Rocklin, CA
It was a “Maroon Sweep” at the SFL Championships this past Friday at Spring View Park. Whitney won all four races! The Wildcats made a huge statement, not only becoming the first team at Whitney High to bring home an SFL title, but to bring home two varsity banners as well as both frosh soph banners is very rare in any league. It truly was a marquee day for Whitney athletics.
The meet began with frosh soph girls. Emily Peterson and Haley Bedrin blazed their way through the pack to challenge the front runners, finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively. The fearsome foursome of Hailey Kelly, Cassidy Ransford, Olivia Sauer, and Cailin Fitzgerald was going to work right behind them the whole time, all placing in the top 12 within 10 seconds of each other, to outscore young and strong Granite Bay by 16 points. Bianca Gill and Ashlyn Fujioka weren’t far behind. Miranda Morrar, Alicia Chiang, and Zoe Cook worked very well with each other too, each running maybe their best race of the season, to all cross the line within a second of each other. Isabel Simmons, Skylar Jones, and Anna Giorgi each passed several runners, showing their strength and toughness especially at the end of the course.
Frosh soph boys looked from the beginning like Whitney would not factor into the top scorers, except that our top runners were settling into their pace and just lurking back in the pack. By the end of the first loop, Tyler Hawkins, Byron Chadwick, Ryan Hart, and Malachai Amore could more easily be seen, as they had collectively worked their way near the front. And by the time they were on the return from the track, they had established a fairly convincing lead. How fun was that to watch? Seeing the four of them tightly lined up coming out of the woods each time further and further ahead. Tyler ended up winning it all, with Ryan, Byron and Malachai completing 1-4. Aidan Ransford topped off the scoring, finishing in the top 10 to help ensure the team win over the very strong young squad at Oak Ridge.
Just as fun to see unfold was the varsity girls race. Grace Lathrop ran with the front runners, finishing an impressive 3rd overall. Brooke Giorgi, Kirsten Ransford, Natalie Eppler, and Grace Pierce pack ran and finished within 10 seconds of each other. One strength of our girls varsity is what is called the “spread”, which refers to the amount of time between a team’s top finisher and 5th finisher. Our spread is only about a half minute, which is lethal if they’re all fast. Well, each of the top five broke 20 minutes (which is fast) and each set a personal best for 5K–each by a half minute or more. Our team time, which is the sum of all five scorers, dropped by over 3 minutes. Huge accomplishment! Truly one of the greatest team races in Whitney distance history. Jessica Becker, Mikayla Barkve, Sarah Davis, Emily Britt (who is quietly improving by leaps and bounds), and Emma Totaro all hit lifetime PR’s. Our girls rose up against highly ranked Del Oro and Oak Ridge to claim a very tough league title.
The final race was varsity boys. Austin Vasquez, Ethan Dodge, and Bennett Woodward once again triangulated to share the workload and stay mentally fresh when fatigue begins to take over. Bennett did a masterful job of setting the right pace that our three could handle, in an effort to break as many of the other leaders as possible. Our strategy going in was to grab 3 of the top 5 spots, and eventually our top three went 2nd, 3rd, and 5th. Mission accomplished! But we also needed our number 4 and 5 to beat Rocklin’s 4th and 5th runners. Ajani Salcido and Jason Finta teamed up as the race progressed, and both powered away from Rocklin’s 4th man. Josh Tajiri ran his best race of the year, able to not only beat Rocklin’s 6th man, but their 5th man as well. All of our 5 scorers hit lifetime PR’s for 5K in this race. Aidan Redding almost broke 18 minutes for the first time, and managed a PR. Connor Hedman, Sam Hernandez, and Jared Regan all broke 20 minutes and PR’d. Peter Casinias, Christian Cunningham, and Dean Sherman all PR’d as well.
Great day for Whitney Cross Country. Every athlete contributed to the four team wins and league titles. All of our runners have been very committed and hard working, and have been very patient and coachable in learning how to race, gauging off of each other as a means to ensure successful racing. From the first Wildcat to cross the finish line to the final Whitney finisher, every runner is part of the group training where we push and pull each other to reach our potential. We would not have claimed four banners if it weren’t for the efforts and contributions all season of each member of this team. Congratulations to everyone on Whitney Cross Country!