2009 Pacific Coast League
Most Valuable: Melanie Powers, Corona Del Mar
Most Valuable: Natasha Strickland, Laguna Beach, Soph.
In case you missed it, you can find all of this season's All-County teams by clicking here.
(All teams, except football, that is. We'll be posting that soon.)
CIF Division III state champion Corona del Mar finished its season with a 10th place team finish at the Nike Cross Country Team Nationals Saturday in Portland, Oregon.
Senior Melanie Powers (18:54) was the Sea Queens (313 points) top finisher, crossing the line in 60th place, while fellow senior Marisa Cummings (18:58) was 68th.
The team winner of the meet was Manlius High of New York (74 points), who won for the fourth straight season.
Edison senior Matt McElroy finished fourth overall at the Foot Locker Western Regional Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.
McElroy, who was second in last week’s Division II state final, finished in a time of 15:34.
In the girls' Regional, Dana Hills junior Alaina Alvarez finished ninth overall in a time of 18:25.
Both runners will compete in the Foot Locker Cross Country National Championships, which will be held next Saturday at Balboa Park in San Diego.
Seniors Katie DeYoung and Sydney Teske are making official recruiting to USC this weekend.
DeYoung, who earned All-Trinity League honors this season, helped lead the Lions to a second place finish at the CIF Division IV state final last week, the best ever for the program. She is also receiving interest from Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara.
Teske was an all-county runner in the 800 meters earlier this spring, advancing to the Masters meet. She has also received interest from Gonzaga and Portland.
Here are the results from today's CIF Cross Country state championships.
The girls division I team competition figured to come down to a three way battle between Great Oak, Torrey Pines, and Dana Hills.
However, someone forgot to tell San Clemente, which finished a surprising third overall and best among all other county teams in the race.
The Tritons were lead by sophomore Molly Mann (18:17), who finished 11th. All five of San Clemente's scoring runners finished in a span of 45 seconds.
Led by junior Alaina Alvarez, Dana Hills (171 points) finished fifth. Alvarez was third in Division I with a time of 17:39, tops among all county runners in the meet.
Trabuco Hills (182 points) was seventh.
The Corona del Mar girls cross country team became the most successful program in the history of the state meet, edging Orange Lutheran 76-81 to win their second straight Division III state title.
The Sea Queens have now won four of the last five Division III state titles and their seventh championship moves them past University High of San Francisco and into sole possession of first all-time with the most state titles won since the CIF state meet began in 1987.
So much for that weather forecast of clear skies and moderate temperatures.....at least for now.
We're 30 minutes away from the start of the championships, it's 46 degrees (wind chill of 42), a light drizzle is falling, and the sun is nowhere in sight. (Conditions are better than the blinding snow storm that accompanied my journey over the Grapevine.)
A rainstorm did hit the area late last night and early this morning, and the course appears to be soggy, which could factor into the results.
Stay tuned to OC Varsity throughout the morning and early afternoon for updates on all the action live from Woodward Park. (Pending my fingers not freezing solid)
Here are the entries for Saturday's CIF Cross Country State Championships in Fresno:
Dana Hills
1. Alaina Alvarez, Jr.
2. Laura Beresford, Jr.
3. Paxton Cota, Jr.
Here are the results from today's CIF-SS Divisional Finals:
At Mt. San Antonio College
3.0 Miles
*Qualified for state meet as an individual
Division I