ORANGE – In the 48th running of the Orange County Championships on Saturday, the Brea Olinda boys and the Capistrano Valley girls left little room for doubt that they deserve to be at the top of the rankings.
The county’s No. 1 boys and girls cross country teams came up huge on Orange County’s biggest stage, successfully defending their titles on the 3-mile course at Irvine Regional Park.
It was the first time that the boys and girls sweepstakes races have been claimed in repeat fashion since the Dana Hills boys and Esperanza girls accomplished the feat in 2003.
Several members of the Brea Olinda squad felt that they needed to win this year to legitimize their success at the O.C. Championships in 2013.
“Last year we were hungry,” said Brea Olinda boys coach Jeremy Mattern. “I think we had excitement on our side to accomplish something we hadn’t done. This year, we went in knowing that we’d done it, and we had to defend to make it the real deal.”
By winning Saturday, Brea Olinda will have a chance to join Dana Hills, which won three straight O.C. Championships from 2007-2009.
Austin Tamagno was hoping to eclipse the course record of 14:28 held by Villa Park’s Garrett Corcoran, but he paced the sweepstakes race with a time of 14:35.
Dana Hills’ Mason Coppi (14:50) and Jake Ogden (14:51) finished second and third, respectively. Tamagno said he got nervous about the team result after seeing Canyon’s Wesley Walsh (14:52) and Chance Lamberth (14:54) place in the top six.
“I was looking for Canyon’s third guy,” Tamagno said. “I was really looking for my teammates because I knew that if (Canyon’s) third guy came in we were done. We had three guys come in right away so I was like we probably won it.”
Brea Olinda held off Canyon, 68-82. Dana Hills finished third with 89 points.
Capistrano Valley’s girls triumphed over Trabuco Hills, 79-108. Ashley Licata (17:28) finished second to San Clemente’s Kelsey Carroll (17:27). Freshman Haley Herberg (17:55) was the second runner to finish for the Cougars, who faced a stiff challenge with Rebecca Deitch trying to fight through a hip injury during the race.
Cougars coach Ken Sayles was thrilled with the way his team battled through adversity.
“I’m so excited because we had some people who did not run their best races today, and others covered for them and ran really well,” he said. “That’s the true nature of a team. We’re a deep group with some interchangeable parts that, in the best of team senses, help each other out.”
In the Division 2 races, San Clemente’s Connor Dunne (15:30) beat out Pedro Mier (15:34) of Godinez to take home the individual honors.
Dunne ran in the fourth position for about 90 percent of the race before making his move on the final hill.
“About two miles in, I definitely thought I was going to drop,” Dunne said. “Those guys were looking really strong, but after that hill I could tell everyone was hurting. I picked up the pace a bit, and only (Mier) went with me.”
Woodbridge squeaked past Laguna Hills, 93-95. Rafael Lara led the Warriors with a time of 15:57.
Bolsa Grande’s Jeanette Zambrano blew away the field in the girls Division 2 race. Zambrano’s time of 17:43 was 35 seconds faster than runner-up Alexis Cardenas of Loara. Her performance improved her personal record by three seconds.
Woodbridge went on to sweep the Division 2 team competitions, as the Warriors’ girls defeated El Toro 81-134. Elizabeth Dahl and Meagan Oefelein crossed the finish line together. Each finished with a time of 18:34 as the Woodbridge runners battled for third place.
