Laguna runners to compete at CIF finals

Mike Sciacca

A season-long goal for the Laguna Beach High cross country program is

one weekend away from coming true.

The Breakers’ boys and girls teams each took a first step toward a

possible berth in the upcoming CIF State Championships last Saturday

by advancing out of the CIF Southern Section Division IV Prelims.

Laguna’s girls’ team placed second and the boys’ squad finished

fourth in their respective heats at Mount San Antonio College in

Walnut.

By finishing among the top 12 in the competition, Laguna advances

to Saturday’s CIF finals, also to be held at Mount SAC.

The top seven teams from Saturday’s finals will advance to the CIF

State meet to be run Nov. 29 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Laguna’s boys team has not qualified for the CIF State meet since

winning the crown in 1989; the girls’ team, meanwhile, last went to

State in 1993.

Both Breaker teams are ranked third in CIF Division IV.

At the CIF Prelims, Max Mullender led the Breaker boys’ pack as he

finished first among his teammates, and 10th overall in the Division

IV race, with a time of 16:50.

Catherine “Cat” Gordon topped all Laguna girls with a team-best

run of 19:41 -- which gave her an overall fourth-place finish among

all runners.

“It was a great effort from everyone,” coach Dave Brobeck said of

the girls’ team. “Finishing second as a team is right where we were

supposed to finish and all of the girls had strong performances in

doing so.

“CIF Finals is now upon us and we will need to have the same

efforts from everyone, with faster times from tapering to garner the

third-place finish in our section.”

Here is the order of finish among Laguna boys, which finished with

an overall team time of 1:27:33: 1. Mullender, 16:50 (10th, overall);

2. Hedden, 17:22 (22nd, overall); 3. Fuszard, 17:41 (27th, overall);

4. Brown, 17:42 (28th, overall); 5. Hofmeister, 17:58 (35th,

overall); 6. Pfendler, 18:02 (39th, overall); 7. Riehl, 19:13 (59th,

overall).

Here is the order of finish among Laguna girls, which finished

with an overall team time of 1:42:14: 1. Gordon, 19:14 (4th,

overall); 2. Crawley, 20:07 (8th, overall); 3. Proctor, 20:43 (17th,

overall); 4. Pearson, 20:47 (18th, overall); 5. Duplisea, 20:57

(20th, overall); 6. Louage, 22:22 (44th, overall); 7. Bell, 22:50

(53rd, overall).