Making a name for themselves

Joseph Boo

ORANGE - The most surprising cross country runner from the

Newport-Mesa School District at Saturday’s Orange County Championships in

Irvine Park did not wear a Corona del Mar High or Costa Mesa uniform, nor

is her last name Steen.

Instead, it was Newport Harbor sophomore Katie Renock, who shocked

everyone. The previously unheralded runner on the Sailors’ girls

frosh-soph team turned in the second best time for Newport Harbor in the

frosh-soph girls small schools division race.

Renock’s time of 24:59 was 2 1/2 minutes faster than her previous best

time and she finished 34th overall.

“She was the most pleasant surprise in the entire race,” Newport Harbor

Coach Eric Tweit said. “These are the nice things to see in these races.

To have someone come out and really make a name for herself.”

Renock and freshman Ashley Steen, who finished 17th with a time of 23:09,

helped Newport Harbor’s freshmen girls team to a sixth-place finish.

“Ashley just gave a nice effort,” Tweit said. “She’s definitely one of

our top two or three hardest workers.”

The 20th-place finisher in the freshmen boys small school division race

was simply listed as “Newport Harbor runner.” When Newport Harbor’s

varsity boys coach Bim Barry and freshmen boys coach Nowell Kay tried to

identify the runner, it was ugly.

“It’s Urtusua-something,” Barry said.

“I can get the spelling right if I write his name out,” Kay said. “I know

it has a lot of U’s.”

Well, his name is Alex Urtusuastigui, and his 18:41 was the best time by

a Newport Harbor freshman.

Urtusuastigui is the most promising runner on a Sailors freshmen team

which finished 11th at the Orange County Championships. He’s also one of

the few runners on the team with cross country experience. For a couple

of kids, the Orange County Championships was the first race of the year.

One of the first-time runners is Jiovanny Cruz, who debuted at an

impressive 53rd place.

“That was Cruz’s first race,” Kay said. “He’s still learning.”

“The team’s coming along. They’re improving,” he continued.

This was only the third race of the year for the freshmen team, so the

learning curve is still the key. Hence, Kay refused to put a lot of

emphasis on this one.

“There are a lot of kids here,” he said. “But it’s not the most important

one. I’m sure there are bigger races later on for the kids.”

The sophomore boys for Newport Harbor did even better at fourth place.

Chris Negrete finished 13th with a time of 18:03 to lead the Sailors.

Fernando Cortes was 17th.

Corona del Mar finished just ahead of Newport Harbor in the boys

sophomore small schools races. Two of the Sea Kings’ sophomores, Mark

Pomerantz and Ben Inouye, spend time on the varsity team. Pomerantz

finished sixth and Inouye 12th.

CdM also fielded its usually large freshmen team that is unusual for most

schools. The freshmen finished 13th in the Orange County Championships

for CdM, with William Weidner the top finisher at 51st.

Although the large team could not pull out a win by sheer numbers, CdM

Coach Bill Sumner knows fielding a large team is a miracle in itself.

“The very fast kids end up on the football team,” he said. “We get the

leftovers and we teach them to be fast. Of course, the football team

comes by and takes them afterward.”

“One of the things about a small school is that it takes two to three

years to get kids in condition. We have a lot of freshmen boys. By the

end, I’m sure their times will go down.”

The girls freshmen team, on the other hand, was just as impressive as

CdM’s varsity team. The Sea Kings placed three runners in the top five of

the frosh-soph girls small schools race.

Jennifer Long was second overall with a time of 22:36. Rebecca Cummins

was fourth and Keylin Cuyler was right behind her in fifth.

“These three, they’re great for the future,” Sumner said. “These three

would be on any other varsity squad. Long and Cummins are just about even

right now, and Kaylin is coming in as the third runner. I’m really happy

with them.”

With no football team around to take the girls, Sumner should reload his

girls varsity squad rather nicely.