Breakers show they belong among elite

Invited to participate in the team sweepstakes race at Saturday’s Orange County Championships, the Laguna Beach High boys’ cross-country team wasn’t nervous.

Competing against mostly Division I and Division II programs wasn’t a problem for the Breakers, the top-ranked Division IV team in the state. They proved it by finishing fifth in the sweepstakes race with a team time of 79 minutes, 54 seconds.

And the Breakers weren’t even happy with their times.

“We came in and kids were pretty pissed off, actually,” Coach Dave Brobeck said. “Legs were tired, legs were heavy. We’ve been giving them a lot of big workouts.”

Still, fifth place was fifth place, especially with only top schools like Dana Hills, El Toro, Trabuco Hills and Marina ahead of Laguna Beach.

Individually, senior Blake Hofmeister was 17th in 15 minutes, 33 seconds. Tommy Newton-Neal placed 29th in 15:48 and Matt Neev was 33rd in 15:52.

Also placing for the Breakers were Andrew Shapero (16:17), Sean Pigden (16:24), Jake Johnson (16:51) and Richard Mattingly (17:22).

“We did really well,” Brobeck said. “Fifth place in the county for a small school is pretty unheard of. That’s where we belong, though.”

Laguna Beach is running at the Mt. San Antonio College meet today, although Brobeck said he plans to hold Hofmeister, Newton-Neal, Neev and Shapero out of that Division IV sweepstakes race.

“I’m going to run mostly JV kids in that race,” Brobeck said. “The big guys, I’m going to give them the race off.”

The Breakers girls, meanwhile, ran just two runners in the Division II girls’ race. Senior McKenna Nokes finished 32nd on the three-mile course with a time of 19:24 and Gerry Artman took 124th with a time of 21:56.

The Laguna Beach girls are ranked No. 10 in Division IV.

?

GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL

Laguna Beach knew it would be tough at the Torrey Pines California Challenge over the weekend, with some of the top teams in the state competing. The Breakers were seeded 12th and finished tied for 13th at the two-day tournament, going 2-2.

In pool play, the Breakers topped Canyon Crest Academy, 25-7, 25-10, 25-17, before falling to Long Beach Wilson, 19-25, 21-25, 28-26, 24-26. They then fell to Cathedral Classic in Silver Division play, 24-26, 18-25, 20-25, before rebounding for a five-game victory against Huntington Beach, 23-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-17, 15-4.