SILVERADO – Irvine’s Summer Wilson and Woodbridge’s Aidan Antonio each added another highlight to their seasons Saturday by finishing in first place in the Orange County Cross Country Championships at Oak Canyon Park.
Wilson, a senior who finished first in the Clovis Invitational last week, won the sweepstakes race at the Orange County Championships for the second year in a row. She set a course record with a time of 15 minutes, 47.3 seconds.
Antonio, a junior, won the boys sweepstakes race with a time of 13:56. That broke the course record set by three-time Orange County cross country athlete of the year Evan Noonan in 2023 (13:59.4). Antonio was a freshman in that 2023 race and finished 24th (14:45).
Antonio led Woodbridge to the boys sweepstakes team championship. The Warriors, with a third-place contribution by Adrian Zavala, had 48 points, followed by second-place Trabuco Hills (89 points) and third-place San Clemente (115).
Antonio took a large early lead in his race. His long strides helped him pull away even more in the third mile as he finished 14 seconds ahead of San Clemente junior Yohan Anderson, who was second at 14:10.9
“I tried to keep my pace as evenly as possible,” Antonio said. “Sub-14 is not an easy feat, especially when you’re running solo.”
Wilson had a fast start, too, blazing through the first mile in 5:08, and she carried it from there.
“I didn’t really think I was running that fast,” Wilson said. “It didn’t feel like it was 5:08. But I guess that’s a good thing.”
She hit the two-mile mark at 10:35.
“And then I was pretty confident I was going to get the record,” she said. “It feels really good to get the win and the meet record. That was my goal coming in.”
Trabuco Hills senior Millie Bayles was second at 16:21.3.
The talent and depth of JSerra’s girls team again was on display. The Lions, who were team champions at the Clovis Invitational, won the O.C. meet’s girls sweepstakes team championship Saturday with 49 points. They placed five runners among the top five finishers, led by junior Reese Holley’s third-place finish at 16:32.9.
Santa Margarita was second in the girls sweepstakes team standings with 75 points, followed by third-place Trabuco Hills at 103.
Holley was pleased that her team could perform so well after their big win in the Clovis meet at Fresno’s Woodward Park, site of the CIF State Championships on Nov. 29.
“I think we had another good training block this week,” Holley said. “We’re feeling good going into postseason (CIF section and state meets).”
“We got out pretty fast. We had three girls on our team under 5:20 for the first mile. So I knew I just had to hang on and see what I could do.”
JSerra freshman Maya Pawlowicz finished fifth at 16:38.2
Santa Margarita was led by junior Carol Dye, who was fourth at 16:38.2.
The course was in great shape for Saturday’s event. Tuesday’s rain tamped down the dust that was an issue at last year’s meet. Crews worked Thursday to fix muddy areas and Saturday’s races ran on time.
