Elverta, CA
Our final tune-up was Flat Sac Invitational at Gibson Ranch. The SFL Championships Meet is only 6 days after this one, so our runners had one more chance to race in a more “relaxed” element–even though some Wildcats felt really good and went after it 🙂
Frosh soph girls started things off, and Kirsten Ransford dominated, winning fairly comfortably. Kirsten usually runs varsity at this point of the season, but we wanted to have her race a shorter distance than 5K, so this worked out. And her teammates not far behind her helped secure a solid 4th place as a team. The fearsome foursome of Hailey Kelly, Cailin Fitzgerald, Olivia Sauer and Cassidy Ransford rounded out the Whitney scoring, with Cailin, Olivia, and Cassidy all hitting PR’s. Also hitting PR’s were steadily improving Ashlyn Fujioka, Zoe Cook, Skylar Jones, and Anna Giorgi–who passed more than 20 runners during the race!
On the boys’ side, Ryan Hart led his frosh soph squad, crossing the line as the overall winner. Right behind him was massively improving Riley Carroll in 3rd. Both runners PR’d. Traeger Harrison, Charlie Gioia, Levi Chadwick, Miles Miller, Hunter Schwab, Josh McMurdo, Dylan DeValk, Nathan Walsh, and Oscar Drahos all ran personal lifetime bests for a 2-mile race. Congratulations Guys!
Varsity girls front 7 all broke 21 minutes, which is especially impressive since they were holding back a bit, in anticipation of needing a big performance in 6 days. Still, Grace Lathrop finished 5th, followed closely by Jessica Becker, Natalie Eppler, Elena Collier, Brooke Giorgi, Grace Pierce, and Mikayla Barkve … all in the top 32 out of 160 runners, and good enough for 3rd place as a team. We have an exciting dynamic with our top ladies, as they work really effectively together in a pack, setting a smart pace early in races, then using each other’s strength to climb to the front. These girls are super fun to watch, and should be in a good position to compete for a league title in 6 days.
The varsity boys won, with our usual front 3 packed up with Charlie Giannini from Chico, who is the top runner in the northern section. Austin Vasquez ended up going for it and finished hard, beating Charlie, and almost setting a new Whitney school record for 5K. Austin’s time of 15:41 is just 4 seconds off of the legendary Nathan Wellington’s mark of 15:37. Ethan Dodge and Bennett Woodward went 3rd and 4th, with sophomores Ajani Salcido and Jason Finta not far behind. These five runners figure to be our scorers next week when we challenge defending section champions Rocklin High for a league title.
Haley Bedrin ran a 5K with the JV instead of the 2 mile with her usual squad mates. Oh, and by the way, she won! In fact our JV girls team won, as Katelynne Finta, Sarah Davis, Melanie Walsh, Emily Britt, and Emma Totaro showed the strength and depth of our girls team.
As with Haley, we had some of our top sophomore boys try a 5K as well. Byron Chadwick took the lead and never let it go. Fellow sophomores Tyler Hawkins, Malachai Amore, and Aidan Ransford joined junior Aidan Redding in ensuring 5 Whitney scorers got to the finish line in the top 7 overall for a dominant 20-point total (low score wins, and 15 is the best possible).
And so with that, the “fun and relaxing” invitational season is over, and it’s all about league standings and post-season goals. We have a little focusing to do this coming week. Our first league meet back in September went really well, as we won 3 divisions and tied varsity boys. The other SFL teams are super strong and their race data continues to progress as they get faster. Our training has gone really well too, and so our goal is to do something that is rarely accomplished anywhere (especially in a very competitive league) … win all four divisions at league championships. Go Wildcats!