SFL 2020 CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Superbowl of this modified cross country season was the SFL Finals this past Friday at Wm Jessup. It was a fitting end to the season as our first league dual meet was at Jessup. So not only was the championship meet our first time with all teams racing at once, but it was a good opportunity to objectively measure each runner’s and team’s progress over the past 6 weeks, being that it was the exact same course (not to mention very similar weather, albeit a bit windy).

Each of our 4 squads performed very well at championships, securing the highest reasonable result given each squad’s position in league standings heading into finals…

Frosh soph girls had an outside chance of winning a league title, but Granite Bay was too tough. Still, our girls ran really well and claimed 2nd overall in the SFL. All season long, Sophie Bowen led the ‘Cats and Friday was no different, as she broke up Granite Bay’s top 5 by finishing behind their 2nd runner. Tyler Williams came on with a late season surge and finished as our #2 runner, also breaking up the Grizzlies’ top 5. Katie Hart, Ashanti Elie, and Mikaela Pock ensured our front five was in the top 16. Just a few seconds later came Taylor Bettencourt, who was one of our most improved runners over the season. Maddie Kelly, Emma Carlson, and Zoe Cloud continued the maroon wave. Congratulations young ladies on 2nd place in the SFL!

With all 6 teams coming together for the first time, there’s no telling what new factors that may present in a race. Would our frosh soph boys be able to continue to dominate? No doubt. Not only did they win convincingly, but their margin of victory timewise was larger than the combined results from the dual meets. Whitney got 5 runners across the line in the top 7 overall, with an incredible range of only 18 seconds. Noah Lopez, who dropped his time on the course by a full minute, has been running amazingly lately, finished 2nd overall. Jaden Rapp, David Hurren, Anthony Berg, Perry Hutchinson, Joel Tajiri, and Aidan Barkve crossed the line with only a few seconds between each. Whitney had 5 of the top 7 and 7 of the top 11. Brendan Whitmore was next, and was ahead of every other team’s 5th runner, with Noah Reed right behind him. Corbin Peek, Peyton Boyd, Landon Wibbeler, and Michael Payan were the next maroon pack to cross. Tyler Herceg, Akanis Surapak (huge improvement over these 6 weeks), and Charlie Peek wrapped up the dominant Whitney performance. Congratulations frosh soph boys for winning the SFL League Title for the 3rd consecutive year!

Varsity girls had the pleasure of competing against three of the top 5 teams in the entire section. Finishing 3rd in this league is an admirable accomplishment. Katie Kopec was able to finish in the top 10, which was not easy in this elite field. Ava Kopec was just outside of the top 10. Haley Bedrin continued her meteoric rise as our 3rd runner; Haley improved by more than 3 minutes over her time on this course just 6 weeks ago. Grace Scott, who ran a full minute faster than last time, was right with Haley, both in the top 20. Jessica Becker, still recovering from her auto accident, and Kirsten Ransford crossed the line together in under 22 minutes. Mariana Blanding, Natalie Eppler, and Grace Pierce worked as a pack to finish in the top 30. Rachel Tajiri, Kylee Wibbeler, and Olivia Sauer were the next maroon group, followed by Hailey Kelly, Cailin Fitzgerald, and Ashlyn Fujioka, all improving on their previous time at Jessup. Cassidy Ransford, Anna Giorgi, and Alicia Chiang all improved as well, with Cassidy showing the biggest leap, improving by over 4 minutes. Congratulations ladies on finishing 3rd in a very tough league.

The final race of the season was varsity boys. Even though our guys were undefeated, the margin of victory in those 5 wins was not quite as resounding as their younger teammates. Whitney’s pacing strategy worked as well as usual, but it didn’t take shape in the first mile. Midway through the race, Whitney was still not ahead on points. But in the final mile, our guys made up more than 20 points, putting 5 scorers in the top 13, which was pretty consistent with the combined result all season long. So as the competition got faster, Whitney got faster too, maintaining the gap. Usual leaders Byron Chadwick and Jason Finta climbed into the top 10 around the midpoint, then continued advancing to top 5 at the finish. Teo Delgadillo became such a key part of the success of this varsity squad this season, crossing the line in the top 10, with Aidan Ransford and Ryan Hart ensuring our scoring 5 was done in the top 13, with a phenomenal team spread of only 45 seconds. Cole Jamieson, as our 6th man, displaced the scoring of every other team in the league, finishing 20th, and very importantly, ahead of all other teams’ 5th man. Rocklin got their 5th man in, and then Nick Herrmann displaced all remaining teams’ scorers. Hunter Schwab, James Bowen, Brandon Olah, Callum Turner, and Charlie Gioia all got in before the 7th man on every team except 2nd place Rocklin, showing how strong and deep Whitney is, that any of these runners would be front 7 varsity on most good teams in the area. Connor Jacoby, Luca Ruscica, Levi Chadwick, Max Sommerhauser, and Dylan De Valk all improved on their times from SFL #1 just 6 weeks ago. This undefeated season marks the third consecutive SFL League Title for Whitney Varsity Boys. Congratulations guys!

There’s more to the season than gunning for league titles. We always say we want to make this experience meaningful for every runner in the program. Whether in front and scoring points or further back in the pack, one thing all of our runners have in common is wanting to get faster. So it is a primary goal of our coaching staff to help each individual runner get faster. There is no team anywhere that can achieve that 100%, but it doesn’t make the goal any softer.

There are many ways to gauge progress in a distance program. It is difficult to objectively measure improvement in cross country, as each course presents different variables. But again, the bookends of our season were Jessup for SFL #1, and then Jessup for the finale. So this provides a very clear “pre” and “post” segment to analyze. How did Whitney Distance do for that 6-week mesocycle of training? Very well!

Of our 63 athletes, all of whom ran at least once at Jessup, 51 of them ran the same distance twice (either the 2 mile course, or the 5K both times)
Forty-four of those 51, or 86%, ran faster at the championships than at SFL #1
The average improvement among those 44 runners was a very substantial 57 seconds, ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes, which includes quite a few top 7 scorers (from both frosh soph 2-mile and varsity 5K) who really optimized our team’s outcome at the championship

As we often say, when we are fortunate enough to welcome a freshman into our program, we don’t just see a 4-month season, we see a 4-year career. No question it takes patience and diligence to trust the process. Just as much as we have many runners experience higher than average achievement, our program needs high character student athletes to make that happen. It’s why we hold such rigid standards. We know that the young runners who are of a character to commit to their fellow runners in this program are exactly who we need in order to have a chance at these lofty achievements. Yes, we demand a lot, but yes, the runners we have who can handle that demand are the reason for the success of the Whitney Distance program.

Take a look at the improvements of these 44 runners. This is just one narrow glimpse of a much broader view of how we progress our runners. A big THANK YOU to all parents and drivers for getting these runners to the various practice locations and supporting the team so positively. Most of all, thank you to our runners for being of such strong character during a very trying season.

Congratulations to every Whitney distance runner.