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(Editor’s note: Due to the late start time of the races Saturday night, the story form Woodbridge Classic was not in Sunday’s Register. The story will appear in Monday’s edition.)

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IRVINE – The Woodbridge Invitational has a reputation for producing some of the fastest times of the cross country season.

With a logjam at the top of the county’s girls rankings, the attention turned to an anticipated meeting between top-ranked Capistrano Valley and No. 2 Trabuco Hills.

A tightly packed spread helped Trabuco Hills edge the Cougars, 313-314, in the Bob Day’s Girls Sweepstakes race Saturday night at Great Park of Irvine.

At 57th, Natalie Regalado was the first Mustang to cross the finish line as Trabuco Hills pushed four runners across in a span of 15 slots.

“We’re pretty encouraged with the way that we ran, especially the second half of the race,” Mustangs coach Liam Clemons said. “We’ve got a young group, and they’re really timid, but in the second half they showed they can compete.”

Junior Makenna Duda, who ran second in Trabuco Hills’ scoring five, credits a summer of strength training to the Mustangs’ impressive start to the year.

“We’ve been putting in the work, and we’ve been doing a lot of strength training,” she said. “I feel like with what we have, we can go up against Capo Valley and definitely have a shot at winning.”

Top individual performances were posted by Tesoro’s Amanda Gehrich (second), Canyon’s Nikki Zielinski (fifth), and Huntington Beach’s Cassie Durgy (11th).

With top-ranked Brea Olinda competing elsewhere, Canyon supplied the county’s frontrunners in the Doug Speck’s Boys Sweepstakes. Canyon senior Dylan Scarsone demonstrated offseason progress by placing fourth, and teammate Chance Lamberth (29th) gave the Comanches the top two county showings.

Comanches coach Joe Wiley is trying to come up with an explanation for the significant jump in Scarsone’s performance, which he described as unusual for a senior.

“Part of me just feels that he is young for a senior biologically,” Wiley explained. “He is almost on the progression curve of our sophomores. He is still improving like that. He’s on a different trajectory than most.”

Trabuco Hills (344 points), which finished 11th, topped all county competitors in the boys sweepstakes. Canyon (348 points) was 13th, and Yorba Linda (461 points) was 19th.

San Clemente’s Connor Dunne was involved in the most exciting ending of the day. The Tritons senior ran a 14:48.8 in a close, runner-up finish to Armijo of Fairfield’s Luis Grijalva (14:48.2) in the boys rated race.

“I was really hurting on that back stretch,” Dunne said. “I knew I had a little bit left for a kick, so I left it all out on the field. I almost caught up to (Grijalva), but he had me by a couple inches.”

El Toro’s Michael Biedebach (fifth), Fountain Valley’s William Hua (10th), San Clemente’s Juan Carlos De Jesus (11th), and Edison’s Peter Costanzo (13th) did well in placing in the top 15.

In the girls rated division, host Woodbridge looked strong. Elizabeth Dahl (11th), Lora Gonzalez (20th), and Ai Kaisho (22nd) helped the Warriors take third overall.

“It’s really honorable,” Dahl said of her team performing well at their host meet. “They’ve been doing this meet for a really long time. To be able to keep up with the Woodbridge tradition is awesome. I’m really happy.”

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RESULTS

Woodbridge Invitational
At Great Park, Irvine
3 miles

BOYS

Doug Speck’s Sweepstakes
Individuals
1. Dodds (Great Oak) 14:24.3; 2. Janes (ML King) 14:24.9; 3. Herrera (Madera South) 14:27.3; 4. Scarsone (Canyon) 14:28.4; 5. Villar (Madera South) 14:30.7; 29. Lamberth (Canyon) 15:00.1; 36. Suarez (Santa Ana) 15:10.4; 43. Tanner (Canyon) 15:15.4; 46. Joseph (Yorba Linda) 15:16.7

Team Results
1. Great Oak 88; 2. ML King 123; 3. Desert Hills 127; 4. Mountain Vista 141; 5. West Ranch 188; 11. Trabuco Hills 344; 13. Canyon 348; 19. Yorba Linda 461

Rated Division
Individuals
1. Grijalva (Armijo) 14:48.2; 2. Dunne (San Clemente) 14:48.8; 3. Baxter (Simi Valley) 14:52.8; 4. Witt (Buena) 14:57.0; 5. Biedebach (El Toro) 14:58.5; 10. Hua (Fountain Valley) 15:08.9; 11. De Jesus (San Clemente) 15:09.6; 13. Costanzo (Edison) 15:14.2; 26. White (San Juan Hills) 15:26.7; 28. Souther (Woodbridge) 15:28.1; 34. Groff (El Toro) 15:32.5; 38. Purves (El Toro) 15:33.8; 48. Ford (El Toro) 15:40.3

Team Results
1. California 120; 2. Great Oak 157; 3. El Toro 180; 4. Yucaipa 263; 5. Sage Creek 270; 12. San Juan Hills 376; 17. Mission Viejo 436; 19. Woodbridge 451; 21. Edison 467; 25. San Clemente 505; 26. Fountain Valley 526

GIRLS

Bob Day’s Sweepstakes
Individuals
1. Chipman (Mountain Vista) 16:31.1; 2. Gehrich (Tesoro) 16:37.5; 3. Stratton (Sunset Apollos) 16:38.0; 4. Mandel (Great Oak) 16:54.6; 5. Zielinski (Canyon) 16:54.6; 11. Durgy (Huntington Beach) 17:05.4; 26. Herberg (Capistrano Valley) 17:25.0; 29. Leonard (Canyon) 17:28.1; 30. Corey (Sunny Hills) 17:28.8; 37. Camarena (San Juan Hills), 17:40.0; 41. Hines (Mission Viejo) 17:43.6; 43. Lee (Yorba Linda) 17:45.4; 47. Licata (Capistrano Valley) 17:50.8

Team Results
1. Great Oak 59; 2. Sunset Apollos 85; 3. Desert Vista 135; 4. Arcadia 135; 5. Serrano 238; 10. Trabuco Hills 313; 11. Capistrano Valley 314; 15. Mission Viejo 363; 16. Canyon 373; 24. Yorba Linda 581; 26. San Juan Hills 676

Rated Division
Individuals
1. Calegari (Poway) 17:23.7; 2. Fernandez (Burbank) 17:26.9; 3. Holton (Rancho Cucamonga) 17:33.1; 4. Beatty (Great Oak) 17;44.7; 5. Ruiz (Quartz Hill) 17:57.5; 11. Dahl (Woodbridge) 18:02.6; 20. Gonzalez (Woodbridge) 18:29.9; 22. Kaisho (Woodbridge) 18:33.4; 33. McDonough (San Clemente) 18:46.0; 36. Eisele (San Clemente) 18:48.0; 37. Horton (San Clemente) 18:50.4; 39. Pennington (Edison) 18:51.9; 41. Gallegos (Edison) 18:53.3; 43. Oefelein (Woodbridge) 18:56.7; 44. Hamel (Edison) 18:58.0; 47. Bartow (San Clemente) 19:01.0

Team Results
1. Great Oak 46; 2. Hart 138; 3. Woodbridge 191; 4. Newbury Park 195; 5. Camarillo 202; 7. San Clemente 207; 11. Edison 254; 14. Los Alamitos 334