ORANGE-The county’s top two girls cross country teams went head-to-head at Irvine Regional Park for the second time in three weeks and once again produced an exciting, nail-biting finish.
However, both No.1 Capistrano Valley and No.2 Trabuco Hills had reason to celebrate after their showdown at Wednesday’s South Coast League Finals.
The Cougars edged the Mustangs by three points in the sweepstakes race at last month’s Orange County Championships, and the rematch on the non-county championship course was even closer.
Spurred by top-10 finishes by Grace Schafer (17:13), Natalie Herberg (17:31), and Rebecca Deitch (17:39), Capistrano Valley pulled out a one-point win over Trabuco Hills 48-49.
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Hot Shots Overtime: Wednesday’s cross country finals (11-6-13)
“We ran well enough to win today and I feel that we can still improve,” Cougars coach Ken Sayles said. “This team has a big upside and is looking to peak at the state meet.”
The Mustangs, who placed five runners in the top 15, claimed the overall league title by a combination of its’ first place finish at the South Coast League Preview meet last month and its’ league finals placing.
No. 4 San Clemente (55) finished third to earn the league’s final automatic CIF qualifying spot.
No. 6 Dana Hills (88) was fourth and qualified for the CIF-SS preliminaries as an at-large entry by having been ranked in the CIF-SS Division 1 rankings in each of the last three weeks.
Tesoro (116) was fifth and will find out Saturday if they have earned an at-large bid into the CIF-SS Division 2 prelims.
The Titans’ Amanda Gehrich (17:05) qualified as an individual by holding off a late surge in the final 400 meters by San Clemente’s Melissa Eisele (17:06) to win the individual title.
“We went out really fast the first mile and I felt strong,” Gehrich said. “I know that Melissa (Eisele) is always really strong at the end of the race and I maintained a straight line focus to the finish line.”
In the boys’ race, No. 2 Dana Hills cruised to its second straight league title.
The Dolphins had all five scoring runners place in the top 10 to score 25 points.
“We really competed today and our times were really good,” Dana Hills coach Tim Butler said.
“Beating a really good team like El Toro is huge for us.”
No. 3 El Toro (41) and No. 6 Tesoro (64) finished second and third respectively and qualified for the CIF-SS prelims.
Dana Hills’ Jake Ogden used a strong second mile to help propel him to the individual title in a time of 14:38.
“I’m really looking forward to the postseason,” Ogden said. “As a team, we wanted to put together a good race and take the first major step toward being a contender in CIF.”
El Toro’s Ulysses Orozco (14:45) was second, with Dana Hills’ Mason Coppi (14:53) coming in third place.
