Senior trip

Dave Brobeck has known the class of 2010 was special for a while now.

It made the Laguna Beach High boys’ cross-country coach’s decision easy, if he was considering leaving the program a few years back.

Really, there was no decision to make.

“When they were freshmen, they were amazingly talented,” Brobeck said. “I knew I was going to continue coaching for four years. I had no choice, because they were just so good, so dominant.”

Fast-forward to Saturday at Woodward Park, where the Breakers will be competing at the CIF State Cross-Country Championships. Junior Matt Neev is also one of Laguna’s most talented runners, but for seniors Blake Hofmeister, Tommy Newton-Neal, Andrew Shapero, Richard Mattingly, Sean Pigden and Jake Johnson, this is a chance to make a grand statement in their final race.

Laguna Beach, which easily won the CIF Southern Section Division IV championship last Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College, will be a favorite to win the Division IV title at state as well. It would be the Breakers’ third state title in school history; they also won in 1989 — Brobeck ran for that team — and in 2004.

So the seniors will go for it, as they’ve been doing that all season. But they will also be relaxed. No pressure here, even if, as Hofmeister said, “there’s no next year.”

“We’re relaxed,” Hofmeister said. “For me, it always works out this way, that if you have a relaxed attitude you perform better.”

He finished second individually at Mt. SAC in 15:23, two seconds behind Morro Bay’s James Shipe. But the Breakers were just too deep.

Neev (15:47), Newton-Neal (15:51) and Shapero (15:52) took fourth through sixth. Then there was Pigden in 15th (16:21).

These results helped Laguna easily outscore second place Big Bear, 27-95, a lopsided score for a dual meet, not to mention a CIF final.

And yet, Brobeck sees room for improvement with his special senior class. For one thing, they won’t let the success get to their heads.