CdM secures CIF title

Chris Yemma

Usually for the Corona del Mar High girls cross country team, it’s

business as usual. This time, it was something different.

It was for the CIF Southern Section Division III championship, and

the qualifying test for the CIF State championships. And with perfect

running conditions Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College, the CdM girls

took advantage as they ran away with the title and qualified for the

state meet.

“This was not business as usual,” Sea Kings’ Coach Bill Sumner

said. “This is the best group of girls in 10 years.”

On previous CdM victories, Sumner characterized his girls as

“conducting business as usual.” The girls took first in the

preliminaries Nov. 13 at Mt. SAC, took first in the Pacific Coast

League final and took second place in the sweepstakes race at the Mt.

SAC invitational Oct. 22.

Saturday’s race wasn’t even close. Corona del Mar won by nearly

two minutes, with four of its runners finishing in the top 20. The

Sea Kings finished with 82 points, while second-place finisher Rim of

the World totaled 117 points.

Junior Anne St. Geme (18 minutes, 21 seconds) and freshman Alison

Damon (18:59) were the top runners for CdM, finishing first and

second, respectively, and third and 14th overall.

“This is incredibly huge,” Damon said after the results were

posted. “We’ve been working hard all year toward this, and we came

out and did what we needed to do.”

Said Sumner: “We had a lot of respect for everyone. We just tried

to stay calm, and all seven of our runners picked it up.”

One of the keys to the championship were sophomore Christie St.

Geme and senior Ahlia Kattan upping their tempos, Sumner said. St.

Geme ended up the fifth finisher for CdM, but Kattan was not far

behind.

“It could have been either one of those girls; they were as solid

as a rock,” Sumner said.

Sara Cummings finished third for CdM and 16th overall in 19:02 and

Hilary May finished fourth for CdM and 18th overall in 19:03.

Before the meet, Sumner said the CIF competition was a two-step

process: the girls needed to come out strong enough to finish first,

but show enough caution so as not to risk an injury prior to the

state meet.

Sumner compared the finals and state meet to the league

championship series and World Series in baseball. Sumner went

according to his plan Saturday, and it paid off -- no one was injured

and they took home the title.

“We came out really strong for the first two miles,” Sumner said.

“We were a little more cautious that last mile.”

For the state meet, though, Sumner is most likely going to throw

caution to the wind.

“If we have a shot, we’re going to go get it,” he said.

In the boys Division III race, Corona del Mar finished 11th,

missing state qualification by 10 points. The top seven teams

qualified, with Cabrillo being No. 1 and Bonita No. 7.

Ryan Guthrie (29th in 16:21), Kenneth Wong (44th in 16:48), Tommy

Hutchison (56th in 16:57), Tim Scott (60th in 17:03) and Paris Salgado (76th in 17:34) were the top finishers for the Sea Kings.