ORANGE-Entering the county’s most anticipated competition of the regular season on the heels of two rough outings, the Capistrano Valley girls cross country team was in dire need of a confidence boosting performance.
The return of junior Grace Schafer proved to be just enough of the spark needed for the Cougars to make school history, as Capistrano Valley claimed the program’s first ever sweepstakes team title at the 2013 Orange County Cross Country Championships Saturday at Irvine Regional Park.
After a strong opening month of the season, the Cougars struggled in a fourth place showing at the South Coast League Preview Meet and finished fifth in the sweepstakes race at the Clovis Invitational to open the second month of competition.
Schafer’s return after a month-long absence due to an ankle injury and illness had an immediate impact, as she closed strong over the final half of the race to finish fourth in a time of 17:31.
“I was motivated to move up in the race to help our team,” Schafer said. “Our focus as a team was to be ready to race and be the best team members we could be.”
Her effort proved to be crucial for Capistrano Valley (69 points), who edged Trabuco Hills (72 points) for the win. The two teams each placed all five scoring runners in the top 25 and were tied in points between their No. 2 and No. 5 scoring runners respectively.
“Having Grace back helped energized the team and is a tribute to her hard work to come back,” Cougars coach Ken Sayles said. “This is a great accomplishment for our program to enjoy and feel good about.”
The Cougars’ overall team time of 89:32 is now the fifth fastest ever on the modern championship course that has been used since 1999.
Trabuco Hills (89:37) moves into sixth place all-time.
San Clemente (126 points) was third, with Northwood (149) and Edison (152) finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
The individual county title went to the Timberwolves’ Bethan Knights, who seized control of the race in the first mile and pushed her lead throughout to win in a time of 16:48.
Her time is the third fastest ever on the modern championship course, trailing only former Woodbridge star Christine Babcock (16:36) and former San Clemente standout Alex Dunne (16:42).
“With my training, I knew that I could push some of the all-time best times and definitely pushed that first mile to see who could hang with me,” Knights said. “It feels really great knowing that I got one of the goals for my season.”
Tesoro’s Amanda Gehrich was second in a time of 17:08, with Edison’s Julia Sienski clocking a time of 17:30 and placing third.
El Dorado’s Cassidy Towner (17:32) rounded out the top five finishers.
Bolsa Grande’s Jeanette Zambrano (17:46) pulled away from Huntington Beach’s Cassie Durgy (18:01) in the second mile to win the Division 2 race.
“I didn’t have really have a strategy other than to come out and do my best,” Zambrano said.
Newport Harbor had five scoring runners in the top 30 and won the Division 2 team title with 103 points.
