Having done three early season invitationals to kick off the season and help our runners dial into their race day routine, the Whitney Cross Country Team was primed and ready for the first league meet of the season. Performance and outcome mean a little more when it comes to league standings. The SFL is very tough, so for each of our four squads, there’s at least a couple of opposing teams in our league who will make it difficult to finish near the top after league competition ends. For league meets, there is no JV division, so all upper class athletes run the varsity race. Our focus for each of the 4 races is to place no worse than 3rd in team scoring. This sets us up for a “winner-take-all” scenario at league championships at the end of the season.
Frosh Soph Girls
In recent years, Granite Bay has welcomed an influx of talented girls, and for this year that has especially been the case. They are fast and they are deep. So our talking point going in was that the Grizzlies figure to have a lot of runners up front, and our girls will focus on Oak Ridge whom we figured would be the next team to challenge us. On race day as expected, Granite Bay runners were plentiful in the lead pack right away, and so were a couple of Oak Ridge runners. Top Whitney freshman Eva Soto settled into about 30th place, then went to work. By the mile mark, Eva had patiently worked well into the top 10. Sophomores Ava Hurren and Rae Britton, and freshmen Camryn Mougeotte and Kylee Barrett had good position. Eva eventually led all Oak Ridge runners, then hunted down the top GB runners and powered to the finish line to victory. Ava caught all the Oak Ridge runners and all but 3 GB runners to finish 5th. Rae and Camryn each climbed into the top 12 and ahead of all OR runners except one. With Kylee not far behind, it was a certainty that Whitney would beat OR. Sophomores Inessa Maldonado and Addy Lee displaced scorers from all teams except GB. Freshmen Zoey Rigdon, Mikayla Yanni, and Lara de Valk bolstered the Wildcats to a 2nd place team result.
Frosh Soph Boys
Like Granite Bay is to our frosh soph girls squad, Folsom and Oak Ridge are to our boys squad. With two dominant teams ahead of Whitney going in, not to mention a strong young group of boys at GB, our young boys would have the toughest time securing a top 3 team result. Then, as luck would have it, top sophomore Johann Gothold was bowled over by a big unleashed dog the day before the league meet. And fellow top runner, sophomore Davis Little would sit out due to an IT band issue. So on race day, Whitney’s frosh soph boys would need someone to rise up. That runner was sophomore Tyler Crabtree, who tangled with the lead pack and battled for the win all the way to the line where he got an amazing 2nd place. Sophomore Simon Aragoza did solid work to place 12th, which was very much needed. Then, it was up to our top freshmen, Luka Roganovic, Ethan Speck, and Zachary Downing, all fighting to get into the top 20. Sophomore Maximus Kotte pushed in as a solid 6th man for the team. And cracking into the top 7 was sophomore Connor Groff. Sophomores Keaton McDermott, Nathan Olah, and James Totaro came in a pack right behind Connor, before Evan Leman finished, leading a maroon swarm of freshmen… Liam Powers, Sam Dalmau, Matthew Byard, Michael Matthews, Cameron Holyoak, Maddock Su, and Irving Birmingham put Whitney’s depth on full display. With a couple top runners not able to race, Whitney was not able to catch Oak Ridge and Folsom, but with the spirited effort by many in this squad, the ‘Cats grabbed 3rd place, which did not seem likely going in.
Varsity Girls
Last year at this time, our varsity girls were rising while Granite Bay and Oak Ridge were dominant. Finishing top 3 that day seemed doable, but our girls ran so well we actually got 2nd, beating Oak Ridge by 7 points, while finishing within 9 points of uncatchable Granite Bay. Eventually, our girls rose to a section title, followed by a distance track season that was unmatched, so it’s no surprise that the approach to the 2023 league meet has Whitney as the favorite. With senior Karissa Chamberlain having put together a brilliant race in Monterey just 10 days prior, it was expected she was capable of an individual win. So while Karissa fronted the Lady ‘Cats, quite a few maroon jerseys settled into the top 15 on the first loop of the 5K course. Granite Bay’s top two were in the lead pack with Karissa, and there were a lot of Grizzlies in the chase pack at the mile mark. Whitney had a 4-pack, followed by a Granite Bay 4-pack just 6 seconds trailing. On the back loop is where the separation began to take place. Karissa set a strong pace to make the other front runners work hard to hang on. Only GB’s incredible senior Emily Allison was able to compete with Karissa, making for a dramatic two-girl race for the final mile and a half. But in the top 10 is where the points were being made. The maroon swarm was in full gear with senior Ava Kopec ahead of our trio of sophomores–Addi Ewers, Sophie Hutchinson, and Jane Landon–and senior Grace Scott just off their pack. Step by step these incredible ladies distanced themselves from most of the scorers from Granite Bay and Oak Ridge. Karissa and Emily battled step by step til about a quarter mile to go when Karissa was able to pull away to the finish, edging Emily by 3 seconds to take the win. Moving up within the top 10 was Addi, Sophie, Ava, and Grace, with Addi and Sophie finishing strong for 5th and 6th. Grace and Ava were 8th and 9th. The GB scorers, who were just a few seconds back at the mile split, averaged nearly a full minute behind at the finish line. Jane, with a glitchy hip, adjusted her pace and was still able to get in before the pack of Grizzlies. Junior Izzy Soto and senior Sophie Bowen displaced scorers from every team except Granite Bay. Juniors Alishia Elie and Manaswin Rao were next for Whitney, followed by seniors Kaylee Holyoak and Taylor Bettencourt and junior Mykenzie Holyoak all finished ahead of scoring runners from Rocklin and Folsom. An impressive performance by all of our Whitney runners in the varsity girls race. Congratulations to our varsity girls for the team win!
