The postseason always begins with Subsections the week after SFL League Finals. This meet is the biggest meet of the season, at least in terms of sheer size (Section Finals is the biggest meet in terms of significance). There are about 180 schools in the Sac-Joaquin Section, and most of them have a cross country team, or at least some runners; all runners in the section compete at Subsections, generally over 3000 athletes. Top 10 varsity teams and top 6 for all other divisions advance to Section Finals. One of our main goals for each cross country season is to qualify 7 squads–the maximum possible–for section championships. Whitney has done it before, and this year it was achieved convincingly as not only did each squad advance, but each squad placed no worse than 4th place!
Varsity Girls
The varsity ladies race was the first to be featured at subsections this year. No prizes are won at this meet; the important thing is to qualify for the next round. Our girls “packed up” and worked together to patiently position themselves in good scoring position. Seniors Karissa Chamberlain, Ava Kopec, and Grace Scott, and sophomore Jane Landon impressed many onlookers who commented on their poise as they all crossed together within a second, and all four in the top 8. Sophomores Addi Ewers and Sophie Hutchinson came in soon after, neither feeling 100%, but managing the challenging hilly course very well. Even with the controlled effort, the team finished with the top score by nearly 40 points, and achieved the fastest team time of all teams in the combined result, regardless of division. Nothing to be complacent about though as Granite Bay ran similarly in control and will present a tough challenge for our girls at Section Championships. Our two teams have been the top two in section rankings since the beginning of the season, so it should be a good contest this coming Saturday.
Varsity Boys
Next up was varsity boys. With Jesuit now in D2, grappling for the top spot in the division is suddenly much more difficult. And shooting for a top 3 spot to earn a state berth feels now like there are only two spots available. Vacaville has been challenging Jesuit all season, so they are very tough. Whitney seems to be in a scrum with Rocklin and Bella Vista, and don’t count out Granite Bay which has risen steadily this season. Although subsections is not the main event, it does begin to confirm who the top contenders will be at championships. For this race, senior David Hurren paced off the lead runners to finish a controlled 11th place. Fellow seniors Ty Ertel and Noah Lopez took care of business, each managing top 30, while Perry Hutchison and Noah Reed paired up for 41st and 42nd. Junior Jackson Geiselman and senior Joel Tajiri, neither racing at 100%, held back but still ran well in preparation for next Saturday. The team placed a solid 4th to comfortably advance, setting up a much anticipated duel with Vacaville, Rocklin, Bella Vista, and Granite Bay.
JV Boys
In recent years as the Whitney program has gotten stronger, depth has been a positive by-product, and our JV squads have more regularly been near the top. Our JV boys squad is composed of several boys who could easily contribute as strong scorers on most varsity squads in the region. Senior Landon Wibbeler is showing his best improvement this year, and broke up the scoring of Jesuit and Davis, going 17:38 for a top 10 finish to lead his team. Junior Maxwell Bowen rose up and surged past many runners to finish 30th. Senior Peyton Boyd ran as solid as always as our #3 runner, and juniors Connor Rekers and much-improved Aaron Humphries weren’t far behind to both finish in the top 50. A trio of juniors, Victor Needham, Tyler Nordquist, and Jack Regan came in close together followed by Daniel Cho and Om Patel who supported the front runners. Our depth was complete with seniors Akanis Surapak, Carter McBride, and Caden Martin. The team placed 4th in what developed as a tenuous outcome after the top 3 powerhouse teams (Jesuit, Davis, Vacaville) decidedly left only 3 spots remaining for qualification. But the ‘Cats took care of business and will compete at Section Finals.
JV Girls
For our upper class girls, it’s not just our varsity line-up that is racing at a high level. After our top 7, the next few runners would be strong, scoring runners on almost every other varsity team in the section. And so it stands to reason that with varsity level runners in the JV race, our JV girls should score pretty well. In fact, these girls’ team time, transposed into the varsity race, would place 8th and qualify for Section Finals as a varsity squad. Junior Izzy Soto, with much varsity experience, won comfortably. Senior Sophie Bowen, also a veteran varsity runner, was 4th. Juniors Lexi Kool and Mandy Rao were 5th and 8th, followed by senior Kaylee Holyoak finishing 10th. Senior captain Taylor Bettencourt finished well in the top 30, bouncing back from the league meet where she was not feeling well, and junior Mykenzie Holyoak finished 37th out of nearly a hundred runners. The team placed 1st and looks ready to shoot for a championship next Saturday.
