverside City Cross-Country Course. Godinez finished third in the girls’ race with 62 points.
Anthony Paredes helped Godinez repeat as Golden West League champion on the boys’ side. The Grizzlies senior ran 15:41.29 to win the race.
Godinez topped Ocean View 19-45 in a dominating display that saw the Grizzlies place five runners among the top seven finishers.
“We always run as a team,” Paredes said. “Since [the] Woodbridge [Invitational], we knew we could run as a team. Coming into league, coach [Diego Rocha-Rodriguez] was just telling us, ‘Go hard. Let’s see who can get first place,’ and I came out [on top].”
Sophomore Diego Gonzalez (third, 15:45.18), junior Parker Walpole (ninth, 16:20.54), sophomore Brandon Gayler (10th, 16:21.27), senior Miguel Flores (11th, 16:21.87) and sophomore Adrian Ramirez (12th, 16:28.39) formed the scoring quintet for the Seahawks.
Segerstrom finished third as a team with 64 points.
In spite of the 26-point defeat to Godinez, Seahawks boys’ cross-country coach Daniel Hurtado said that his team made progress in its gap, something that he believes will be necessary if Ocean View is to make it to the CIF State championships for the third year in a row.
Ocean View currently projects to miss the cut for state, as the Seahawks enter the week at No. 10 in the Division 4 poll. The top seven teams in each divisional race at the CIF finals will move on to state.
“Of course we wanted to get the victory, but more than anything, we want to close the gap,” Hurtado said. “If it’s meant to be, it’s up to us. We have to do the work. We can’t concentrate on or control what the other teams are doing, so we can only control what we can control.”
BOYS’ CROSS-COUNTRY
Golden West League finals
At Central Park, Huntington Beach
3-mile course
Team Results
1. Godinez 19; 2. Ocean View 45; 3. Segerstrom 64; 4. Westminster 122; 5. Western 139; 6. Garden Grove 162
Individuals
1. Paredes (Godinez) 15:41.29; 2. De Jesus (Godinez) 15:43.43; 3. Gonzalez (Ocean View) 15:45.18; 4. Avendano (Godinez) 15:49.55; 5. Rodriguez (Godinez) 15:57.58; 6. Garcia (Segerstrom) 16:01.03; 7. Bustamante (Godinez) 16:03.79; 8. Castaneda (Segerstrom) 16:13.85; 9. Walpole (Ocean View) 16:20.54; 10. Gayler (Ocean View) 16:21.27
GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY
Golden West League finals
At Central Park, Huntington Beach
3-mile course
Team Results
1. Segerstrom 31; 2. Ocean View 56; 3 Godinez 62; 4. Westminster 113; 5. Garden Grove 113; 6. Western 160
Individuals
1. King (Ocean View) 18:53.59; 2. Carrera (Godinez) 18:59.81; 3. Gonzalez (Segerstrom) 19:27.83; 4. Miller (Ocean View) 19:28.02; 5. De Guzman (Segerstrom) 19:49.71; 6. Sanchez (Segerstrom) 20:02.09; 7. Hernandez (Godinez) 20:05.38; 8. D. Ramirez (Segerstrom) 20:19.40; 9. Guardado (Segerstrom) 20:23.53; 10. L. Ramirez (Segerstrom) 20:23.84
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