Max Douglass makes history for CdM boys’ cross-country with CIF title
WALNUT — Max Douglass had always let on that he believed he had more in him, and the Corona del Mar senior was overcome with emotion in seeing it come to fruition on Saturday.
As the Sea Kings’ distance-running standout closed in on the finish line, he made the sign of the cross and pointed skyward, his prayer having been answered.
Douglass clocked in at 15 minutes 2.9 seconds to win the Division 4 boys’ final in the CIF Southern Section cross-country championships at Mt. San Antonio College.
“This is surreal,” said Douglass, who became the first boy in school history to win an individual section title in cross-country. “I can’t believe it. I was like a 190-pound, chubby linebacker a year and a half ago, and now I’m running Mt. SAC. It just doesn’t make sense to me. It’s awesome. I’m so blessed to have this kind of moment.”
Corona del Mar has two boys’ team state titles — Division II in 1988; Division IV in 1996 — but the boys’ program had never won a section championship, individually or as a team.
Tracy Clark (1992), Dresden Howell (1993), Julie Allen (2001), Anne St. Geme (2005), Sarah Cummings (2006), Shelby Buckley (2007) and Melisse Djomby Enyawe (2023) have won CIF individual crowns on the girls’ side for CdM.
The pivotal moment in the race came early. Following the “Valley Loop,” Douglass took the lead running up “Switchbacks,” the first of three race-defining inclines on the course — the others being “Poop Out Hill” and “Reservoir Hill.”
Douglass, who noted being fortunate to not have additional runners come with him on his move, credited longtime Sea Kings coach Bill Sumner for preparing him for a breakthrough. Frustrated at the Orange County championships, Douglass has finished first in all three of his starts in the month of November, which included taking home the Sunset League title.
“I knew what I could do, but I was just questioning what was going on with my body a little bit,” Douglass said. “We all have off races. I came back. My coach is one of the best high school coaches that there are in terms of numbers. The guy’s a genius. He gets people peaking at the right time.”
The CIF State cross-country championships will be held on Saturday, Nov. 30 at Woodward Park in Fresno. Those hoping to advance had to finish in the top seven as a team (top six in Division 5) or be among the top five individuals from non-qualifying teams while finishing in the top 20 of their respective race.
Corona del Mar’s boys’ team will be going to the state meet for the second consecutive year. Kevin Steinman (19th, 15:52.9), Logan Walsh (32nd, 16:17.1), Aidan Algazi (48th, 16:52.6) and Nico Harris (63rd, 17:12.1) filed in behind Douglass in the scoring quintet for the sixth-place Sea Kings.
Also advancing out of the same race was Ocean View junior Maury Young, who qualified as an individual in placing 15th in 15:47.8. The Seahawks support system included brothers Ryan and Jason St. Pierre. The latter contributed to the program’s first state berth in 2017, as did Edwin Montes, who attended the CIF preliminaries the prior week.
“I’m really glad everyone came out,” said Young, who admitted he was feeling the weight of expectations. “They always helped me a lot over there because I was able to pass some guy. It was really scary, but I paid it off. I made it.”
Newport Harbor seniors Keaton Robar (second, 17:41.6) and Marley McCullough (ninth, 18:02.0) punched their tickets to return to the state meet as individuals. The Sailors narrowly missed the mark as a team, edged out by Woodbridge 171-182 for the seventh position in the Division 2 girls’ final.
Robar, a Michigan commit, said she felt the Sailors had a chance to advance as a team.
“I really believed it,” Robar said. “All of our team is made up of fighters. I was thinking about it a lot. It literally was in my dreams. I had a dream we made it. I had a dream we didn’t make it. It’s kind of if we wanted it or not. I think, honestly, our whole team wanted it, but things just didn’t play out.”
Corona del Mar sophomore Emilie Steinman, who was in a celebratory state of mind at the county championships in winning the medium schools varsity race, added to her accomplishments with an individual state berth. Moving up three positions in the field from her freshman CIF finals bid, finishing 14th in 18:54.5 in the Division 4 girls’ race was enough to see her through to her first appearance at the state meet.
Pacifica Christian, which made it to the state meet behind Ella Murray’s individual title last year, qualified again in finishing fourth in Division 5. Lila Glidewell (12th, 20:10.0), Ashley Gundlach (14th, 20:25.1), Akyli Maze (42nd, 21:51.4), Katie Fischer (54th, 22:11.8) and Erowyn Burnette (76th, 23:10.6) factored into the scoring for the Tritons.
“I wasn’t expecting it to really happen,” Glidewell said of the Tritons getting back to state. “I was kind of in the mentality of ‘this is like a last hurrah to the season.’ I’m proud of everyone, of what they’ve done. I thought we would have to push really hard, but it is also a really hard course.
“I just thought to myself, once I finally found out we made it to state, I just realized all this hard work, we got a reward from all the hard work we put in this season.”