Varsity Boys
Coming into this season, Oak Ridge looked to be the team to beat. With strong juniors last year and an exciting and talented group of frosh soph in 2022, we knew they were coming into 2023 fully loaded. Rocklin, despite losing a top runner to a move out-of-state, came in with a similar story. And so this season figured to be a scrum among Whitney and these two programs. Early season invitationals certainly gave that indication. At SFL#1, Oak Ridge’s Carson Karr took off and never looked back. But usual Whitney frontrunners seniors David Hurren and Noah Lopez took their spot with the other top runners. As the group made its way back to the main area approaching the mile marker, David and Noah were in the top 10 while seniors Joel Tajiri, Ty Ertel, Perry Hutchinson, and Noah Reed, and junior Tyler Kubota were a 5-pack about 15 places later. At this point in the race, Oak Ridge with an aggressive approach was winning with a mere 28 points, Rocklin was more conservative with 76, and Whitney was strategically holding 3rd with 80 points, and Granite Bay just a few points back with 89. On the back loop, the maroon 5-pack splintered a bit as Joel was moving up well; Perry and Tyler used the buddy system to stay in the hunt as our 4th and 5th scorers. David pulled away from the front pack and grew the gap all the way to the finish line, placing an impressive 2nd place. Joel, running his best race of the season, climbed from 22nd place at the mile to 3rd overall, catching and beating every Oak Ridge runner except for the winner. Noah Lopez, coming off illness, toughed out a solid 6th place. Ty, Perry, and Tyler were grinding away trying to catch Oak Ridge’s 4th and 5th, but never quite caught them. They did execute a great race to ensure our 5th runner was in before Rocklin’s 5th, thanks to a nice kick by Ty and a strong final stretch by Perry. Tyler was next, making 6 Wildcats in the top 25, and the first team to get 6 in, which shows Whitney’s depth. Noah Reed finished not far behind, with senior Landon Wibbeler and junior Connor Rekers just a few seconds back, making it 9 ‘Cats in the top 40–better than any other team. Senior Peyton Boyd and juniors Victor Needham and Jack Regan made it 12 ‘Cats in the top 50–also better than any other team. Senior Joey Gloria, plus juniors Brady Quinn, Maxwell Bowen, Tyler Nordquist, and Daniel Cho were the next line of maroon and gold, followed by seniors Akanis Surapak, Carter McBride, and Caden Martin. Junior Om Patel and senior Danial Malji rounded out the maroon assault. From the mile marker, Whitney gained nearly 30 points to finish with 52, just 3 points off of winner Oak Ridge, which relinquished 21 spots for a total of 49 points. While nearly overtaking Oak Ridge, Whitney managed to eclipse Rocklin from down 4 to up 10 at the finish. From this result, it appears Oak Ridge, Rocklin, and Whitney are indeed poised for a showdown at SFL Championships on the final Saturday of October.
At the end of the four races, Whitney’s only victory was varsity girls. But only Oak Ridge and Whitney managed 3rd or better in each of the team results, with Whitney achieving the overall highest placing average at SFL #1. This meet provides a good snapshot of where each team is at the midpoint of the season, but league finals at the end of October is what matters. So just as Whitney can rise up and improve on 2nd or 3rd place, it is just as possible for an opposing team to rise up and bump us down. And with our next two meets being course previews of League Finals and Section Finals respectively, things are starting to get a bit more serious. More work to do in the second half of the season!