We like to call ourselves a “Mayvember Team” meaning our focus is to be peaking during championships at the end of each cross country season (November) and track season (May).
Every year we have previous postseasons to draw from, in terms of a plethora of stories, accomplishments, and references that speak of how the maroon and gold rises up when it counts most. But when the current season is upon us, there’s no guarantee that we will reach that standard at the current time. A quick glance at any race results from the 2024 Section Championships will begin to tell a new story of how much our Whitney runners rose up yet again.
One way we measure this objectively is to see if we beat our ranking coming in, or at least meet it. The answer is “yes”, all of our squads improved from regular season data, including from Subsections to Sections…
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Both of our Freshman boys placed higher at Sections than at Subsections, and each ran course PR’s
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Frosh Soph Girls were 2nd at Subsections, and became Section Champions, with a much improved team time on the Willow Hills course
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Sophomore Boys were 3rd by 4 pts at Subsections, placed 2nd at Sections by 6 pts, with a team time that was minutes–not just seconds–faster
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Varsity Boys were 7th at Subsections, then 5th at Sections, with PR’s by all 7 runners averaging over a minute improvement per runner
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Varsity Girls were 1st at Subsections by 38 pts, and won at Sections by 53 pts, hitting a team time that was faster than our 2023 team that went on to place 2nd at state
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JV Boys were 5th at Subsections, 58 pts from 4th, but at Sections came within 5 pts of 4th, with a much improved team time on the Willow Hills course
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JV Girls were 6th in the combined result at Subsections, and at Sections placed 4th, and this was without top runner Rae Britton who had fallen ill and unable to race
And here are some other highlights worth mentioning:
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2 section titles (frosh soph girls, and varsity girls defending their title, making it 3 in a row)
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1 section team runner-up (sophomore boys)
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All 6 Whitney squads placed in the top 5 in their team’s scoring
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Varsity girls made it to state, meaning Whitney has sent a team to the state meet every year since 2016
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2 individual champions (Andy Jimenez-Regalado, Freshman Boys, Abigail Speck Frosh Soph Girls)
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17 individual finishers in the top 20 of their race…
– Andy Jimenez-Regalado (frosh boys)
– Abigail Speck, Izzy Leal, Kylee Barrett, Camryn Mougeotte, Zoey Rigdon, Gemma Scamporrino (frosh soph girls)
– Luka Roganovic, Ethan Speck (sophomore boys)
– Jackson Geiselman (varsity boys)
– Eva Soto, Addi Ewers, Izzy Soto, Jane Landon, Sophie Hutchinson, Kaylee Smith (varsity girls)
– Mandy Rao (JV girls) -
40 out of 44 Whitney runners ran a Willow Hills personal best, with multiple runners either racing sick or just returning from being sick
Freshman Boys
We had two freshman boys advance as individuals from Subsections to the Section Championships, Andy Jimenez-Regalado and Rylan Whitmore. Andy came in 2nd at Subsections and was determined to win at Sections, where he patiently worked his way up to the Jesuit runner who won at Subsections, then after crossing the bridge knowing there was just about 600 meters left, made a decisive move to claim victory. Rylan improved on his 30th place at Subsections to finish 28th and a PR by nearly a full minute.
Frosh Soph Girls
Granite Bay came in first at Subsections while Whitney came in 2nd. So our girls were determined to go for the win at Section Championships. Abigail Speck, who won at Subsections, made good on that by winning again at Sections. Isabel Leal raced with laser focus to beat the top two GB runners, making it a 1-2 finish for Whitney. So that was certainly a great start to claiming a team victory, but it’s all about getting the 5th runner across the line. Kylee Barrett, Camryn Mougeotte, Zoey Rigdon, and Gemma Scamporrino tightened up in a pack to all finish within 6 seconds of each other, all in the top 20. Ava Kruse and Nina Williams were just a few spots back less than half a minute later to round out what was a resounding Whitney victory. Not only did the frosh soph girls make history by being the first-ever Whitney squad to get 8 runners to Section Finals, but it came with a team title!
Sophomore Boys
Whitney’s sophomore boys squad has been among the top teams in the section, and proved it by claiming 3rd place at Subsections. At Sections, team leaders Luka Roganovic and Ethan Speck would need to set a bit of a faster pace up front if the team was to improve on the previous week’s result. And they did just that. Luka, who placed 12th at Subsections, placed 8th at Sections. Ethan went from 18th to 11th. Evan Leman, with a big leap of 13 spots week to week, finished from 36th to 23rd. Lharsen Marquez ran incredibly well at Subsections, ran equally well at Sections to place 27th both times. And really showing what it means to rise up on Championship Saturday, Matthew Byard moved up from 56th at Subsections all the way to 31st at Sections. Cameron Holyoak continued that theme of massive improvement by going from 60th to 39th. Zachary Downing was unfortunately sick on race day, so was unable to bring his best, but was tough enough to toe the line and complete the race in 44th place. But even with a top runner down, Whitney climbed a team spot to overtake Vacaville and place 2nd. Congratulations to our Section Runners-Up, Whitney Sophomore Boys!
