This 2022 Finals Season proved to be very much a Mayvember event, with quite a number of achievements at this past Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Championships:
- 3 section titles (including first ever varsity girls and JV boys)
- 3rd varsity men’s title in past 4 years
- Both varsity teams qualified for state (boys every year since 2016)
- 2 individual champions
- 1 section team runner-up
- 3 individual runner-ups (not to mention 4 individual 3rd place finishers)
- Fastest Whitney girls team ever at Willow Hills
- Fastest Whitney boys team ever at Willow Hills
- Fastest men’s team of any D2 team at sections in the past 10 years
- Eight 5K times in the top 20 all-time at Whitney
- After a season of 2nd place finishes, our varsity girls rose up in the biggest, most important, and most competitive race of the season to place 1st, by a massive 38 points!
- Of the 12 frosh soph runners who raced Willow Hills at Tom Laythe and then again at Section Finals, all 12 hit a course PR… by an average of 52 seconds!
- Over half of our 5K runners (varsity and JV) hit not just a course PR or a season’s best, but a lifetime PR for 5K at Section Championships… this was done on the most challenging course in NorCal – that’s what we call rising up to a championship level!
Frosh Boys
After placing 1st at subsections, our frosh boys were pretty confident they could repeat that performance at Section Finals. Unfortunately, the illness bug continues to run through our team (and many others in the section), and this time through the freshman boys. Number two runner Tyler Crabtree was out all week and unable to run. And it seems that #1 Davis Little had just come down with it; he raced, but was not his usual self. And so, of our top 3 from subsections, only Johann Gothold was fully healthy. We needed him to perform well, which he did as he pulled through in a huge way, placing 3rd in the D2 scoring. Johann PR’d by 30 seconds on the 3400m course. Simon Aragoza and Davis came in within a second of each other in the top 20, and Keaton McDermott was just about 10 seconds later. Maximus Kotte and Nathan Olah were 25th and 26th, just two seconds apart. It was a valiant effort with the team not healthy nor fully intact, but the squad still managed 2nd place in the section, and course PR’s by each runner.
Soph Boys
Our sophomore boys did not advance as a team from subsections, but Tyler Kubota made it as an individual. And so Whitney had just one runner in this race. It was exciting to see Tyler near the front where he is certainly capable of running. As the race progressed, Tyler moved further up, eventually finishing 2nd overall in the D2 race, missing the title by just one second. Great season for Tyler, who figures to make a push to the front 7 varsity next year as an upperclassmen.
Frosh Soph Girls
The frosh soph girls squad, like the frosh boys, was short-handed. But the 6 girls we had rose up in a big way. Kayla Mougeotte led the maroon charge, placing 14th, covering the course nearly a minute and a half faster than 6 weeks ago at Tom Laythe. Ava Hurren also made the top 20 while hitting a PR by nearly two minutes. Rae Britton PR’d by nearly a minute, to place 35th. Next was the trio of Inessa Maldonado, Addy Lee, and Mykenzie Holyoak, all finishing strong and helping the Lady ‘Cats place 5th as a team.
JV Boys
Our JV squad is very strong. Since we have well beyond 7 runners who are varsity level runners, we’ll naturally have some frontrunners in a JV race. Dario Ruscica was about as “frontrunner” as you can get, winning the race in a huge lifetime PR in 17:15. Jaden Rapp wasn’t far behind, still recovering from the bug that nabbed many on the team, placing 3rd. Joel Tajiri, another runner not nearly 100%, toughed out an 11th place finish. Landon Wibbeler and Peyton Boyd each hit lifetime 5K PR’s and were 12th and 17th respectively, completing the Whitney scoring, all in the top 20. Brandon Olah was just about 15 seconds back, and Joey Gloria wrapped up a very strong season to round out the Wildcat effort. Whitney Men’s JV claimed the first-ever JV section title. Keep in mind, JV competition at the section championship level is all divisions combined, so our JV boys effort was the fastest of any JV team in the section.
