Cross Country

TODAY Cross country High school boys and girls -- Estancia, Santa Ana at Costa Mesa, 3:15 p.m. Field hockey Edison at Newport Harbor at Harper Community Center, 3:15 p.m. Football High school -- Estancia at Garden Grove, 7 p.m. Golf High school girls -- Costa Mesa at Sage Hill at Rancho San Joaquin Golf Club, 3 p.m.; Northwood at Corona del Mar at Newport Beach Country Club, 2:30 p.m.;...

Orange Coast College had one of its best years in recent memory in women's sports, capturing 10 conference championships and four state titles while producing five conference coaches of the year and three conference Most Valuable Players. The women's volleyball team, the women's tennis team, the women's cross country team and the women's swim team all captured state championships for the Pirates. Volleyball: Coach Chuck Cutenese's team finished with a perfect 26-0 record and nearly went wire-to-wire without dropping a single game.

Vanguard University Athletic Director Bob Wilson said the positives outnumber negatives when it comes to the reformation of the Golden State Athletic Conference, and increased conference championship opportunities for the Lions are foremost among the former. After the 2011-12 school year, Azusa Pacific, Fresno Pacific and Point Loma Nazarene left the conference to join the NCAA Division II ranks, just as former GSAC member Cal Baptist did one year earlier. The seven remaining GSAC schools - Vanguard, Biola, Concordia, Hope International, San Diego Christian, The Master's and Westmont - will be joined by incoming member Arizona Christian in an eight-team alliance beginning in 2012-13.

Joseph Boo COSTA MESA - In Eric Davies' second year with Costa Mesa High's boys cross country team, he finds the cupboard not quite so bare. Last season, he basically put together a team from scratch. This year, some newcomers will bolster a team with four returners, and Mesa hopes to improve on last year's fifth-place finish in the Pacific Coast League. "If we have more kids, we're going to have more fun," Davies said. Among the top newcomers is junior Irwin Salas, who emerged as one of Mesa's top distance runners for the track and field team as a sophomore.

BAKERSFIELD - The Orange Coast College men's and women's cross country teams swept to championships Friday at the prestigious Bakersfield Invitational, a preview of the Southern California Championships. For the OCC women, Zoila Gomez (Costa Mesa High) took first place overall in 18:21, followed by teammate Berenice Carbajal (19:19), who was second overall. Bonnie Kuntz (20:36), Sinfo Orozco (20:43) and Elsa Ortega (20:50) also scored for Orange Coast, which won with 48 points.

Bryce Alderton The Orange Coast College men's and women's track and field teams aren't short on experience when it comes to winning a state title, no matter if it was in a different sport. OCC men's and women's cross country teams each claimed state championships last fall and several runners off those teams are ready for similar success this spring on the track. On the men's side, freshman Humberto Rojas (Estancia High) claimed the state individual cross country title (20 minutes, 18 seconds)

Tony Altobelli COSTA MESA - Despite a ton of losses from last year's state champions, the Orange Coast College men's and women's cross country teams come into the 2000 season with a tremendous amount of talent, which will be needed with everyone gunning for them. "We've got titles to defend," Coach John Goldman said with a laugh. "It's interesting because a bunch of our star runners from last year are gone. But, we did a great job of recruiting. I think it's the best recruiting class we've ever had since I've been here."

Tony Altobelli FRESNO - This is new, even for Coach John Goldman. Orange Coast College men's and women's cross country each captured state championships Saturday afternoon at Woodward Park in near-perfect conditions. The last time both the men's and women's squads each won the state title was in 1981. For the men's team, the Pirates (100 points) edged out Mt. San Antonio's 108, Glendale's 109 and San Diego Mesa's 111 for the win. The Pirates had all four runners in the top-40 overall to pull out the win. Leading the charge for the Pirate men was Juan Sanchez, who finished ninth in the four-mile race with a 21:41.

BOYS' AND GIRLS' CIF Southern Section preliminaries WALNUT ? The Corona del Mar High boys and girls advanced to next week's finals, where the Sea Kings' girls will assuredly be favored to win Division III after their performance at Mt. San Antonio College Saturday. The CdM girls earned the top team time, 91 minutes, eight seconds, and qualified first with five runners in the top nine. Sarah Cummings (17:37), Shelby Buckley (18:03) and Allison Damon (18:04) led with a 1-2-3 finish for the Sea Kings, who also received contributions from Allison Gushue (fifth in 18:43)