Laguna Beach girls, 3 local individuals qualify for state in cross-country
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WALNUT — The Laguna Beach girls’ cross-country team enjoyed the thrill of making the cut on Saturday, the Breakers booking their return trip to the state meet after missing out last year.
Laguna Beach placed fifth in Division 4 at the CIF Southern Section cross-country finals on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College, leading the local performances in the state-qualifying meet.
When it last qualified in 2023, Laguna Beach placed seventh, claiming the last spot allotted for a team hoping to extend its season. This time had its own heart-stopping moment, as the Breakers watched more than three dozen runners cross the finish line between their fourth and fifth runners to complete their team total.
“We’ve just had so much adversity in the past week and a half,” Laguna Beach coach Steve Lalim said. “For that fifth girl to come across the line and notice that we’re fifth, it was a relief because this is what we’ve been working for all year.”
Laguna Beach ran two alternates, Lalim said, but the Breakers were able to get by with freshman Grace Wagener (16th, 18:01.9) leading the way.
“She was in my sixth-grade [physical education] class [at Thurston Middle School],” Lalim said of Wagener. “We run the mile every month. We do a lot of running, actually, at the middle school, and she just stood out from day one as someone who can just push when it gets uncomfortable. She’s always willing to go to the extra gear.”
Behind Wagener, seniors Karina Pitz (26th, 18:39.9) and Hayden Joseph (28th, 18:42.2), and juniors Ella Volpe (38th, 18:52.8) and Isla Aguilar (77th, 20:22.3) contributed to the team score.
“[Lalim] always says that we should work together and push each other, that we should run for the team so that everyone gets to move on,” Wagener said. “I’m really excited that we moved on as a team, so we can all go to state together.”
On the flip side, the Ocean View boys experienced heartbreak. When the Seahawks’ fifth runner finished, they appeared in seventh place — in position to advance to state. As more teams had their full scoring quintet complete the course, Ocean View dropped out of the state-qualifying field.
The Seahawks placed eighth in the Division 4 boys’ race, 18 points behind Big Bear, the seventh-place qualifier. Senior Maury Young, who placed 12th in 14:51.7, earned his second consecutive state berth as an individual.
“We all put our efforts in, we all tried our best, but it just wasn’t enough, and that’s the reality,” Young said. “I’m proud of all the work that my teammates have done, all the work that we’ve done together. I’m sad, but at the same time, I’m glad that I get to spend my last season with them and almost qualifying for state together.”
The competitors were spared the hills of the Mt. SAC course, as recent wet weather resulted in the rain course being employed for the section finals.
“I knew it was going to be really fast,” Young added. “The guys were going to go out fast because it’s obviously a flat course, another course to [get a personal record] and have a great time. … Everyone wanted it so bad. I could tell by the way that people were running, and so I had to just go out and kind of survive with them.”
Pacifica Christian Orange County also experienced a near miss in the girls’ Division 5 final, its margin coming in at 207-223 in the race for seventh. Ojai Thacher was the last team in.
Lila Glidewell, the senior frontrunner for the Tritons, left nothing to chance in her personal qualification, placing third in the race in 17:58.5.
“I was so excited at the end, because I think I [out]kicked like six girls,” Glidewell said. “I was so happy because I was not expecting to qualify. I was aiming for like eighth place, and I was like, ‘Hopefully, those girls are affiliated with a team,’ so I could go on as an individual.”
Glidewell said she went to the “Bring the Rain” basketball showcase at Vanguard University the night before, followed by an evening of pizza, garlic knots and making TikTok videos with her mom.
“It was really amazing,” Glidewell said. “It was the best pre-race, just to get my nerves out of the way.”
The top five individuals from non-qualifying teams who placed in the top 20 overall of their respective races earned at-large selections into the CIF State cross-country championships, which will be held on Saturday at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Huntington Beach sophomore Rebecca VanPeteghen (16th, 17:03.5 in Division 1) surprised herself in qualifying. She paced the Oilers, whose top runner Sydney Rubio, a junior, was battling an illness.
“It’s definitely very overwhelming because I was not expecting to be able to qualify,” VanPeteghen said. “Everyone on my team is such a big support system. … It’s just a big surprise to me that I’m able to go to [the] state meet. I never really thought about that because Syd’s always been in front of me.”