Varsity Boys
The 2024 Whitney Varsity Boys team was a unique line-up in that only one member of the 2023 team was returning. The 2023 team was loaded with 6 seniors, plus junior Jackson Geiselman. So in the offseason approaching the 2024 season, Whitney did not appear in top 10 section rankings or hypothetical analyses. Normally, we’d have 2 or 3 varsity returners plus at least 2 or 3 JV runners who were on the cusp of varsity. But for the upcoming 2024 season, only one senior not on the 2023 State Team, Tyler Kubota, seemed in position; so the opportunity for our young runners to earn a varsity spot was wide open. Last year’s top frosh soph runners, Johann Gothold and Davis Little were up to the task of filling in as consistent top 5 scorers. Fellow junior Tyler Crabtree also demonstrated consistency, adding depth to the top 7. For the first time since 2016, a freshman rose up to convincingly land in the top 5; that freshman was Josh Landon, who quietly did a lot of things right to reliably score as a varsity runner. And late in the season, senior Maxwell Bowen had gained enough ground to secure the final roster spot.
It was a season of developing and building, even reshuffling the line-up in a quest to establish a team that would push our highest potential, given the lack of postseason experience. At SFL #1, Whitney placed 7th out of 8, with some ground to make up on the 6th and 5th place teams (Rocklin being among them). After a few cycles of training and early season races, Whitney almost caught Rocklin at Rough Rider in mid-October. And two weeks later at SFL Championships, Whitney moved up enough to place 6th, and to get within 9 points of Rocklin. So going into sections, the conversation was basically if Whitney can overtake Rocklin, that would be the key to making it to the state meet.
So that brings us to the 2024 Section Championship race. It was a no-brainer that #1 CA Jesuit (also top 10 in the nation) would win comfortably, and that #5 CA Vacaville would be 2nd. Not quite as clear, but predictable, Woodcreek with a highly talented line-up of seniors, seemed poised to grab 3rd place. That left 5 teams, all about equal on paper, vying for the 4th and final berth to the state meet. Granite Bay, Rocklin, Vista Del Lago, Bella Vista… and Whitney, after a season of climbing, was finally at least in the conversation.
As the varsity boys D2 race got underway, the first mile revealed no surprises: Jesuit dominating, Vacaville next, and Woodcreek seemingly in 3rd position. By the time the runners returned from the first trip out freeway loop, each of the four teams Whitney needed to beat had their top 3 runners near the front, with Whitney having only Jackson in the mix. No immediate concern though, as our pack was pacing well. Going through the mid-race mat, Whitney was 8th. But typically mid-race is where some shifting and shuffling takes place, and it became clear that although each of our competitor’s top 3 was beating Whitney’s top 3, our depth was beginning to overtake all of theirs. Tyler K and Davis were near the other front 3’s to keep it close, while Johann and Josh were climbing significantly. Tyler C looked to be winning the 6th man battle, which would be critical in a race this tight. Announcer Scott Abbott added to the suspense by announcing multiple times that Jesuit, Vacaville, and Woodcreek secured their spots, but the next 4 was among the closest finishes in section history. As the results came in, only 6 points separated 4 teams. In a heartbreaker for Whitney, Rocklin edged us by 3 points. Jackson beat all Rocklin runners, and Whitney got 5 in (Tyler K, Davis, Josh, Johann) before their 4th, and we got our 6th (Tyler C) in before their 5th, but it also comes down to how the runners from non-contending teams are placing that affects the overall score. In the end, it was so close, only 8-tenths of a second accumulated from 3 different Rocklin runners proved to be the difference. Congratulations to Rocklin as they ran a terrific race and grabbed the 4th and final berth to state. Whitney was 5th, tied with Vista Del Lago, but Tyler C was in well ahead of Vista’s 6th man, which broke the tie. And Granite Bay was only 3 points back in 7th. Whitney got its top 5 across the line before every team other than Jesuit and Vacaville, with our 5th man Johann beating even Woodcreek’s 5th runner, likewise with our 6th man Tyler C.