JV Girls
This season, our squad with the fewest runners has been upperclass girls. With illness and other things going on, Whitney did not have enough girls to score as a JV team for several of our invitationals. But at Section Finals, with a limit of 7 on both varsity and frosh soph, we had a couple of sophomores moving up. We were able to not only field a team, but a very competitive one, thanks to Alishia Elie (who would be a scoring varsity runner on most teams) and Manaswin Kotte. Alishia was our top finisher, placing 2nd in an outstanding 5K PR time of 20:43. Sophie Bowen, another runner who is fast enough to be varsity on many teams, placed 5th. Kaylee Holyoak was our 3rd girl in the top 20, hitting a PR in 22:48. And then came the trio of Gillian Kingery, Taylor Bettencourt, and Manaswin, all pushing into the top 30 and all hitting lifetime 5K PR’s. Annick Friedrich rounded out our top 7. Each runner rose up, resulting in a very impressive 3rd place finish as a team. Remember, the JV races are all 5 divisions combined, so 3rd place isn’t just D2, it’s 3rd in the entire section.
Varsity Boys
Way back in August at the Sierra Invitational, both our junior boys and senior boys took first, by 18 points and 60 points respectively. This marked the beginning of what would be a very historic season for Whitney Men’s Cross Country. The next week at the Oakmont Invitational, which featured almost all of the top teams in the section, Whitney won by 24 points, and this race result promptly put Whitney at the top of the section rankings. The front 5 for Whitney has been consistent all season… Mateo DelGadillo, Nick Herrmann, and Noah Lopez in the top 3, and David Hurren and Callum Turner solidifying what has become a very formidable top 5.
In mid-September, the team went to Monterey and raced at Toro Park against some of the top teams in the coastal region. The result? Five ‘Cats in the top 12 to win by 66 points, which prompted a #2 ranking in NorCal. Five of the top 9 at SFL#1 made for a 26-point victory in the high-powered Sierra Foothill League. At the Jessup Invitational, our top 5 all crossed the line in the top 20 to win by 10. And then was the massive section course preview at Tom Laythe, with nearly 90 teams. One of our consistent top 5, David Hurren, turned up ill that day, so 6th man Jaden Rapp scored for us, helping Whitney win by 24 points, it’s 6th victory in a row, solidifying the #1 ranking in the section as Whitney had now gone head to head with every SJS contender… except for one: Oakdale.
Mid-October was another trip out of the section, as Whitney’s top runners traveled to Clovis for a course preview of the state meet. Once again, Whitney would face some top competition from outside our section, as well as a chance to finally face D3 SJS powerhouse Oakdale. In the closest contest to date, Whitney managed a narrow victory, by a mere 5 points, to 2nd place Oakdale. Next was a break to get ready for the postseason. October 29 was SFL Championships, where Whitney’s varsity men hit a repeat of SFL#1: five of the top 9 to win by 26 points.
With a perfect record for the regular season, Whitney now approached the postseason, heading to Frogtown for Subsections. With Whitney and other top teams not going all out, Whitney won by 66 points. And that would bring the season to the finale: Section Championships at Willow Hills. Going in, Whitney knew the biggest threat would be Vacaville, who just the year before had dominated the section with a record score of 20 points, taking the section title from Whitney, which had held it since the 2018 season. It would no doubt be a good battle between these two programs.
As the section championship race began, it was evident in the early going that the anticipated battle between Whitney and Vacaville was taking shape. Vacaville’s top runner, the top seed, took the lead. But the Wildcat trio of Mateo, Nick, and Noah was mixing with a couple of other top runners, including from Vacaville. It’s our 4th and 5th man who have the most profound impact. David and Callum were starting to gap the 4th and 5th runners of the other teams. Nick, Noah, and Mateo held the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th spots all the way to the finish line. Very importantly, they all got in before Vacaville’s #2 and 3. David and Callum ran very tough to ensure their finish ahead of Vacaville’s #4. So with the strong result from our top 3, getting our 5th in the top 12 sealed the deal. Whitney beat an excellent Vacaville team by 15 points to reclaim the D2 Section Title, a title Whitney has now held for 3 of the past 4 seasons. The winning score of 30 points is unofficially tied for the 2nd best score of ever for sections at Willow Hills, behind only Vacaville’s 20-point masterpiece in 2021. Winning the section championship race seals the undefeated season, the first ever for any Whitney cross country team.
