PRE CROSS-COUNTRY ROUNDUP : Saddleback Wins First County Title

As expected, the Saddleback High School boys’ cross-country team won the seeded race at the Orange County Championships Saturday at Irvine Regional Park.

It was the team’s first county title, but the victory was expected because the the Roadrunners are top-ranked in Southern Section’s Division I. But what came as a surprise was La Habra, which finished in third place with 145 points.

Saddleback had 69 points: El Toro was second with 109. Dana Hills was fourth, with 146 points.

Dana Hills senior Daniel Neidnagel, who is undefeated this season, won the three-mile race in 15 minutes 19 seconds. Saddleback’s Eddie Salinas put on a last-minute surge to finish second in 15:36 and Villa Park’s Danny Simon was third (15:37).

La Habra, which was not ranked in the top 10 of the county coaches’ poll, was led by senior Mark Gonzales, who was second in last season’s Division II state meet.

Gonzales was expected to challenge Niednagel for the title, but after running with the leaders through the one-mile mark, he dropped back, finishing ninth in 15:48.

“I went into this race real scared because I have never raced against Mark Gonzales before, except at the Kinney regional meet last year,” Niednagel said. “But I was surprised--I thought they (the pack) would go with me.”

Niednagel led by at least 75 yards with a half-mile left and wasn’t really challenged.

Afterward, Gonzales said he never felt he was in the race.

“I just did bad ,” Gonzales said. “I never felt like I was up there for first. I just went through the motions without doing anything.”

Gonzales may have felt bad, but Saddleback Coach Mel Silva was elated. The Roadrunners didn’t compete in the meet last year, opting to run on that day in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut, a meet conducted on the same course as the Southern Section prelims and finals.

“It is a great honor to win it (Saturday),” Silva said. “We went to Mt. SAC last year because we had a younger team and I felt it was important for them to get some experience on that course. But the kids came through this year and it’s a neat feeling--they really wanted this.”

Katella senior Martha Pinto posted the fastest girls’ time and won her fourth county title, winning the varsity race in 17:26, nine seconds faster than her time last year. Valencia’s Heather Killeen was second (18:06).

Irvine won the girls’ seeded race with 88 points. Dana Hills, which started the season slowly, but has improved, was second (100) and Canyon was third (138). Woodbridge’s Kay Nekota, a freshman who started running in age-group competition three years ago, won in 17:49.

Nekota and Irvine sophomore Kelly Roda ran together until the last half-mile when Nekota pulled away coming down the last hill. Roda was second in 17:56. Nekota said she wasn’t surprised Roda stayed with her.

“She’s been doing good this season,” Nekota said. “She was looking very strong during the race, but I erased it out of my mind and thought I could beat her.”

Meet Notes:

Also finishing for Saddleback were: Albert Ochoa (eighth, 15:47), Joey Heredia (14th, 15:56), Johny Ochoa (18th, 15:58) and Mario Vela (27th, 16:11). Los Amigos’ Lihn Le won the boys’ Race 1 in 15:56, an approximate time because an earlier race overlapped and Le didn’t receive an official time. Katella sophomore Mike Love won Race 2 (15:42). San Clemente’s Terri Smythers, who skipped last spring’s track season, won the girls’ Race 3 (19:15). San Clemente won the team title (24 points) with Orange Lutheran second (71). Orange Lutheran, one of the top small schools, was led by Amber Parkinson’s second-place finish (19:45). Several of the top county teams will compete Saturday at the Mt. SAC Invitational in Walnut.

At the Brea-Olinda Cross-Country Invitational at Carbon Canyon Park:

Santiago was the top Orange County finisher in the boys’ and girls’ divisions.

The Santiago boys’ team finished fifth behind first-place Bishop Amat. Leading Santiago was Jose Salcedo, who finished ninth overall in 17 minutes 4 seconds on the five-kilometer course. Moorpark’s Manuel Lopes was the top finisher. Other Orange County finishers were Savanna’s Ray Estrada (16:44, third place) and Anaheim’s Oscar Malo (16:55, fifth).

In the girls’ division, Santiago was third and Chino finished first. Leticia Perez (21:08) finished fifth to lead Santiago. Brea-Olinda’s Dina Bloomfield (21:02) finished fourth and Garden Grove’s Natalie Lupicia (21:34) was sixth.