Daily Pilot High School Female Athlete of the Week: Costa Mesa’s Molina is a competitor of all trades

Those who know Diane Molina best always bring up her competitiveness.

It does not matter what realm she finds herself in, she wants to be the best. When new grades come out, she scans the sheet to identify her grades. Then she compares her standing to everyone else in the class.

Costa Mesa High has itself a star in the making, as Molina has taken the next step in establishing herself as one of the best cross-country runners in Orange County.

“Diane runs hard, no matter whether she’s in the sweepstakes race or she is in a race where she is going to win,” Mustangs coach Steve Moreno said. “She just has one gear right now.”

“That’s just to run as hard as she can for as long as she can.”

At the Orange County Championships last week, Molina made waves by placing second in the girls’ small schools race. Her time of 18 minutes 12 seconds was tied for the best mark by a local (also achieved by Ashley Faller of Fountain Valley in the girls’ sweepstakes) on the new course at Silverado’s Oak Canyon Park.

In addition, Molina’s time would have placed in the top 10 in the girls’ sweepstakes race last Saturday.

The winner of the girls’ small schools race was Lucina Vincent of El Dorado, who completed a career sweep of the title with a time of 17:56.

It has long given those who cover the sport pause as to why the 2015 All-County selection never moved up to the sweepstakes race. Moreno says that will not be the case with Molina. She has proven herself ready for the bigger races.

“I’m just trying to control the flame, to a certain extent,” Moreno said of Molina, who will turn 15 next week. “She is so young. She’s made a big leap this year. She hasn’t backed off from anything.”

“I want to build her confidence up, and she’s getting it. I see it. She’s thinking about how she can get better. She’ll be ready to be in those sweepstakes races next year.”

Molina has posted top-five finishes in all six of her races this season, including wins in the Laguna Hills Invitational and the Orange Coast League Cluster. Her improved results have changed the scope of her goals.

“I used to only want to be the best in my school,” she said. “Now, I want to be the best overall. That’s the goal that I want to achieve. I’ve been working really hard, so now, I have bigger goals to obtain.”

Among those goals, the Mustangs sophomore would like to break 18 minutes and make it to the state meet. She reached the CIF Southern Section Division 4 finals as a freshman.

This year, Molina has already taken a minute off of her personal-best time. She ran 18:01 at Centennial Park in Santa Ana, a fast, flat course utilized for the Orange Coast League Cluster.

Molina might be able to knock off a couple of seconds if she could kick one bad habit. She visits McDonald’s often, and her standard order is not a light one — two large fries, a hamburger with no pickles or onions, a chocolate chip frappé and a hot fudge sundae.

Asked if she would be able to give up her comfort food if a college coach showed up with an offer that was contingent on her doing so, Molina said it would be a struggle.

“That would be really hard, but I think I would do it because I really want to go to college,” she said.

As tough as walking away from her favorite food would be, Molina has built herself on the back of taking up tough tasks. The challenge is what originally drew her to cross-country.

“I really like cross-country because cross-country is about endurance,” Molina said. “Most people normally don’t like distance, but I do because it tests the limits of the human heart.”

Diane Molina

Born: Oct. 27, 2002

Hometown: Costa Mesa

Height: 5 feet 3

Weight: 120 pounds

Sport: Cross-country

Year: Sophomore

Coach: Steve Moreno

Favorite food: McDonald’s

Favorite movie: “Prefontaine”

Favorite athletic moment: Molina’s favorite athletic moment came at the season-opening Laguna Hills Invitational, where she notched the first victory of her career in the girls’ Division 3 sophomore race.

Week in review: Molina finished as the runner-up in the Orange County Championships girls’ small schools varsity race last week. She clocked in at 18:12, matching the best time by a local on the Oak Canyon Park course.

Andrew.Turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner