Whitney XC headed into the post-season with some high-level goals. Among them was to qualify all 7 squads for Section Championships … and we did!!! Only two other large school programs in all of the SJS were able to achieve this, so we’re super proud of the 5-month commitment and work ethic of our XC student athletes.
Our very strong freshman boys team was first to race, and first to win. With a dominant performance of 7 runners in the top 20 overall, Whitney outscored 2nd place Lodi by more than 50 points. The usual trio up front … Mateo Delgadillo, Cole Jamieson, and Fekadu Cantrell (2nd, 4th, and 6th) was followed closely by Brandon Olah just 6 seconds back, then Callum Turner, Nick Herrmann, and Jaden Rapp only about 20 seconds later.
Next was the sophomore boys, once again led by Ryan Hart with a 5th place finish. James Bowen continues to impress, finishing 17th out of 200 runners. Charlie Gioia had his best race in awhile and was in the top 30, followed closely by Connor Jacoby and Levi Chadwick, both of whom rose up and ran extremely well.
We have an exciting group of frosh soph girls who continued their trajectory of improvement by grabbing 5th place as a team. The freshman power trio of Tyler Williams (15th overall), Emma Martinez, and Mariana Blanding anchored the effort, all finishing in the top 40 out of 200 runners. Sydney Woolley is quickly improving, closing the gap on our top 3. Hailey Kelly, Rachel Tajiri, Ashlyn Fujioka, Ashanti Elie, Emma Carlson, and Jane Sherman were all very close at the finish, demonstrating great depth, and a glimpse into the future of Whitney girls cross country!
The JV boys race produced a very exciting result. Aidan Ransford and Jacob Harbert, who ran “the Whitney way” by paying attention to pace–not place–early on. Neither was in the top 30 before the mountain, but emerged from the baseball fields 1st and 2nd. And that’s how they finished. Keep in mind that for the JV races, D1 and D2 are combined, so Aidan and Jacob were the top 2 JV runners of all large schools. Aidan Redding raced very well too, placing 10th. Rising up as our 4th man, in a very gutsy effort, was senior Cade Schwab.
Our JV girls squad was the one that was going to have the hardest time qualifying for section finals, especially since we decided to rest Bella Nijmeh, one of our scoring JV runners. It meant that 4-year senior Emily Britt would have to fill the gap. We had a nice tight pack of four with Haley Bedrin, Emily Peterson, Olivia Sauer, and Katelynne Finta. This was a case of “no low sticks”, as we had nobody in the top 40, but four runners in the top 50, which meant scoring-wise we were still in it. Emily Britt ran a solid race as our final scorer, ensuring a 40-point margin over Oakmont for the 6th and final spot to advance to section finals.
In a way, our varsity girls faced a similar predicament. Not in the sense of qualifying for finals, but in looking at the bigger prize of trying to qualify for state. For most of the season, our varsity girls have been seeded 4th in D2. Three very powerful teams are ranked ahead of Whitney, and deservedly so, as they are each dominant teams. We needed to finish no worse than 4th to feel like we can be in contention, and with top runner Grace Lathrop not racing, it was good to see we were able to hold that spot and stay close til we can hopefully put out a full effort at finals. Freshman Katie Kopec continues to impress, finishing 8th overall in a field stacked with established talent. Senior Brooke Giorgi placed 14th, and Jessica Becker emerged as a solid 3rd runner to ensure the 4th place team finish. We are on the outside looking in, and it will come down to which teams can handle the beast that is the Willow Hills course next Saturday.
And then there’s our varsity boys. For the top teams in this race, it’s generally not an all-out effort at Frog Town, as the section standings are not official til we get the section championship results. Still, the competition at Frog Town is indicative of how finals may unfold. Austin Vasquez and Ethan Dodge ran a controlled race, emerging to the front in the final stretch, and in a special moment joined hands at the finish in a show of solidarity as training partners for the past 4 years. Austin and Ethan have been an elite 1-2 for Whitney since they were underclassmen helping establish a Whitney mystique. Fittingly, Josh Tajiri and Brenden Jacoby were our 3rd and 4th runners, ensuring 1st place as a team. So although we mix around varsity runners for different paces and different purposes, when it’s all said and done, these four young men have been the face of Whitney distance for the past 4 years, and deserve a little extra attention as they begin to wrap up their careers. What a joy it has been to work with these guys and to see their development since they were freshmen running varsity. We only have a couple more opportunities to witness this group, which has proven to be the greatest in Whitney history. They have collectively set a standard that will carry for years to come in the Whitney Distance tradition.
Next up is, of course, Section Championships. It is the grand finale for all runners except top varsity teams and individuals who earn a berth to the state meet. We will see the same teams and individuals this Saturday at Willow Hills in Folsom as we saw at Frog Town, just a lot fewer, as only the best advance. The Wildcats had a very good showing at Sub-Sections, historical in fact, but no final prizes are handed out at Frog Town. Those come Saturday at Willow Hills. Let’s go Wildcats!