Seniors survive significant heat to produce top two times overall, with Palacios and Colchico both winning again; St. Margaret's freshman Blau runs fastest girls time, with Aliso Niguel's Richards rebounding to prevail in junior race after not finishing last season

By Alex Valladares for DyeStat

The La Costa Canyon CA boys cross country team began a new era, with a pair of runners from the Aliso Niguel CA girls team making some early season strides and a promising freshman from St. Margaret’s showcasing her talents Saturday at the Laguna Hills Invitational at Laguna Hills High.

La Costa Canyon, which finished second to Newbury Park in the Division 2 state finals last year, placed four runners in the top nine in the boys Division 2 senior race.

Caleb Niednagel and Andy Pueschel finished the 3-mile course with the top two times of the day in 15:41.3 and 15:46.3 to finish first and second, respectively, for the Mavericks, who are looking to replace a pair of all-state runners in Garrett Stanford and Jacob Stanford, both at Brigham Young.

RESULTS | INTERVIEWS

“It’s been tough, really tough, and tougher than we thought without (Garrett and Jacob),” said Niednagel, who finished fourth at the state meet last season to earn all-state honors.

“We kind of had to start over from scratch. I feel we have done a great job of coming together and we’re ready to hit this season.”

Brandon Palacios of Santa Ana CA and Nico Colchico of Long Beach Wilson CA were a pair repeat winners. Palacios won the junior boys Division 2 race in 16:03.6 and Colchico won the boys Division 1 sophomore race in 16:22.6.

For the second straight season Santa Ana Foothill CA had three runners finish in the top four in a Division 2 race. Grant Sweningson (16:13.8), Taylor Bramel (16:34.9) and Nicholas Allred (16:44.9) placed first, third and fourth, respectively, in the sophomore race after sweeping the Nos. 1-3 spots as freshmen last year.

Garden Grove Pacifica CA senior Shea Smith won the boys Division 3 senior race at 16:13.4 and Fabian Gomez of Warren CA clocked 16:10.2 to win the Division 1 senior race.

Capistrano Valley CA junior Thomas Mordy won the Division 2 junior race in 16:00.6, Aidan Ermisch of JSerra CA won the Division 3 sophomore race in 16:58.3, San Diego San Marcos’ Andrew Parsa prevailed in the Division 1 freshman race (16:29.8) and Huntington Beach Edison CA freshman Wylie Cleugh won the Division 2 freshman race 16:43.1.

St. Margaret’s CA junior Jackson Adelman, who finished second at the Division 5 state meet last year, clocked 16:05.8 to win the Division 3 junior race and teammate Kevin Shen clocked 17:17.5 to take the freshman race.

St. Margaret's ninth-grader Liesel Blau produced the fastest girls time of the day, clocking 18:22 in the Division 3 freshman race. Blau started her high school career Sept. 6 by placing second in her varsity race at the Cool Breeze Invitational, clocking the ninth-fastest time of the meet overall at 17:32.5.

After dropping out of the sophomore race in the first mile last season, Aliso Niguel’s Emily Richards returned to win the girls Division 1 junior race, clocking 18:43.5.

“It feels so good to be able to run injury free and be able to push myself,” Richards said.  “I wanted to prove to myself that I can finish.”

Richards’ teammate Lauren Schuerger clocked 19:22.6 to win the Division 1 sophomore race.

Santa Ana CA senior Maria Hernandez, who finished ninth at the Division 1 state final last year, won the Division 1 senior race in 19:02.9.

Capistrano Valley CA standout Carly Corsinita won the Division 2 senior race 18:59.4 and Monrovia’s Alayna Peters was victorious in Division 3, winning in 19:50.5.

Northwood CA junior Audrey Landis won the girls Division 2 junior race (19:46.8) and Emma Timmersman of El Modena CA finished in 19:45.8 to win Division 3.

In the sophomore races, the La Costa Canyon trio of Kyra Compton (18:40.8), Rebekah Niednagel (19:04.2) and Georgia Patyna (19:26.8) swept the Nos. 1-3 spots in Division 2 and Estelle Gladden of High Tech High North CA clocked 19:51.4 in Division 3.

Freshman race winners in addition to Blau were Michelle Huerta of Warren (19:17.5) in Division 1 and Leanna Tamura of Newport Harbor (19:41.3) in Division 2.