The 2022 cross country season kicked off with the Sierra Invitational this past Saturday. The format of the meet is a bit unusual, as each race is by grade. Medals were awarded to the top 10 finishers in each of the 8 races. Team scoring was affected by how many teams could actually field 5 runners in a race. Whitney, being a larger program, was able to score in every race except the senior girls, where we only have 3 on the roster. But overall, Whitney had a very solid showing in terms of both team and individual performances.
Being that Whitney was hosting the meet, our runners all lined up on the 3rd start line to allow all other runners to begin up front. This was not only a nice gesture, but a nice opportunity for our runners to practice moving up and weaving through traffic mid-race.
In all, there were 58 Whitney runners who completed the 2 mile race course. Of the 8 races, Whitney won the team competition in 6 of them, and we had 3 individual winners (Katie K, Ava K, and Noah L). Twenty-two of our returning runners hit a Sierra course PR over last year’s time, and 11 of our newcomers ran faster at Sierra than at the 2-mile time trial just two weeks ago. This is significant improvement because Sierra is a much tougher 2-mile course.
Freshman Girls
The meet began, as did the season, with the crack of the gun at 8am with freshman girls. Jane Landon, who was 4th overall at our time trial regardless of grade, positioned herself near the front and settled in. She finished 2nd in the race, 43 seconds faster than her time trial. Addison Ewers and Sophie Hutchinson each did a masterful job of climbing from the back, methodically passing runners and eventually finishing in the top 10 (8th and 9th respectively). Sophie managed a 35-second improvement over her time trial. Jane, Addison, and Sophie each earned a top 10 medal. Kayla Mougeotte finished in the top 20 and scored as our 4th runner. Rae Britton was not far behind, completing our scoring and running over a minute faster than her time trial. Natalie Holthe and Joy McBride raced and finished near each other, with Natalie beating her time trial by 51 seconds. But among all the runners showing early season improvement, nobody had a bigger leap than Inessa Maldonado, who is quickly discovering how good of a runner she is by running more than 5 minutes faster than just two weeks ago. Whitney’s freshman girls won the team competition by 15 points.
Freshman Boys
After the girls, the boys toed the line. Just like Addison and Sophie, Maximus Kotte and Johann Gothold placed 8th and 9th, each earning medals. In a race with over 120 runners, getting two in the top 10 is outstanding. Less than a minute later, 3 more Wildcats crossed the line. Tyler Crabtree, Nathan Olah, and Davis Little went 26th, 28th and 31st respectively, boosting Whitney’s scoring. Nathan cleared his time trial by 37 seconds. Just a few steps later, showing great team depth, another 3 Wildcats finished in a cluster. Lucca Bianotti, Keaton McDermott, and Simon Araguza went 46th, 47th, 48th respectively, with Keaton hitting a 19-second PR. Less than a minute later came Christian Clark to place in the top half of the field. James Totaro and Jack Sponder finished together ahead of 30 runners. Jack’s two mile time was 23 seconds faster than the time trial. With 11 runners, Whitney’s depth helped the Wildcats edge a powerful St. Mary’s squad by a mere 2 points to take first in team scoring.
Sophomore Girls
There were six Wildcats in the sophomore girls race. Talented Shay Waters led the way for the Lady ‘Cats, placing 5th (exactly her spot last year at this meet), and earned a top 10 medal. Shay was one of only five of our runners to beat both her previous Sierra time and her time trial time. Alishia Elie and Izzy Soto used the buddy system to work their way up to top 20, just a half minute behind Shay. Alishia ran 51 seconds faster than her time trial, while Izzy had a 46-second PR over her Sierra time last season. Also using the buddy system were Eliana Nichols and Manaswin Kotte. Manaswin PR’d by almost a minute and a half. Mykenzie Holyoak was another of only five Whitney runners to improve on both last year’s Sierra race and the recent time trial, including a 21-second PR. The Whitney sophomore girls kept the team winning streak alive by taking first in the team competition, beating one of the best D1 programs in the area in Oak Ridge by 14 points.
Sophomore Boys
Last year at the Sierra Invitational, our freshman boys placed 5th out of 7 teams in a race with fewer than 100 runners. And that was with Cody Wagner, an outstanding soccer player who ran XC for a season and placed 5th in that race a year ago. If there’s a story of “team improvement”, it can certainly be told through this group of young runners one year later. Other than Cody, in 2021 Whitney had no runner in the top 50 that day. Fast forward to this year, the same group of last year’s freshman runners now sophomores, this meet now had over 120 boys in the race, including not only more runners and more teams, but more competitive teams. How did our boys do? Starting with Tyler Kubota, who was 53rd place in 2021, he placed 25th, running nearly 3 minutes faster on Saturday. Victor Needham was 55th last year, but 41st on Saturday, a full two minutes faster. Jack Regan was 65th in 2021, and 57th this year, also two minutes faster. The 2022 team added first year sophomore Connor Rekers (who joined the distance team for track as a freshman), and was able to pace with Victor and cross the line in 43rd, and Brady Quinn who was right with the guys last year, finished right with the guys this year, also about two minutes better. Rounding out this year’s squad was newcomer Daniel Cho, adding depth and able to finish ahead of still a couple dozen runners in the race. So how did the team do in 2022? Fourth place out of 12 teams, and just 4 points out of 3rd place. Again, many factors predicated what should have been a lesser result, but this group of young men has been among the most committed in the program, and it’s paying off.
