The invitational phase of our season is in the books. SFL League Championships, held this past Saturday at William Jessup, marks the end of the regular season and the beginning of the postseason. Whitney Cross Country has had a very successful season up to this point, but now is where that success has more meaning. In the first league meet, our goal was to place top 3 in each of the four races, which we did. At Finals the goal is to at least maintain that standing, with maybe a chance to push higher. Of course all the other programs are peaking at the same time, and we all know how strong this league is.
Frosh Soph Girls
Granite Bay is one of the top girls teams in the state, from varsity to frosh soph. At SFL #1, their frosh soph team dominated, even though our top 2 girls in that race (Addison Ewers and Sophie Hutchinson) broke up their lead pack. Going into Finals would be even tougher since we moved Addi and Sophie up to varsity. Granite Bay moved only one up to varsity, meaning on paper they should sweep 1 to 5. But after the championship race started, Kayla Mougeotte settled mid-pack for the first half mile before making a move to the front, where she passed the lead pack well ahead of mile one. She went on to win! Meanwhile, Ava Hurren, having had a couple weeks of being able to train fully after healing from her broken foot, felt her fitness kick in and was able to surge up as well, all the way up to 5th place. Like Addi and Sophie last month, Kayla and Ava were able to break up the Grizzly pack. Also placing in the top 10 was Manaswin Kotte, and Rae Britton right behind in 11th. Inessa Maldonado scored for the team as 5th runner, finishing in 17th. Training partner Addy Lee was not far behind in the top 20 overall. Mykenzie Holyoak and Joy McBride raced really well in support to help the team secure 2nd place.
Frosh Soph Boys
On the boys’ side, our varsity is so fast and deep with upper class runners, we had no need to move up any of our top frosh soph runners. But while SFL#1 winner Folsom moved up their top young talent, Oak Ridge and Granite Bay actually held some down. So the frosh soph boys race at Finals did not resemble the one last month. Tyler Kubota once again led the squad as he finished 4th with a pretty impressive personal course PR. By mid-race, it appeared that our scoring pack was still too far back, and so there was some urgency to start making up ground. Tyler Crabtree really rose up to spearhead that late charge, finishing 2nd for Whitney and 13th overall in a breakout race for him. Johann Gothold ran as solidly as usual, grabbing 14th. And then came the cavalry… Connor Rekers, Davis Little, Simon Aragoza, Maxwell Bowen, Maximus Kotte, and Keaton McDermott took 6 of the next 7 spots, with Jack Regan and Victor Needham arriving within 20 seconds. Nathan Olah, James Totaro, and Lucca Bianotti were the next three, followed by a quartet of maroon in Daniel Cho, Christian Clark, Jack Sponder and Brady Quinn, all within 9 seconds of each other, and Aaron Humphries not far behind. Unfortunately, Whitney was 3 points from 2nd place, as the late charge was not quite enough. Still a great performance by our boys to meet the goal of finishing in the top 3 in league.
