It’s hard to believe the regular season is over and we’re already into the postseason. This past Friday, Whitney Cross Country raced in arguably the toughest league final in the north state. The Sierra Foothill League features not only elite level runners, but large numbers of them–quite a few in maroon and gold, we’re happy to say. We consider it fortunate that our program is in this league to compete with the very best.
FROSH SOPH GIRLS
Going into league finals, our frosh soph girls could finish anywhere from 2nd to 4th as a team. We needed a good race from each of our runners, and that’s what we got. Alishia Elie led the way, finishing 5th with a fast new PR of 13:24. The duo of “K2”, Kaylee Holyoak and Katie Hart performed at least as good as expected, both pushing very hard in the final stretch to place as high as 12th and 13th. Really bolstering our scoring was Mallory Turner and Taylor Bettencourt working with each other to get in the top 20. Not far behind was Mandy Rao in 20th and two places later were Sophia Sauer and Mckenzie Holyoak, followed by Brooklynn Casey. With Alishia scoring in the single digits, and then the rest of scorers and displacers packed up in the top 20, Whitney girls finished SFL league competition in 2nd place overall.
FROSH SOPH BOYS
The only time this squad hasn’t won in the last 2 seasons was the first league meet 5 weeks ago. We didn’t just get 2nd, we settled for 3rd that day. But a win at finals would give us enough points and the tie-breaker to beat 1st place Granite Bay and win the league title. As the race started, GB’s lead pack pushed the pace with some Oak Ridge runners up the hill. Midway through the race, Whitney runners were advancing through the pack. We call it the maroon swarm when more than one Whitney runner begins to move up and overtake other runners. As the top GB and Oak Ridge runners began to tire out, David Hurren and Brendan Whitmore led the Wildcats ahead of the opposing runners one by one. With less than half a mile to go, they made the final push past the remaining lead GB runner and surged to the finish line. Running his best race of the season, Perry Hutchinson was working just a few seconds behind and also claimed the top opposing runner to give Whitney a 1-2-3 finish with Brendan, David, and Perry. But as always, it’s where the 5th runner finishes that secures a team result. Noah Reed and Cody Wagner did their job, racing very tough to go 7th and 9th, meaning all 5 scorers were in the top 10. After that, our depth displaced many scorers from other teams. Peyton Boyd and Tyler Kubota, both experiencing a late season surge in performance, placed in the top 25, getting in before the 5th man of half the teams in the race. Victor Needham and Landon Wibbeler were next, in the top 35, followed by a 4-pack of Akanis Surapak, Brady Quinn, Max Bowen, and Charlie Peek. Jack Regan, Aaron Humphries, Carter McBride and Joey Gloria rounded out the great size and depth of our team, and ensured a team win for Whitney. Our frosh soph boys regained their dominance and look to be one of the top teams competing for a section title in the postseason. Congratulations, SFL Champions!
VARSITY GIRLS
We’ve said it all season, and last season too. The SFL on the girls’ side is as powerful as the best leagues in the massive southern section of the state. No question this league is #1 in NorCal and probably beyond. Whitney is in the mix as our team features the top 5K runner in D2, a current team time that is the 3rd fastest in Whitney history, and is ranked 6th in the entire section, all divisions combined. And yet the best we can do in this league is 4th. That’s because Oak Ridge, Granite Bay, and Del Oro are the top 3 teams in the section (with Oak Ridge #3 in the state and #11 in the nation).
Junior sensation Katie Kopec has been training exceedingly well, and she knew she was ready to pop off a big race. We felt she was fast enough to challenge the best in this league stacked with elite runners. Katie settled in with the lead pack (all battling for 2nd as the defending state champ led all) and looked very comfortable throughout the race. Even in the final mile, she gave no gap to whichever runner was pushing the pace. That pack had dwindled to four… the top Granite Bay runner, the top two Oak Ridge runners, and Katie, who put on a surge in the final half mile that wore down the other 3 as Katie powered her way to 2nd place and an incredible time of 17:37, shattering her own PR and school record by over half a minute.
This excitement changed less than a minute later as Katie’s sister, Whitney’s 2nd runner Ava Kopec, went down just meters before the finish line. Fortunately, Eric Schwab (Hunter’s dad) and others with medical experience were right there to render aid. Ava was not able to finish the race, and is no doubt disappointed as she was well under PR pace. She is fine now, and will get that PR next time! Grace Scott, also under PR pace–for the 3rd consecutive meet–was 16th in a blistering time of 19:36 which puts her at #11 on Whitney’s all-time list. Also moving onto the top 20 all-time list was freshman Izzy Soto, who placed 22nd. Almost making the all-time list was Sophie Bowen, finishing in 26th. With Ava out, others needed to step up to hold off Folsom. Tyler Williams ran a terrific race and hit a big PR just 3 places behind Sophie. And Ashlyn Fujioka, running the Whitney way, settled behind the mob in the early going, then climbed the ladder of runners all race to move all the way up to the top 30. Kylee Wibbeler displaced Folsom runners in placing 33rd, followed by always-reliable Cailin Fitzgerald, who hit a lifetime 5K PR. Ashanti Elie finished right with Cailin. Hard working senior Anna Giorgi hadn’t hit a PR in awhile, not able to crack 29 minutes for the past two seasons. But she did on Friday! A new lifetime best of 28:15. Jaqui Alvarez hit a big PR last week and nearly broke that mark, missing it by just about 20 seconds.
Congratulations to our girls team for finishing 4th, which is an incredibly difficult thing to do in this league.
VARSITY BOYS
We knew all season the team to beat in SFL mens varsity was Folsom. They had a late charge last season, and lost only one senior. Folsom came out of the gates the top team in D1, and haven’t really let up all season. Whitney runners had a solid strategy and great execution at the first league meet, a performance that didn’t really have any holes in it, and Folsom still beat us by 5 points. Normally, Whitney excels at the end of the season, which is exactly what has happened, but so did Folsom. So for the first time in our 4 year history in the SFL, Whitney’s varsity men’s team did not win the championship. But this is the SFL where it is very difficult to win, and hats off to Folsom who deserved it.
Cole Jamieson emerged through the middle of the race as our top runner, hitting a very fast 16:09 PR and placing 5th. Sophomore Joel Tajiri ran lights out quick as he was our 2nd man in a new PR of 16:27–very fast, especially for a sophomore. Senior James Bowen also ran maybe his best race ever, putting on a furious kick in the final 200 meters to pass several runners and cross the line just two seconds behind Joel in a new PR. Mateo DelGadillo and sophomore Noah Lopez rounded out our top 5 with Noah hitting a sub-17-minute PR for the first time in 16:43 and both finishing in the top 15. Hunter Schwab also PR’d, breaking 17 for the first time as well. Nick Herrmann normally would be in our top 3 but woke up with a 101 fever and was not his usual self. Still he was able to lead the trio of Aidan Barkve, Brandon Olah, and Connor Jacoby. Aidan and Connor both PR’d, breaking 18 for the first time. Dario Ruscica also hit a PR, with Jaden Rapp just behind him. Callum Turner and Levi Chadwick were next, finishing in the top 50. Corbin Peek PR’d in 22:19, and Alex Wan and Tyler Herceg rounded out the Whitney attack. Whitney completed the 2021 season in 2nd place in the SFL.
Whitney cross country now heads into the postseason this Saturday, where all schools in the Sac Joaquin Section converge at Calaveras County Fairgrounds for a massive meet that includes nearly 200 high schools and over 6,000 runners in the section.