Frosh Soph Girls
With solid sophomore runners and a good group of freshman girls, the Whitney girls program is a force to be reckoned with on all sides. Similar to our top JV girls being varsity caliber, our top frosh soph girls would be very competitive, even in a varsity race. Freshman Eva Soto, who scooted through league competition undefeated, now had over 30 teams to battle with, not just five. Eva is very patient as a runner, and every bit as tough; so she gauged the start, then worked her way up to the front and gapped the field for a convincing win. Sophomore Ava Hurren did what she has done at each league meet, and placed 5th. Freshman Camryn Mougeotte, learning quicker than most how to pace also finished in the top 10. Sophomore Rae Britton came in 14th just about 20 seconds later, followed by fast-rising freshman Abigail Speck, who scored as our 5th runner in 20th place. The freshman duo of Kylee Barrett and Teaghanne Mahaffey were just about a half minute behind Abigail in 31st and 32nd out of a hundred runners for a formidable front 7. Sophomores Inessa Maldonado and Addy Lee and freshmen Zoey Rigdon, Lara de Valk, and Mikayla Yanni strengthened the team result, all getting in with still many runners on the course, all working together for a 2nd place team finish.
Soph Boys
Last year, the sophomore boys as freshmen were a very strong squad. That can be deceiving though, as some programs will move their top freshmen up to strengthen their sophomore squad. And so sophomore squads are typically more bolstered than freshman squads. How would our sophomores do at Frogtown? Johann Gothold seems to be back on his progression, having significantly closed the gap on the very talented Vacaville group; their dynamic front 3 went 1-2-3, but Johann was less than a hundred meters back and finished 9th. Davis Little, still managing a persistent I-T Band issue, ran well to place in the top 20. It was clear Jesuit and Vacaville were going to dominate, but the Wildcats were positioning well against all the other top teams. Tyler Crabtree and Simon Aragoza climbed many runners to cross the line in the top 30, and with Maximus Kotte finishing within 10 seconds of them, our score was looking to be pretty strong. James Totaro and Keaton McDermott were in just a few seconds later for a solid top 45 for our front 7. Nathan Olah and Connor Groff showed there’s no weakness on this squad as they got in less than 15 seconds later. A great performance by our sophomore boys among a very strong field of contenders. Whitney held off the other teams for a 3rd place result.
Frosh Boys
It’s always good to know when we have a solid group of freshmen. It makes for a comfortable sense that “we’ll be fine for a while”. This group of young men certainly provides that dynamic. We’ve had a solid front group of freshmen who’ve helped the frosh soph boys all season, including earning league runner-up just a week ago. But for the postseason, it’s a freshman-only race. Once again, Vacaville would be among the dominant teams, as they currently have maybe the most strength and depth in the younger squads other than usual Jesuit. The Wildcats attack began with Luka Roganovic running very tough to crack into the top 10 for 9th place. Next was Ethan Speck in 16th, followed by surprising 3rd man Evan Leman, running perhaps his best race of the season to finish 22nd. Also rising up when it mattered most was Liam Powers in 30th. Usual top 3 Wildcat Zachary Downing had to deal with a side stitch as the race developed, but still managed 34th, with Matthew Byard finishing alongside just a half second later. Sam Dalmau, a consistent front 7 runner, once again served as our 7th man as Michael Matthews raced well to finish just behind. Cameron Holyoak, Maddock Su, and Irving Birmingham rounded out the team, which finished an impressive 3rd place, just a few points behind 2nd place Bella Vista. We’ll see if the ‘Cats can catch the Broncos at Section Finals.
Section Championships will be held at Willow Hills Reservoir at Folsom High School on Saturday, November 11th. The large school programs (D1 and D2) will compete in the afternoon races. For Section Championships, each squad must be trimmed down to the top 7, meaning the season is over for some runners. Section Finals marks the end of the season for everyone else, except possibly for our varsity, which each has a chance to earn a berth to the state meet.