Santa Ana Boys Again Place 5 Among Top 10

Santa Ana’s junior boys did it again. The Saints finished in the top three spots and placed five runners among the top 10 of the boys’ Division I junior race Saturday at the Dana Hills Invitational at Dana Hills High.

It was the third consecutive invitational in which Santa Ana’s juniors have placed five runners among the top 12 and the second time the Saints have placed five among the top 10.

“We rebounded from last week,” said Juan Salgado, who tied for first place with teammate Alfonso Leon in 15 minutes 23 seconds over the three-mile course. “We didn’t feel good about last week. It was a bad race. But today was a good race.”

Salgado was a bit disappointed with his and the Saints’ performance Sept. 20, when he finished fourth and the team placed only five runners among the top 12 of the boys’ Division I junior race at the Woodbridge Invitational.

On Saturday, Salgado, Leon and teammate Jorge Pena (15:45) led from the start for Santa Ana, the top-ranked boys’ team in the county. Miguel Bolanos, who was seventh in 16:01, and Omar Mateo, who was 10th in 16:12, rounded out the top five for the Saints.

The Irvine girls’ team, ranked third in the county, had an almost equally impressive outing as Valerie Morris won the girls’ Division I sophomore race in 18:19 and teammate Melissa Livermore finished fourth in the girls’ Division I junior and senior race in 18:21. Erin Zehntner was seventh in 18:40 in the junior and senior race.

“I was very pleased with Melissa and Valerie,” Irvine Coach Randy Rossi said. “Valerie ran by herself and I’m very impressed with her time since no one pushed her.”

One of the closest races was between Tustin’s Leo Gordillo and Dana Hills’ Devin Lindahl in the boys’ Division II junior race. Gordillo, who had a five-second lead with a quarter of a mile remaining, held off a late charge by Lindahl to win with a two-second margin of victory in 15:19.

Notes

Woodbridge’s Mary Moore (17:44) was second in the girls’ Division II junior and senior race. . . . Aliso Niguel’s Michelle Basanda (18:08) finished third and Santa Ana Valley’s Sinfo Orozco (18:32) was fifth in the girls’ Division I junior and senior race. . . . Irvine’s Matt Farrell (15:52) finished fourth in the boys’ Division I junior race. . . . St. Margaret’s Ryan Downey (15:23) was third in the boys’ Division II senior race and Villa Park’s Augustine Escobar (15:19) was second in the sophomore race. . . . Costa Mesa’s Bruce Hancock (15:50) won the boys’ Division III junior race.

In the Sonora Invitational:

Buena Park girls win Division III--Heather Garriston set a course record with a time of 18:15 over the 2.9-mile course at Carbon Canyon Park as she led Buena Park to the Division III victory. The Mater Dei girls took first in the Division I & II combined race.

On the boys’ side, Mater Dei captured the Division I & II combined race.

In the Suffolk (N.Y.) Invitational boys’ cross-country meet:

Santa Margarita wins--The fifth-ranked boys’ team won with 76 points at the invitational in King’s Park, N.Y. Brandon Von Guenthner finished third in 17:09 on the 3.1-mile course for the Eagles. Sachem’s (N.J.) Pat Gildea won in 16:46.