HUNTINGTON BEACH- The dynamics of the Marina girls cross country team have changed from a season ago.
But the Vikings will once again enter CIF competition as Sunset League champions, as all five scoring runners finish among the top 17 runners to help Marina successfully defend its’ title at the 2012 Sunset League Finals Saturday at Central Park.
“This was a big race with a lot of good teams,” Marina coach Dave Sanford said. “Today was the first time all year that we had everyone run a solid race. If we can continue building on this, and work on closing our scoring gap, we could be very tough in CIF.”
Last season, the Vikings featured the Register’s 2011 Cross Country Athlete of the Year Lauren Hollander along with stalwart Emily Taylor. That duo played a big role in helping them win the league title and advance all the way to the Division 1 state finals, where they placed third.
Senior Kylie Nishisaka helped Marina begin their quest back to the state meet, finishing second in a time of 17:33. The Vikings (51 points) also received strong efforts from juniors Eileen Stressling (18:31) and Brianna Shoffner (18:42) along with freshmen Madeline Fox (18:48) and Erin Nighswonger (18:54).
Sanford credited the continual improvement of his younger runners as a big reason for the Vikings retaining the league title.
“They needed time to mature and develop,” he said. “They have started to do that and are now starting to gain some confidence and run at the level that we thought they could.”
Fountain Valley, which placed three runners in the top six, finished second to Marina with 58 points. Edison placed four runners in the top 16 and placed third with 59 points.
The Vikings, Barons, and Chargers all earned automatic qualification into the CIF-SS preliminaries.
After a second place finish in the Division 2 red race last week at the Mt. Sac Invitational, Newport Harbor senior Paige Tennison bounced back with a strong effort en route to winning her first individual league title. Tennison and Nishisaka broke away from the pack early, with Tennison assuming a small lead in the first half mile. She steadily increased her advantage over Nishisaka throughout the rest of the race, winning in a time of 17:19.
“I could hear her (Nishisaka) behind me, but I just focused on my race and sped up in the middle,” Tennison said.
Tennison, one of Division 2’s top state title hopefuls, was pleased with her league finals effort and said she is looking forward to challenge of competing in CIF.
“This was a good warm-up for the meets to come,” Tennison said. “There are some tough girls in Division 2 that are running well and I can’t just think that I am going to win. Next week, we’ll pick up the training a bit and stay steady through the rest of the season. Being a senior, this is my last chance and I’m excited. I like Mt. Sac and it is a fun course to run on.”
