Article by Ben Crawford
The 50th running of the Orange County Championships left us with many surprises. The county's best runners and teams were on display for everyone to watch, and we were not disappointed by the upset and thrillers.
On the boys side, pre-race favorites Jack Landgraf and the Dana Hills Boys lived up to the hype and etched their names into history. The winning time was not as fast as the previous years, but Landgraf still managed a sub 15 effort by running 14:53. A big surprise was the absence of Jacob Aries who did not race due to illness. Alexis Garcia captured second place and ran a time of 15:05. The real story, however, was the rise of the relative unknowns. Thomas Wilfert, a senior from Dana Hills, who placed 23rd in 2015, came from behind and surged to the front over the last 400 meters to claim third place. Jserra's Freshman stud Anthony Grover put his name on the map by placing 4th overall and running a time of 15:08. Several other underclassmen such as Bryson Crites and Josh O'Neill had impressive races as well. These performances set the bar high for the next several years as we will see these athletes continue to mature and develop. The team race was dominated by Dana Hills as they scored an impressive 52 points to bring retain their title as county champions. Trabuco Hills took home second place in a point race which had only 22 points separating them from fifth place Valencia. El Toro placed third and Brea Olinda fourth. This was the first year since 2011 that Brea did not have any All County runners.
For the girls, Haley Herberg (Capistrano Valley) delivered an absolutely thrilling performance, taking home the win in 17:01 and delivering the first ever individual title for her school. Her teammate Alyssa Bautista ran 17:27 and placed fourth, which put two Capo girls in the top four overall. First year runner Erika Adler of Northwood continued her impressive season and placed second with a time of 17:09. Canyon's Sara Leonard placed third in 17:18. This race was controlled by the class of 2018 who took home three of the top five spots. In a race usually dominated by seniors, the sophomores also showed well by placing five in the top twenty. A big storyline from this race was the Dana Hills Girls upsetting Canyon of Anaheim. With their top five led by the sophomore trio of Leila Keyvan, Lauren Soto, and Sarah Meng, the Dolphins will seemingly only get better in the following years. Dana Hills won the race with 91 points, making it the first time since 2011 that the boys and girls team champions are the same school. It was not the first time this happened for Dana Hills however, as both teams emerged victorious in 2008. Capo Valley placed third in 111 points, only two behind second place Canyon's 109 points.