Whitney won 3 of the 6 races, and settled for no lower than 4th out of 50 schools competing. Whitney was strong in all 6 divisions.
The day started with Frosh Soph girls, who placed 4th as a team, just 8 points from first in a very close contest among the top 4 squads. Katie Kopec took the lead in the final mile of the 3 mile course and and then took control, winning by nearly 100 meters. Elena Collier also finished in the top 10 out of more than 150 runners. Emma Martinez broke 22 minutes, placing in the top 30. And then came the maroon swarm … Tyler Williams, Mariana Blanding, Ashlyn Fujioka, Cailin Fitzgerald, Hailey Kelly, and Rachel Tajiri all placed within 20 seconds and 10 places of each other. These girls all managed about a 7 and a half minute per mile pace. Pretty impressive for that many girls to do it. And then came yet another maroon wave … Ashanti Elie, Syd Woolley, Grace Ryu, Emma Carlson, and Jane Sherman. True team running!
In the Frosh Soph boys race, Ryan Hart and Mateo Delgadillo emerged from a very large and fast pack to go 1-2 for the frosh soph boys. Cole Jamieson was not far behind in 6th. None of our guys were in the top 10 at the beginning, demonstrating our patient approach to proper pacing. And seeing our young freshmen already buying in is awesome. All 3 broke 17 minutes on the 3 mile course, leading the Wildcats to a dominating win by more than 80 points. Fekadu Cantrell, Charlie Gioia, Callum Turner, and Brandon Olah rounded out the scoring 7, all finishing in the top 50. James Bowen, Nick Herrmann, Connor Jacoby, and Jaden Rapp finished in a pack, all right around 19 minutes, a solid 6:20 per mile pace. Freshman Tyler Herceg ran a faster per-mile pace over this 3-mile course than he did over the shorter and faster 4K course (2.5 miles) at Oakmont just a couple weeks ago. Great improvement Tyler!
Our JV girls also took 1st, with Olivia Sauer crossing the line in 5th place. Emily Peterson and Katelynne Finta also finished in the top 10, with Bella Nijmeh and Cassidy Ransford not far behind in the top 20.
JV boys dominated as well, led by Byron Chadwick, Riley Carroll, Tyler Hawkins, and Malachai Amore, all finishing in the top 10 out of nearly 250 runners to win the team competition. Brandon Valdez and Cade Schwab teamed up to each finish in the top 30 to complete the scoring for a 40+ point team win. Our upper class guys are among the deepest teams in the section. With our dominant varsity mens team, our next 7 guys (which typically compose a JV squad) would beat most varsity teams in the area.
Varsity girls were 3rd, led by Grace Lathrop in 9th and Brooke Giorgi in 16th out of nearly 200 runners, and loaded with state contenders. Natalie Eppler and Jessica Becker finished 39th and 41st respectively, followed closely by Kirsten Ransford, Grace Pierce, and Haley Bedrin.
Varsity boys placed 2nd, just 3 points behind first place. Ethan Dodge placed 4th in a time of 15:28, missing the Whitney school record by 5 seconds. Jason Finta also finished in the top 10 out of more than 200 runners. Jason clocked 15:53, becoming only the 7th runner in Whitney history to break 16 minutes in a 3-mile race. Josh Tajiri finished 15th in 16 minutes flat. Aidan Redding and Jacob Harbert both finished in the top 40 to round out our scoring. Top runners Austin Vasquez and Brenden Jacoby were managing tempo paces for the purpose of not over-racing in the young season.
To illustrate how strong our mens team is this year, here is the Top 20 Whitney all-time list for 3 miles. Half of the best runners in school history are currently setting marks on the team. Notice that with Ryan and Teo, we even have some lower classmen racing at historic paces. (Ethan is a senior; that “11” is incorrect)