Varsity Girls
We knew going into this meet that the varsity girls race would be special. There is so much talent and firepower on multiple teams, a 4th place team in this league would equate to a league title in all but maybe one other league in the entire section. If SFL#1 was any indication–with Whitney beating Oak Ridge by only 7 points, and falling to Granite Bay by only 9 points–this race was up for grabs. The Whitney coaches felt our 5th, and maybe even 6th runner, could finish before Granite Bay’s 5th, displacing their final scorer and strengthening our score. With freshmen Addi Ewers and Sophie Hutchinson quietly progressing so well during the season, it was time to move them up, and give them the assignment to beat GB’s #5. With GB’s powerful trio up front, this would at least give us a chance. As the race started, the shape of our packs was near perfect, and the hunt was on! Katie Kopec (SFL#1 winner) and Ava Kopec would wrangle with the front pack, Grace Scott would set the pace for Izzy Soto and freshman Jane Landon, who is really coming on strong. And at the 3rd level, our chase pack of Sophie Bowen, Alishia Elie, Shay Waters, and newcomers Addi and Sophie H, would go to work, with Kaylee Holyoak, Gillian Kingery, Taylor Bettencourt, and Annick Friedrich next. Granite Bay’s formidable front 3 and Oak Ridge’s top 2 gave Katie an honest race til about 1K to go when Katie took control, built a comfortable lead, and glided to the finish as SFL Champion. Ava ran a gutsy race to outlast Oak Ridge’s #2 by a tenth of a second to finish 6th. Jane rose up as a huge x-factor to place 8th, beginning to give spectators a reason to think Whitney could pull off the upset. Sophie H managed to hang onto Grace’s pace as the two went 15th and 16th to complete Whitney’s scoring at 44. But the overall score was still being affected if Whitney’s pack could displace key runners from Granite Bay and Oak Ridge. It didn’t matter with Oak Ridge, as their score was 53, and Whitney had them beat. Addi came in as our 6th runner, Sophie B was our 7th, and Alishia 8th, all pushing into the top 20 ahead of Granite Bay’s 5th. Shay, nursing a frustrating case of shin splints, and Izzy still managed to cross the line before the Grizzly’s 6th and 7th runners. The trio of Kaylee, Gillian, and Taylor demonstrated our depth by finishing ahead of top 5 scorers from Folsom, Del Oro, and Rocklin, meaning these three would be top 5 varsity runners on half the teams in our league (and a lot more outside our league). Also, these 3, and Annick all PR’d at the 3 mile distance. Whitney’s depth would ultimately yield a sum of 44 points for Granite Bay, appearing to be a tie with Whitney, and Whitney holding the tie-breaker with our 6th getting in ahead of their 6th. But the score of 44 was a result of our 8th runner (Alishia) beating their 5th, and cross country rules allow only up to 7th place as displacers. So Granite Bay officially scored 43, beating Whitney by a mere point, in one of the most exciting races in league history. Katie, Ava, and Jane earned all-league 1st Team honors by placing in the top 10. Grace, Sophie H, Addi, and Sophie B, earned all-league 2nd Team honors as they all finished in the top 20. No other team had 7 all-league runners. Congratulations to our varsity girls for placing 2nd in the toughest girls league in NorCal.
Varsity Boys
The formula for the varsity boys to win a league title was a lot less complex than for the girls. The simple message? Don’t change anything. Our front five are so dialed in to setting their pace as a pack, and confidently nudging near the leaders, knowing our number 5 runner has been ahead of every other #5 all year. Nick Herrmann went on to lead his teammates by placing 4th. Noah Lopez strode in right behind in 5th, both easily breaking 16 minutes. Right at 16-flat in 7th was Mateo DelGadillo, Callum Turner in 8th, and David Hurren in 9th, to impress all who were witnessing this squad for the first time. A half minute later was Noah Reed in 14th, finishing ahead of every other team’s 4th man. Aidan Barkve, in maybe his best race of the season, rose up to 7th man, placing in the top 20. Joel Tajiri and Brandon Olah were about a half minute later. Dario Ruscica and Jaden Rapp, neither at full strength, made it into the top 40. And then, one of our most steady and consistent runners, Peyton Boyd crossed in 19-flat, with highly-improving Joey Gloria leading Landon Wibbeler and Brendan Whitmore just a few seconds later. Akanis Surapak and Tyler Herceg both broke 24 minutes. And Whitney’s depth continued to be on display with Danial Malji, Owen Hinkelman, Carter McBride, and Caden Martin crossing the line as the maroon wave finished up. In league, there is no JV division, but if there was, our JV scoring would secure a win. And our top runners took care of business and kept their undefeated streak alive by bringing home a league title after Folsom briefly took it in 2021, the only year to date that Whitney men did not win the SFL title since joining the league in 2018. Congratulations to the Championship Whitney Varsity Men’s Cross Country Team.