Boys cross country: Young and restless

Joseph Boo

COSTA MESA - The runners on Estancia High’s boys cross country team

are young, talented, and form one of the top teams in the CIF Southern

Section Division IV, but don’t tell that to coach Charlie Appell.

Six runners return from last year’s squad that shared the Pacific

Coast League title, its third in a row, and finished ninth at state. That

includes Estancia’s top three runners, sophomore Humberto Rojas and

juniors Luis Segoviano and Mike Casillas.

But Appell, who saw last year’s anonymous bunch grow into a group of

formidable underclassmen, only sees youth gone wild.

“We’ve got no senior leader,” he said. “We’re in a transition right

now. The summer really takes its toll with a lot of kids going on

vacation. The kids have to start working again.”

The two seniors last year, Abe Inouye and Danny Vargas, were

invaluable in steadying a group of freshman and sophomores. According to

Appell, Casillas has emerged as a leader of this year’s team that has six

sophomores. But the Eagles suffered through some signs of immaturity and

their workout attendance has been spotty this summer.

Nevertheless, Estancia will go into the fall season as one the league

favorites. The key to the Eagles’ success last year was running in a

pack, and opponents may see even more of Estancia’s pink jerseys this

year.

The leader of Estancia’s pack is Rojas, who emerged as one of the

league’s top freshmen. He was third in the PCL, 12th in his division at

CIF and 33rd at state. Casillas and Segoviano usually finished as

Estancia’s second and third runners. Segoviano was sixth in league and

34th in CIF while Casillas was seventh and 35th, respectively.

Junior Eric Lopez, another returning varsity runner, moves up in the

lineup. Three sophomores, Aaron Van Geem, Gerardo Orozco and Abel Flores,

saw varsity experience last year and they’ll fight for a spot in the

rotation. Two more sophomores, Jorge Contreras and Sean Zich, also figure

in the rotation.

Appell has a lot of options with a deep and talented group, but the

inconsistent summer workouts left some lineup spots up for grab.

“We’re physically stronger than last year’s team,” he said. “But I

don’t know how it’s going to work out. Without a fourth or fifth runner

and not knowing how the other are working out, it makes things sketchy of

who’s doing what.”

But whichever lineup Appell settles on, Estancia will carry a big

bull’s-eye on its back. With Nordhoff moving up, Oak Park and PCL-rival

Corona del Mar, which shared the league title with the Eagles last year,

they figure to be two of Estancia’s toughest competitors in Division IV.

“We’ll focus on league first,” he said. “If we start looking ahead,

that’s when you get in trouble. We’re just taking it meet to meet.”

Estancia’s first meet is on Sept. 9, when it travels to University

City in San Diego.

Estancia boys cross country

Coach: Charlie Appell

Mike Casillas Jr.

Jorge Contreras So.

Abel Flores So.

Eric Lopez Jr.

Gerardo Orozco So.

Humberto Rojas So.

Luis Segoviano Jr.

Aaron Van Geem So.

Sean Zich So.