For a team that was not ranked to be a top 10 section team, it was an incredible season of improving by leaps to be in a position to even battle for a trip to state. The team rose all the way up to elite status, finishing the season as a top 5 section team. At Section Finals when it really mattered most, these boys improved on their Willow Hills best average by over a minute per runner (67 seconds average per runner). Although not making it to the state meet, the 2024 varsity boys team keeps alive a streak of top 5 section finishes by both varsity squads (boys and girls) consecutively beginning in 2016. Whitney is the only program in the entire section to be able to accomplish this, and it was the 2024 varsity boys who rose up and got it done. Congratulations to our top boys on an historic season.
Varsity Girls
Our girls varsity has been ranked #1 in the section for consecutive seasons. Despite losing 3 of our 5 scorers from 2023 to graduation, this 2024 Whitney Girls Varsity Squad has actually outperformed last year’s team in some cases. Senior Izzy Soto and juniors Addi Ewers, Sophie Hutchinson, and Jane Landon have all been part of the previous two section titles. Junior Ava Hurren, sophomore Eva Soto, and freshman Kaylee Smith each left no doubt that they belonged on the reconfigured varsity line-up for the 2024 postseason. Having just defended their SFL title two weeks previously–beating powerful Oak Ridge in the process–would Whitney follow that up with a section win for the 3rd consecutive year? Put another way, if a regular goal of Whitney Distance is to meet or beat the rankings, would our girls be able to reach that goal of validating the #1 ranking?
Other than some individual battles at the front, the outcome of the race seemed evident from the early stages. No Whitney runners would be in the mix for an individual championship, but once the maroon jerseys began to appear, they all began to appear. Eva Soto and Addi Ewers led the way, finishing 7th and 8th. A couple blinks later, Izzy Soto (11th) and Jane Landon (13th) crossed, so 4 Wildcats were in before any other team had more than one. Sophie Hutchinson and Kaylee Smith were both next in the top 20, with Ava Hurren finishing 27th, and all the Whitney runners were in, while no other team had more than two. It was a dominating performance by our varsity girls, winning by more than 50 points. The Whitney Varsity Girls had completed the 3-peat… earning their 3rd consecutive D2 Section Title, and representing the Sac Joaquin Section as the overall top team at the upcoming State Championships.
JV Boys
Similar to the varsity situation, our JV boys traveled through this season looking up at very fast and deep Jesuit, Vacaville, and Davis, among others. Still our goal as always is to push into the top 5 in team scoring. In the JV boys race, from the beginning, those 3 dominant teams occupied most of the top positions. In fact at the end of the race, 15 of the first 17 runners across the line were from one of those 3 schools. The race for 4th and 5th was taking shape beyond those runners. If Subsections results were any indication, Oakdale and Woodcreek would be tough to beat. For Whitney, Simon Aragoza was moving up well and appeared to be near the top 30. Our strength was in the pack that wasn’t that far behind Simon. Aaron Humphries and Tyler Nordquist were within a half a minute of Simon, followed closely by Nathan Olah, Maximus Kotte, Keaton McDermott, and Jack Regan. As with the varsity, our 5th man was in before the Oakdale’s; the difference was their top two runners were well in front and tough to overcome. Oakdale placed 4th, just 5 points better than Whitney. But Whitney still had a chance to beat Woodcreek, whose top two were behind Simon. Aaron came in right after their two, followed by their #3, and the flip-flop continued with Tyler and Nathan getting in before Woodcreek’s #4. Maximus, Keaton, and Jack came in after Woodcreek’s 5th runner, making for a very close finish. Fortunately, Whitney came out two points better to grab 5th place as a team, securing that coveted top 5 standing. Great race, and great effort by our JV boys.
JV Girls
As with a few of our squads, illness was an issue. This was especially true for our JV girls as #1 runner Rae Britton was not able to compete. Losing a #1 no doubt affects team scoring, but our girls still had a shot at top 5 as a team. Mandy Rao was up to the task as the day’s top Wildcat, finishing in the top 20 to begin the Whitney scoring. Inessa Maldonado, running tough, was next in 40th, with Addy Lee and Leah Smith not far behind in the top 50. Cross country newcomers Marina Moreno and Harmony Davey finished strong to complete the team effort, which was good enough for an impressive 4th place. The inspiring effort by a short-handed JV girls squad was a fitting way to end the day, ensuring all Whitney squads placed in the top 5 in team scoring.
Section Championships marks the conclusion of the 2024 Cross Country Season for the majority of runners in the section. The CIF State Championships will take place at Woodward Park in Clovis, where our girls varsity will race in two weeks.