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Orange County Cross Country Championships: Evan Noonan, Holly Barker, JSerra girls win sweepstakes titles

October 15, 2023

SILVERADO — There were no major surprises in the premier races at the Orange County Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Oak Canyon Park.

Evan Noonan of Dana Hills, the county’s top-ranked boys runner, added another highlight to his stellar season with a first-place finish in the Varsity Boys Sweepstakes Race, crossing the finish line in 13 minutes, 59.4 seconds.

Finishing second, seven seconds behind Noonan, was his new teammate, Jayden Hernandez, a transfer from Godinez who was recently cleared to compete for the Dolphins. Hernandez was running in just his second race with the team.

Dana Hills’ Evan Noonan, left, won the Boys Varsity Sweepstakes Race at the Orange CountyChampionships, and his teammate, Jayden Hernandez, finished second. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

The one-two finish, combined with a sixth-place finish from Dana Hills’ Garett Woodruff, helped the Dolphins capture the team title with a score of 48 points, five points ahead of second-place San Clemente, which won the 2022 sweepstakes race.

“We had goals last night, talking about how we wanted to go one and two,” said Noonan, who was coming off a third-place finish in the prestigious Clovis Invitational on Oct. 7. “We needed our third man to be top five. Everyone PR’d by a minimum of 10 seconds all across the board, so I’m super proud of everyone. Can’t ask for more, and just glad that we can take back that county title.”

Junior Holly Barker of Trabuco Hills won the Girls Sweepstakes Race at the Orange County Championships for the third year in a row. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

Trabuco Hills’ Holly Barker, the top girls runner in Orange County, won the Girls Sweepstakes Race for the third year in a row.

Barker won the race in her freshman and sophomore years while at Laguna Hills before transferring to Trabuco Hills during the summer.

She stumbled at the start and came close to falling, but Barker regained her footing, took the lead about 200 meters into the race and never looked back.

“Honestly, it kind of helped me,” Barker said of the stumble. “Because I feel like you always want that perfect start, you always want your foot to lift off, you want to feel strong, you want to get going. And to have your foot just kind of give out, it’s like, whoa, did I just get injured? But I think it just eases your pressure, it lets you get in the moment. Running’s not perfect. Neither is your start sometimes. You just got to get back up, keep going, and have fun with it.”

The JSerra girls cross country team placed five runners among the top 20 to run away with the championship of the Girls Sweepstakes Race at the Orange County Championships. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

The JSerra girls won the Sweepstakes race, adding to their list of top finishes this season in several high-level meets.

Sophie Polay, a transfer from Santa Margarita, finished third for the Lions, who placed five runners among the top 20 to finish first with 46 points, 64 points better than second-place Trabuco Hills.

“I knew our team had a lot of good people coming in and our returners were just really, really strong,” said JSerra’s Brynn Garcia, who finished eighth. “But honestly, I’ve been shocked at how high we’ve been placing. It’s put a little bit of pressure on our team but you know pressure is a privilege. That’s been our motto this year. I think we just come into each race focused. We know what goals we want to hit, and we keep ourselves to high standards.”

Senior Diego Mejia of Godinez won the Boys Medium Schools Division race in 15:14.1 at the Orange County Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 14. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

Senior Diego Mejia of Godinez won the Boys Medium Schools Division race in 15:14.1. Mejia was in a pack of 15 at the first mile, about seventh place at the second mile and then passed Capistrano Valley’s Angel Perez, who finished second.

“In the last mile, I saw the kid from Capo Valley, and that’s when I started smiling a little bit because I knew I still had a lot in the tank,” Mejia said. “And I started catching up to him and little by little, I caught up to him and in the last 800 I left him.”

Perez’s second-place finish led the Cougars to a first-place finish in the team race.

Avery Williams of Edison won the Girls Medium Schools Division race at the Orange County Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 13. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

A pair of freshmen, Avery Williams of Edison and Anneliese Watrous of El Dorado, finished first and second, respectively, in the Girls Medium Schools Division race.

Fullerton won the team portion of the race.

The Fullerton girls cross country team finished first in the team competition of the varsity medium schools race at the Orange County Championships. (Photo by Lou Ponsi)

In the first day of competition on Friday, Servite sophomore Emanuel Lopez finished first in the Boys Varsity Small Schools Division race, leading the Friars to a first-place finish as a team.

Grace Toriz of Western won the Girls Varsity Small Schools Division and Laguna Beach won the team portion of the race.

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Orange County Register