La Dolce Vita

Joseph Boo

FRESNO - Last year can officially be laid to rest. And Corona del

Mar High’s girls cross country team can now call itself state champions.

The state’s No. 1 team in Division IV, the Sea Kings won the State

Championship at Woodward Park in Fresno, 13 points ahead of second place

Nordhoff in record-breaking fashion.

This is the same Nordhoff team that beat No. 1 CdM by one point in last

year’s state meet. This time, CdM wins its first state championship since

1993.

“(Last year) was very, very motivating,” Jenny Cummins said. “We all had

that in the back of our minds during the race.”

“The girls are very excited,” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said. “The ghost from

the past is gone.”

CdM turned in a dominating performance to remove all doubts this time.

The 42 team points is the lowest score in Division IV state meet history.

The Sea Kings also turned in the second fastest-team time of the day.

This all happened despite Diana Hossfeld falling halfway through the race

and usual No. 1 runner Liz Morse finishing third on the team.

Instead, it was juniors Katie Quinlan and Jenny Cummins who led the way.

Quinlan finished fifth to lead CdM, and Cummins finished 10th.

“Quinlan really stepped up to the plate and had a great day,” Sumner

said.

The race started off fast, with Nordhoff’s strategy of sprinting out to

an early lead. This was when Morse got caught in the back pack.

Nordhoff’s pace naturally started to slow down, and all the runners

started to jam up.

It was at this time that Hossfeld fell and suffered a slight ankle

injury.

“I was surprised she finished the race,” Sumner said. “But it’s the

state. These girls would finish the race no matter what.”

Senior Jill Quye helped Hossfeld and led her through the pack. Quye ended

up at 20th, Hossfeld at 29th. Morse was still able to fight through the

pack, and finished 13th. And freshman Jennifer Long came through and

grabbed the team’s fourth spot, finishing 16th.

Meanwhile, Quinlan and Cummins started moving up the pack, and got toward

the front at the second mile.

“I had a really bad start,” Quinlan said, “which was good since I don’t

like fast starts. I started moving up in the second mile, and caught up

in the hill.”

CdM’s runners all got together at the end, and the Sea Kings placed seven

runners in the top 20. The five scoring runners finished in the top 13.

Nordhoff’s Rae Stumbough ended up winning the race, and Susan Torres was

eighth. But Nordhoff’s next three runners all finished behind Quye, who

was CdM’s fifth runner, and that gave CdM a sizable win.

“The meet was basically a head-to-head meet with Nordhoff,” Sumner said.

“The whole year has been incredible. We’re not running for time. We’re

running for competition. We know we’re the team to beat, so we look at

the competition, pick out one team who will give us the best run for the

money, and race them head-to-head. In the state, we raced against

Nordhoff.”

By racing head-to-head against Nordhoff, CdM was able to get its revenge

and win a state title that was elusive until now..

“It’s really nice,” Quinlan, who’s a junior, said. “I’ve been waiting for

three years for this, and it’s a good way to end the season.”

The ending was sweet in other ways for the Sea Kings.

“We go out to a restaurant after the state meet,” Sumner said. “I told

the girls if we win this year they can order dessert first.”

Estancia junior Liz Huipe finished ninth in the Division IV girls race,

just beating Cummins at the finish line. This is a sizable improvement

from last year’s meet, where she was 29th.

“She came in with a big grin on her face,” Estancia Coach Charlie Appel

said. “It was the biggest grin I’ve seen in her track history.”

“She turned in an excellent time, and excellent work. But she still has a

lot more space to grow.”

After barely getting into the girls Division II state championship on a

tiebreaker, Newport Harbor High made itself right at home.

Amber Steen finished fifth, and Sonya Mechkor 26th as the Sailors

finished comfortably sixth in the meet.

Steen’s time of 18:23 was the top time by a Southern Section runner in a

race where Santa Rosa Montgomery’s Sara Bei set the Division record for

the state meet.

In another solid performance, junior Lynn Rinek was 54th for Newport

Harbor.

CIF GIRLS STATE MEET

(at Woodward Park, Fresno)

DIVISION II

Newport Harbor

5. Amber Steen, 18:23; 26. Sonya Mechkor, 19:14; 54. Lynn Rinek, 20:03;

81. Natalie St. Andre, 20:38; 86. Erin Friedman, 20:42; 102. Carrie Foss,

21:13; 104. Ashley Steen, 21:16.

DIVISION IV

Corona del Mar

5. Katie Quinlan, 18:54; 10. Jenny Cummins, 19:07; 13. Liz Morse, 19:15;

16. Jennifer Long, 19:21; 20. Jill Quye, 19:31; 29. Diana Hossfeld,

19:50; 43. Katherine Morse, 20:19.

Estancia

9. Liz Huipe, 19:07.