Maidu Park (Roseville, CA)
Whitney Distance had a very good showing at the 2019 Oakmont Invitational. Of all 7 divisions, no squad finished lower than 6th place out of 37 schools.
Varsity girls began the action with a 6th place finish. Senior Brooke Giorgi led the way, placing 18th overall and hitting a nice PR of 15:41. Brooke has improved substantially each year on this course, incrementally dropping a full 2 minutes off of her time from her freshman year. Olivia Sauer has also shown remarkable improvement. Now as a junior, she has knocked a full minute off her 4K time each of the past 2 years.
Varsity guys followed the girls race, placing 2nd, just 4 points behind perennial state powerhouse Jesuit. Jesuit is hands down the top program in the section, as they are loaded with talent and tradition. Our guys are very solid this year, and it will be fun seeing how we compete with the best this season. Austin Vasquez finished 2nd in 12:10, setting a new school record in the 4000m, breaking Ethan Dodge‘s school record on the same course a year ago. Ethan crossed the line in 4th place, with Jason Finta and Josh Tajiri not far behind in 11th and 14th respectively. There were over 200 runners in the race. Aidan Ransford has made the transition to varsity a very smooth process, as he, also a junior like Olivia, has improved by over a full minute each of his past two outings on this course, clocking an impressive 13:19.
Our freshman boys continue to shine, taking 1st as a team. The up-front duo of Tao Delgadillo and Cole Jamieson is fun to watch; they went 3rd and 4th respectively. Fekadu Cantrell, Callum Turner, Jaden Rapp, Nick Herrmann, and Brandon Olah all placed in the top 35 out of nearly 150 runners. We have an exciting and strong young group of guys.
Frosh Soph girls took 3rd as a team. Overall team leader Grace Lathrop finished in 8th place, with surprising freshman Katie Kopec not far behind in 10th out of nearly 200 runners. Natalie Eppler and Elena Collier crossed the line in 13th and 26th respectively.
The sophomore boys race featured our lone individual winner on the day … Ryan Hart battled a tough group of 3 other runners for an exciting finish, out kicking all of them to win by 4 seconds in an excellent time for a sophomore in 13:18. Newcomer to running Isiah Daniels put in a solid race for 9th overall out of over 150 runners. Whitney placed 4th as a team.
Both JV squads turned in good performances, with the guys earning 2nd and the girls placing 3rd. Cassidy Ransford led the ladies, while Tyler Hawkins and Byron Chadwick placed 3rd and 4th respectively to lead the boys.
Although we don’t emphasize maximum effort at this early stage of the season, we do celebrate improvements and PR’s (personal records). Whitney had 49 runners hit a lifetime PR at the Oakmont Invitational in 2019.
And to illustrate how strong our team is this year, a quick look at the Top 20 All-Time list shows that 9 of the 20 are on our current roster … Austin Vasquez, Ethan Dodge, Jason Finta, Josh Tajiri, Brenden Jacoby, Jacob Harbert, Ryan Hart, Aidan Ransford, and Aidan Redding.
On the ladies’ side, 8 of the Top 20 All-Time are currently on the roster … Grace Lathrop, Katie Kopec, Brooke Giorgi, Natalie Eppler, Kirsten Ransford, Grace Pierce, Elena Collier, and Jessica Becker.