PACIFICA HIGH cross country team.

Much of the attention for fall sports in all venues focuses on football. The gridiron rules on the TV and in the arenas. Therefore that means less attention to “other” fall sports.

But let’s not look down at any sport; it’s not necessary to do that to find much to admire in all physical competition.

Which brings us to the achievements of the Pacifica High cross country teams. They did well in two recent events, the Woodbridge Invitational and the Dana Hills Invitational.

As reported by Andrea Perez, Jake Smith placed 13th overall at the Woodbridge Invitational, turning in the best time at 14:35.9 of any Orange County competitor.

Nathan Aguinaga was second in the boys’ junior race at 16:33. Alex Brady was first in the girls’ junior varsity race at 19:31.8 and Emily Leeb first in the girls’ sophomore race at 18:55.3.

Overall, the sophomore girls won the team title in the White Division (Emily Leeb, Audrey Simpson, My Ly, Taylor Brobst, Karissa Sugita, Taylor Perez).

At Dana Hills, Jake Smith was fourth at 14:44, while Nathan Aguinaga finished seventh in the junior Division 3 race at 16:49.4

My Ly was 10th in the girls Division 3 sophomore race at 20:14.1. The Mariner soph-frosh girls’ team (My Ly, Audrey Simpson, Anelise Galen, Karissa Suguta, Brianna Feiffer, Taylor Perez and Joyzel Aquino) took fifth in Division 3.

Last week’s high school football action shook up our High Five rankings of the top teams from the Garden Grove-Huntington Beach-Westminster area.

Edison, despite its 42-0 loss to Mater Dei, remains on top. Orange is still unbeaten and is in the second slot, with Pacifica in third and Marina fourth. The big newcomer is La Quinta, off to a 3-1 start.

The matchups in Week Five include some interesting contests. Garden Grove has lost two straight after starting out 2-0. Laguna Hills is 3-1 but has played a lighter schedule. We expect Westminster to hit its stride with a second straight win, this time over Beckman, but the Patriots are no pushovers.

Here’s this weekend’s high school prep lineup. For most teams, it’s a last pre-league contest before the “real” season starts the week after.

Thursday

Saddleback (2-2) at Los Amigos (2-2), at Garden Grove High.

Friday

Orange (4-0) at Godinez (1-3), at Santa Ana Valley

Loara (1-3) at Rancho Alamitos (2-2), at Bolsa Grande

Savanna (2-2) at Santiago (1-3), at Garden Grove High

La Quinta (3-1) at Century (1-3)

Beckman (2-2) at Westminster (1-3)

Garden Grove (2-2) at Laguna Hills (3-1)

Fountain Valley (0-4) at Mira Mesa (1-3)