Sailors’ Steen Moves Up to 10th Place

Amber Steen ended her high school cross-country career with an exclamation point Saturday at the 22nd Foot Locker Cross-Country West Regional at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Newport Harbor senior finished 10th among 125 runners in the girls’ seeded race, completing the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes 29 seconds.

“Coming from [41st] last year [in this race] to 10th, I think that’s a good improvement,” Steen said.

Because a sewer line broke near the starting line earlier in the day, the opening chute had to be moved to a paved area just south of the original starting line. That also increased the distance of the course by about 200 meters.

The field was tightly packed as it headed down the opening straightaway and into the first half-mile loop.

“The first mile was the hardest of any I’ve ever raced because everyone is trying to get up front,” Steen said.

Santa Margarita’s Lori Mann was among the leaders heading into the second loop, but she began to fade heading up the switchbacks.

“There are so many blind spots on this course that it’s hard to keep track of where you stand,” said Mann, who finished 57th in 19:52. “I’d come around a corner and say, ‘Where did everybody go?’ ”

Ukiah’s Amber Trotter led the pack across the mile mark in 5:28, but gave way to defending champion Alicia Craig of Gillette, Wyo., and two-time defending Division I state champion Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover.

Fountain Valley’s Julie Allen was 12th coming down the switchbacks and Steen was 14th, but Steen caught Allen at the base of Poop-Out Hill.

Craig took the lead for good at the two-mile mark, while Steen maintained her position and Allen continued to fall back, eventually finishing 21st in 19:00.

“I wasn’t too happy with my second and third mile,” said Allen, who finished 18th in the same race last year.

Craig went on to win the race in 17:36, followed by Siraki in 17:51 and four-time state champion Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery in 17:56.

“I just wanted to go out and compete,” said Craig, who was running in only her sixth race of the season. “I didn’t want to go out there and kill myself and run the risk of not qualifying for next week.”

The top eight finishers advanced to the national championships Saturday in Orlando, Fla.

“Hey, I wish I could have finished in the top eight,” said Steen, who finished eight seconds behind eighth-place finisher Natalie Stein of North Hollywood. “But I’m still very happy with how I did. For me, I thought it was a good time and a good place.”

Esperanza sophomore Alison Costello finished 30th in 19:12, Mater Dei junior Jenny Sears was 48th in 19:25 and Corona del Mar senior Katie Quinlan was 63rd in 19:40.

In the boys’ seeded race, Santa Margarita senior Steven Murray finished 33rd in a field of 217. His time was 16:20. Marina junior Raemon Rodriguez was 75th in 16:44 and Valencia sophomore Juan Robles was 79th in 16:46.

Seth Watkins of Kalispell (Mont.) Flathead High, finished first in 15:21, followed by Chandler Goodwin of Pleasant Grove, Utah, in 15:27, David Vidal of Kalispell in 15:27 and Big Bear’s Ryan Hall, who coasted in at 15:30.

Watkins, the No. 2 runner behind Vidal for nationally-ranked Flathead for most of the season, was in 11th place after two miles before moving into fourth ascending the final hill on the course and passing Goodwin, Vidal and Hall in the last 500 yards of the race.

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Times staff writer John Ortega contributed to this story.