Willow Hills Reservoir (Folsom, CA)
Our XC team competed for the first time in the Sierra Foothill League (SFL) this past Wed 9/19. We have been in the Capital Valley Conference (CVC) in recent years, which is one of the toughest leagues in the section for distance teams. The SFL is considered to be at least as tough. But our runners were up to the task as Whitney almost swept all four races … winning frosh soph girls, frosh soph boys and varsity girls, and tying varsity boys. We knew Rocklin was going to be very tough for varsity boys, as they are the defending D2 section champs.
With the odd format of overlapping races, it was very difficult to see each race unfold. We had a couple instances where the blending of runners from two races at once possibly affected the outcome. Haley Bedrin and Emily Peterson worked persistently to the front of the frosh soph girls race, but it was hard to tell what place they were in until looking at the results and seeing Haley was only 2 seconds from the winner. I believe that each race needs to be run on its own, featuring only the runners in that race. All of the runners deserve to compete on a course that is their own. Other than that oddity, the meet seemed to be a very positive experience.
Frosh Soph Girls
As already mentioned, Haley Bedrin finished 2nd, and Emily Peterson was 4th, leading the young lady Wildcats to a convincing team win. Hailey Kelly, Isabel Simmons, and Olivia Sauer all finished in the top 12, assuring a very strong score for our top 5. And with Bianca Gill, Cassidy Ransford, Cailin Fitzgerald, and Ashlyn Fujioka all finishing in the top 20, nine of the first 20 runners across the line were in maroon and gold. Zoe Cook, Miranda Morrar, Alicia Chiang, Skylar Jones, and Anna Giorgi all completed a squad that came away with the convincing win.
Frosh Soph Boys
Our young boys patiently worked their way through the pack, and by the end had sealed a victory by more points than even our young ladies, placing first by nearly 30 points. Leading the charge was overall winner Tyler Hawkins. Three of his teammates finished in the top 6 … Byron Chadwick, Malachai Amore, and Ryan Hart. Aidan Ransford was 16th to seal a very strong scoring 5.
Varsity Girls
In one of the upsets of the day, Whitney girls outscored Del Oro to take first as a team. We knew going in that Oak Ridge and Granite Bay were very tough, and that DO had some faster times than our early season results. Our ladies each raced very well on Wednesday, and will have to do even better at league championships next month. Del Oro’s freshman phenom Riley Chamberlain won by a full minute, as expected (one of the top runners in the state). But we have a strong freshman group of our own. Grace Lathrop, a freshman who we moved up to varsity, finished a solid 2nd all alone, as she wasn’t challenged beyond the mid-point of the race. Junior Brooke Giorgi ran an outstanding race, beating several girls who normally would finish ahead of her. Brooke took 3rd, less than 20 seconds behind Grace, and was a huge reason Whitney won. Kirsten Ransford and Natalie Eppler (one of our strong freshmen) used the buddy system to catch opponents and both finished in the top 10. Sophomores Jessica Becker and Grace Pierce also used the buddy system, crossing the line 20 seconds later, and sealing the deal on a winning team score.
Varsity Boys
The other upset was Whitney varsity boys sparring with section top-seeded Rocklin to an even result. We tied the Thunder, and were within a couple seconds in four different spots at the finish of defeating the defending SFL and SJS (Sac Joaquin Section) Champs. Ethan Dodge and Austin Vasquez once again teamed up to do battle with the front pack, and came away with a 3rd and 4th place finish respectively. Rising sophomore phenom Jason Finta ran a spectacular race, closing on Rocklin’s 3rd runner and finishing just a few seconds back. Brenden Jacoby and Jacob Harbert held on to secure the unexpected tie score with Rocklin.
We have about 5 weeks to continue training and prepare to face these 5 teams again in the SFL League Championships. Our goal will be to ensure our advantage in the 3 divisions we won, and for our varsity boys to beat Rocklin for a league title. Lots of work to do yet …
Here is a look at the PR’s of our athletes who raced the same distance at Willow Hills last year and this year for objective comparison. We had 26 athletes who competed on the same course at their same distance exactly one year prior when the CVC league meet was at Willow Hills. Of those 26, twenty improved on their time. And this is not counting a few runners who moved up from the 2-mile distance to 5K, who all improved.