BOYS’ CROSS-COUNTRY
CIF Southern Section cross-country finals
At Mt. San Antonio College
3-mile course
*denotes local individual state qualifier
Division 1
Team Results
1. Beckman 83; 2. Great Oak 94; 3. Mira Costa 123; 4. Trabuco Hills 133; 5. Crescenta Valley 138; 6. San Clemente 152; 7. Redondo Union 159; 8. Loyola 177; 9. King 202; 10. Riverside Poly 247
Individuals
1. Zavaleta (King) 15:00.8; 2. Jubak (Trabuco Hills) 15:02.2; 3. McCorvey (Lancaster) 15:04.4; 4. Abdallah (Trabuco Hills) 15:11.2; 5. Pavon (Loyola) 15:13.2; 6. Brown (Great Oak) 15:17.8; 7. Faynsod (Mira Costa) 15:18.1; 8. Dos Santos (San Clemente) 15:18.2; 9. Anderson (San Clemente) 15:19.0; 10. Nahuat (Valley View) 15:19.4; 77. Kwong (Fountain Valley) 16:21.9
Division 2
Team Results
1. Glendora 73; 2. La Serna 99; 3. Dos Pueblos 126; 4. Saugus 128; 5. Tesoro 136; 6. El Toro 171; 7. Woodbridge 186; 8. Rio Mesa 213; 9. El Dorado 217; 10. Peninsula 261
Individuals
1. Kushen (Tesoro) 14:38.5; 2. Flores (Glendora) 14:54.2; 3. Lesher (Hueneme) 14:56.3; 4. Peraza (Saugus) 15:14.3; 5. Antonio (Woodbridge) 15:18.4; 6. Gordon (Dos Pueblos) 15:20.6; 7. Luna (Rio Mesa) 15:22.7; 8. Oliveros (Glendora) 15:24.5; 9. Gully (Dos Pueblos) 15:27.2; 10. Mideiros (Claremont) 15:30.2
Division 3
Team Results
1. Oak Park 107; 2. South Pasadena 116; 3. Hart 126; 4. Burroughs/R 135; 5. West Torrance 161; 6. Agoura 164; 7. Dana Hills 202; 8. St. John Bosco 219; 9. Redlands East Valley 236; 10. West Ranch 262
Individuals
1. Noonan (Dana Hills) 14:42.9; 2. Miller (South Torrance) 14:54.1; 3. Zimmermann (Thousand Oaks) 14:59.5; 4. Ortiz (Burroughs/R) 15:02.0; 5. Hunter (Dana Hills) 15:03.2; 6. Quast (West Torrance) 15:16.1; 7. Castillo (West Ranch) 15:23.2; 8. Souther (Canyon/CC) 15:32.6; 9. Scarince (South Pasadena) 15:36.3; 10. Jones (Oak Park) 15:38.8
Division 4
Team Results
1. Oaks Christian 43; 2. JSerra 72; 3. Foothill Technology 113; 4. Palos Verdes 124; 5. St. Francis 150; 6. Corona del Mar 156; 7. Harvard-Westlake 171; 8. Notre Dame/SO 212; 9. Big Bear 236; 10. La Cañada 240; 12. Ocean View 278; 13. Laguna Beach 365
Individuals
1. Douglass (Corona del Mar) 15:02.9; 2. Yoder (Oaks Christian) 15:06.3; 3. McNee (Oaks Christian) 15:11.9; 4. Arrey (JSerra) 15:14.1; 5. Martin (St. Francis) 15:14.8; 6. Bortolin (Foothill Technology) 15:24.8; 7. Newman (JSerra) 15:27.8; 8. Fabila (Cathedral) 15:29.8; 9. Miller (Palos Verdes) 15:31.5; 10. Nulman (Palos Verdes) 15:39.0; 15. Young (Ocean View) 15:47.8*; 56. McRae (Laguna Beach) 17:00.4
Division 5
Team Results
1. Viewpoint 60; 2. St. Margaret’s 104; 3. Flintridge Prep 133; 4. Thacher 141; 5. Ontario Christian 186; 6. Windward 214; 7. Campbell Hall 214; 8. Brentwood 215; 9. Providence/B 217; 10. Xavier College Prep 223
Individuals
1. Turk (Woodcrest Christian) 14:54.1; 2. O’Connor (Viewpoint) 15:02.3; 3. Udelson-Nee (Wildwood) 15:30.1; 4. Babbitt (Mary Star of the Sea) 15:34.7; 5. Mansbridge (Flintridge Prep) 15:52.2; 6. Winheim (Desert Christian/L) 15:55.4; 7. Causee (St. Margaret’s) 16:07.7; 8. Virtue (Providence/B) 16:09.6; 9. Granish (Providence/B) 16:13.7; 10. Leon (Mary Star of the Sea) 16:16.4; 44. Longo (Sage Hill) 17:18.9
GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY
CIF Southern Section cross-country finals
At Mt. San Antonio College
3-mile course
*denotes local individual state qualifier
Division 1
Team Results
1. Trabuco Hills 36; 2. Corona Santiago 67; 3. Mira Costa 173; 4. Arcadia 178; 5. King 190; 6. Crescenta Valley 192; 7. Great Oak 204; 8. San Clemente 208; 9. Long Beach Wilson 239; 10. Beckman 242
Individuals
1. Barker (Trabuco Hills) 16:40.7; 2. Bayles (Trabuco Hills) 16:45.6; 3. Blade (Corona Santiago) 16:50.5; 4. Combe (Corona Santiago) 17:08.5; 5. Crum (Temescal Canyon) 17:31.8; 6. Guilfoile (Trabuco Hills) 17:39.1; 7. Dye (San Juan Hills) 17:39.8; 8. Kirk (Vista Murrieta) 17:41.8; 9. Desormeau (Trabuco Hills) 17:42.6; 10. Alfred (Rancho Cucamonga) 17:49.3
Division 2
Team Results
1. El Toro 99; 2. Ventura 118; 3. Tesoro 129; 4. Claremont 142; 5. Murrieta Valley 149; 6. Saugus 156; 7. Woodbridge 171; 8. Newport Harbor 182; 9. Peninsula 233; 10. La Serna 242
Individuals
1. Engelhardt (Ventura) 17:31.9; 2. Robar (Newport Harbor) 17:41.6*; 3. Williams (El Toro) 17:46.6; 4. Lieberman (Murrieta Valley) 17:48.8; 5. Forrest (Tesoro) 17:52.2; 6. Curtis (Ventura) 17:53.5; 7. Grant (Newbury Park) 17:55.0; 8. Dazey (Tesoro) 17:56.1; 9. McCullough (Newport Harbor) 18:02.0*; 10. Bulmer (Claremont) 18:02.5
Division 3
Team Results
1. South Pasadena 43; 2. Santa Margarita 90; 3. Oak Park 107; 4. Hart 161; 5. Yorba Linda 171; 6. West Torrance 202; 7. Canyon/CC 212; 8. San Marcos 215; 9. Redlands East Valley 252; 10. Monrovia 255
Individuals
1. Errington (South Pasadena) 16:56.6; 2. Wilson (Irvine) 17:22.7; 3. Osorio (West Covina) 17:49.1; 4. Byrne (South Pasadena) 17:55.2; 5. Ivarsson (Dana Hills) 17:56.4; 6. Francini (Calabasas) 18:00.2; 7. Perez (Oak Park) 18:01.5; 8. Fausto (Santa Fe) 18:01.6; 9. Terrill (Monrovia) 18:04.1; 10. Wroblewski (Yorba Linda) 18:04.3
Division 4
Team Results
1. JSerra 29; 2. Harvard-Westlake 102; 3. Oaks Christian 144; 4. La Cañada 163; 5. Palos Verdes 166; 6. Big Bear 202; 7. Bishop Amat 210; 8. Chaminade 210; 9. Rim of the World 239; 10. Laguna Beach 240
Individuals
1. Polay (JSerra) 17:49.4; 2. De Brouwer (La Cañada) 17:55.1; 3. Elbaz (JSerra) 18:01.2; 4. Giorgio (Marlborough) 18:03.5; 5. Holley (JSerra) 18:07.7; 6. Nourse (Laguna Hills) 18:18.4; 7. Streadbeck (JSerra) 18:31.0; 8. Santiago (Rosary) 18:31.1; 9. Rhee (Harvard-Westlake) 18:32.4; 10. Nilo (Bishop Amat) 18:37.3; 14. Steinman (Corona del Mar) 18:54.5*; 29. Joseph (Laguna Beach) 19:43.1
Division 5
Team Results
1. St. Margaret’s 99; 2. Cantwell Sacred Heart 137; 3. Viewpoint 144; 4. Pacifica Christian/OC 165; 5. Chadwick 166; 6. Thacher 183; 7. Cate 184; 8. Pasadena Poly 204; 9. Arrowhead Christian 221; 10. Hawthorne MSA 233; 14. Sage Hill 285
Individuals
1. Sarkisian (Brentwood) 18:13.2; 2. Gonzalez (Providence/B) 18:53.4; 3. Beshk (St. Margaret’s) 19:22.3; 4. Lotz (Arrowhead Christian) 19:28.3; 5. Kim (Woodcrest Christian) 19:32.1; 6. Johnson (St. Margaret’s) 19:37.0; 7. Slagter (Arrowhead Christian) 19:37.5; 8. Jeong (Viewpoint) 19:47.3; 9. Eaton (Providence/B) 19:55.0; 10. Burns (St. Lucy’s) 19:57.9; 12. Glidewell (Pacifica Christian) 20:10.0; 50. Cavner (Sage Hill) 22:01.8
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