SEA KINGS SWEEP

Steve Virgen

For the Corona del Mar High boys track and field team, winning the

Pacific Coast League championship was as easy as one, two, three

Friday at Irvine.

At least that’s how the Sea Kings made it look, especially in the

3,200 meters, in which CdM finished 1-2-3. That would be senior Mike

Rudinica, senior Bo Weidner and junior J.C. Turner. The trio secured

the Sea Kings’ victory, which also came courtesy of Kevin Artz, Chris

Ringstrom, Blake Dillion and Matt Morris.

Artz and Ringstrom came away with two PCL titles. Artz, who did

not advance to the CIF Southern Section preliminaries last year, won

the 800 (2:01.51) and the 1,600 (4:36.72), while Ringstrom won the

200 (22.57) and 400 (50.32). Junior Steven Minard won the high jump

(5 feet, 6 inches) and sophomore Andrew Wong won the pole vault

(12-0).

They advance to the CIF Division III preliminaries, which is May

16 at Mt. San Antonio College. Dillion (100 and triple jump), as well

as Gordon Yould (pole vault), Morris (200), Eeman Jalili (110 high

hurdles) also advanced. Dillion finished second in the 100 (11.92)

and triple jump (40-10) and third in the long jump (19-8). He also

contributed to CdM’s victory in the 1,600 relay.

The Sea Kings went undefeated in dual meets during the season and

entered the PCL finals with a high level of confidence. They won

Friday’s PCL championship with 188 points, ahead of runner-up

Northwood (128).

“We had complete confidence [in winning the PCL title],” Artz said

after his victory in the 800. “We basically dominated in the league

dual meets. We came in knowing we could win it all. It wasn’t being

cocky. We just knew.”

Coach Bill Sumner was surprised his team won by such a large

margin.

“Blake, Matt Morris, Ringstrom, [Mark Cianciulli] and Artz, they

put the load on their backs and carried us,” Sumner said.

Cianciulli, who plans to play football for the University of San

Diego in the fall, contributed to CdM’s victory in the 400 relay,

which also included Brian LaPerle, Morris and Ringstrom.

Sumner was impressed with the 1-2-3 finish in the 3,200, which

proved to be an example of CdM’s improvement from last season to this

year. Rudinica won his first PCL title in 10:32.21.

Last year, Rudinica and Weidner did not take track and field

seriously. But the movie, “Prefontaine,” inspired them to intensify

their approach toward running. Next year, they will be walk-ons for

the cross country team at Loyola Marymount. Meanwhile, Turner showed

improvement despite injury. He dislocated his shoulder Tuesday in a

freak accident. But he was able to finish in a season-best time of

10:43.67.

After his race, he wore a sling for his right shoulder. He was

supposed to run with the sling on, as advised by his doctors.

“I’m not one who does what the doctors tell me,” Turner said. “The

meet was a little close before that race. We weren’t totally sure

about the win, so I wanted to help out the team.”