Junior Girls
As the temperature rose, so did the competition. It was time for the upper class runners to take the course, starting with junior girls. In 2021, Ava Kopec crossed the line in 1st in the sophomore race, and the outcome was the same in 2022 as a junior. Ava did have to deal with a bit of a challenge by a very strong Rio Americano runner who finished just one second back. Also challenging Ava, in one of the best Whitney performances of the day, was rising sensation Grace Scott, also just about a second behind Ava. It was almost a 1-2 finish for Whitney. Grace was one of the five runners on the team to improve on both her time trial and her Sierra 2021 time, crushing last year’s race time by 40 seconds. That’s a significant margin for a runner who was already performing at a high level a year ago. Sophie Bowen was the 3rd Whitney runner to earn a medal, placing 10th and hitting a 34-second PR over last year’s mark. And using the buddy system, Kaylee Holyoak and Taylor Bettencourt ensured all Whitney scorers managed top 25, and played a big part in helping the team edge state program Rio Americano by 6 points to win the team competition.
Junior Boys
One of our strongest squads is this group of now-junior boys. They were section champions in the D2 sophomore race last November, and were part of consecutive league championships in the ultra-competitive SFL. If there was a squad to predict might come away with a team win, this would be the one, and they took care of business, even with SFL frosh soph league champion Brendan Whitmore still patiently working through a year-long case of Osgood-Schlatter. There were four maroon jerseys in the top 10 coming away with medals, starting with sensational Noah Lopez, who also won the sophomore race at Sierra 2021. David Hurren, the lone underclassman to advance past SFL Finals in track to Divisionals just a few months ago, placed 4th. Joel Tajiri and Noah Reed went 9th and 10th respectively, each coming back nicely from a bit of a lull during summer conditioning. Noah beat both his time trial time and his 2021 Sierra time. Rising up as our 5th man in that epic Section Championship a year ago was Peyton Boyd, who once again came through as that all-important 5th and final scorer with a near-minute PR. Not far behind was training partner Landon Wibbeler, who also PR’d by nearly a full minute. Joey Gloria was next for Whitney, whose 14:01 was a 2-minute improvement over any two mile race he ran in 2021. Five more runners crossed the line within 12 places of each other. Returner Akanis Surapak led his teammates with an 85-second improvement on his time trial. First year juniors Owen Hinkelman, Caden Martin, and Danial Malji added to the depth of this powerful squad. And Carter McBride showed the largest year to year gain on the Sierra 2-mile course, with a 3+minute improvement, more than any other Whitney runner. Our junior boys won their race by nearly 20 points.
Senior Girls
The one squad that has fewer than 5 runners, and therefore could not score as a team, is our senior girls. But two ladies ran incredibly well. Star runner Katie Kopec calmly worked her way to the front of the pack and cruised to a comfortable victory in a PR time that nearly broke 12 minutes. Also running a terrific race was our only other senior girl in the meet, Gillian Kingery. Gillian nearly cracked into the top 25, finishing in 26th place, still ahead of more than half the field. Congratulations to both ladies for running fast times in the growing heat.
Senior Boys
The final race of the day was run by the senior boys. Similar to our junior boys, this squad has earned many accolades. This group won two consecutive SFL League Titles in the frosh soph division. They also claimed a section title in the D2 freshman race in 2019. And this group was the largest contingent of our 2021 varsity team that qualified for the state meet. We figured they might have a strong showing at this kick-off event. In the end, Whitney would put 7 runners in the top 26, a dominant effort for any race with more than a few teams. Mateo DelGadillo, Nick Herrmann, and Callum Turner worked together in the early stages of the race, with Mateo and Nick eventually finishing 4th and 6th respectively to walk away with medals. Callum wasn’t far behind in 12th and Dario Ruscica, in maybe one of the 3 top performances of the day by a Whitney runner, climbed all the way up to 14th. All four of these top runners hit PR’s by at least 20 seconds each. Just 6 seconds behind Dario was Jaden Rapp, rounding out our scoring 5 in an impressive 15th place. But the maroon wave didn’t ease up, as still in the top 20 came Aidan Barkve, also hitting a nice PR. Brandon Olah was our 7th man just a few places later. Tyler Herceg rounded out the squad, running tough to finish ahead of more than a dozen runners. Worth noting is that 6th and 7th runners Aidan and Brandon would have been no worse than 3rd man on every other team at the Sierra Invitational. This is a testament to how strong our senior boys are. And the fact that they won the team scoring by 60 points.
At Whitney Distance, we always say we are a “Mayvember Team”, meaning we focus on May in track and November in cross country. During championship season is when we want to run our best. Running well in the early part of the season is a bonus, and so we celebrate our runners for their early season achievements. Lots of wins, lots of medals, lots of PR’s. What’s also very special about this team is the positive energy and support for one another. This is very evident with the runners we have who come out of summer conditioning with commitment and dedication, undeterred by the rigor of our sport. Whitney Distance wouldn’t have it any other way. Round One is in the books. Let’s look forward to a 2022 season that should be full of surprising stories and accomplishments.