Laguna Beach on the outside looking in for State berth

It was a day filled with heartbreak for the Laguna Beach High cross-country program at the CIF Southern Section Division Finals on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Breakers boys’ and girls’ teams just missed the cut for the CIF State Meet by one spot, as both placed eighth in Division IV competition, with the top-seven earning a trip to Woodward Park in Fresno for the State Meet on Nov. 24.

“We had a lot of good individual performances but just as a whole we have to pull it together,” Laguna Beach girls’ Coach Steve Lalim said. “Usually our strength is in our numbers and our tight pack, but we just couldn’t pull it off today.”

Laguna Beach’s boys (223) fell 10 points short of a trip to State, just getting edged by No. 7 Harvard-Westlake. Jack Crawford finished 34th overall in 15 minutes 25 seconds and Grant Barton wasn’t far behind in 38th in 15:27 for the Breakers, who had Veda Rebollar (56th, 15:52), Cameron Zuziak (73rd, 16:08) and John Kimball (82nd, 16:16) complete the top five.

Laguna Beach’s girls (205) were just nine points away from a trip to State, as Crean Lutheran locked up the seventh spot. Eliza Romero was the Breakers top finisher in 29th in 18 minutes 19 seconds. Pearl Shoemaker took 40th in 18:31 for Laguna Beach, which had Janie Crawford (56th, 18:53), Livie Clark (61st, 19:03) and Monica White (69th, 19:23) round out the top five.

“It stings,” Lalim said. “Last year we felt it and it was good because we were there and took sixth place. Now we’ve tasted both sides and I think going forward they’re not going to want that feeling anymore. We’re in one of the worst spots we can be, but I think they’re going to build on it and become stronger next year because of it.”

andrew.shortall@latimes.com

Twitter: @TCNshortall