Whitney’s varsity men’s team now heads to the state meet, a trip Whitney men have made every year beginning in 2016. This 2022 team goes in with a top 10 state ranking.
Varsity Girls
While the men’s varsity team has been front and center most of the season, our young ladies have quietly put together an historic season of their own. And the finale of their season was so remarkable, it may have actually eclipsed the historic championship race by the boys. The girls regular season can be summed up as “very good”; as consistently as the boys won each week, interestingly the girls got 2nd every week all season long. But there were some telling side notes that weren’t so obvious. For example, in a couple of the 2nd place team results (Jessup and Tom Laythe), our ladies were racing without top runner Katie Kopec who was on college visits; inserting Katie as a top finisher in those races, and it was apparent that Whitney was catching St. Francis. At full strength in late September at SFL#1, the Lady Wildcats opened some eyes by surprising #1 D1 Oak Ridge with a 7-point advantage, and coming within single digits of top D2 Granite Bay. Still, Whitney continued finishing 2nd at each meet, but were sneaking higher into section and state rankings.
At SFL Championships October 29, Whitney’s varsity women made a huge statement. With Oak Ridge surging midseason, racing a terrific result at Clovis, and Granite Bay consistently #1 in D2, could Whitney respond with a competitive outcome similar to SFL#1? The answer is yes. At league championships, Whitney beat Oak Ridge for the 2nd time, and came within not just single digits, but within a single point of upsetting Granite Bay, making for a very tight outlook for a D2 section title between Whitney, Granite Bay, and St. Francis. All three teams have been firmly ranked in the top 10 in the most recent state rankings, with Whitney consistently being behind the other two.
Fittingly, at Subsections, which is often not indicative of how teams will actually place at Finals, Whitney once again came out with a 2nd place team finish, 10 points behind Granite Bay and 2 points ahead of St. Francis.
On Saturday, November 12, the Whitney Women’s Varsity Cross Country Team went into the Section Championship D2 race with a lot at stake, but with a little less pressure than the men’s team, which was trying to preserve an undefeated season. Our girls went into the Finals as legit contenders for state, but underdogs for the section title. When the race started, there was nothing too surprising as St. Francis loaded up the front of the lead pack. Katie Kopec was near the front in the usual place she belongs, and Ava Kopec was also putting herself in the mix with the leaders. The rest of our runners calibrated their tempo off of Grace Scott, who has become our unmistakable pace-setter. By mid-race, Katie was fully in charge, and Ava was battling with Granite Bay’s #2 among the top 5 which by then did not include any St. Francis runners.
Meanwhile, Jane Landon was working her way up and eventually overtook all St. Francis runners as well as all but two of Granite Bay’s runners. The Grizzlies usually have a dominant front 3, but there were gaps in this race and the Whitney runners were filling in. Maybe the biggest development was Grace, who was all the while working her way up from outside the top 20 to near the top 10, and then within the top 10 going through the 2-mile mark. And Addison Ewers was quietly shrinking the gap between her and our top 4. The way our front 5 were eliminating gaps, an upset victory was looking more and more probable.
So with a mile to go past splitrail hill, as the runners head out to the freeway for the final loop, Whitney was threatening 4 runners in the top 10, with Addi close enough to not leave us a vulnerable gap to the scoring 5th. At this point, Whitney was clearly winning. Given that our runners usually don’t crumble in the final mile of races, it was looking pretty convincingly like the Wildcats might score the upset. On the return, Katie had built a massive lead and was in full control all the way to the finish line where she successfully defended her individual section title. Right after that was an exciting battle as Ava was still side by side with Granite Bay’s 2nd runner, eventually outkicking her and Vista Del Lago’s top runner. Whitney had two of the top 3 runners across the line. And then in the performance of the day, Grace had continued to climb not just into the top 10, but all the way up to 6th place with teammate Jane just a couple strides behind in 7th. Whitney now had 4 of the first 7 runners in the finish chute. Those four runners were ahead of the entire St. Francis team, as well as all but two of Granite Bay’s runners. With Addi just a half minute back, getting into the top 20 and placing 16th, the Whitney runners were securing a very convincing win. On a sore knee, 6th Wildcat Sophie Hutchinson came in 21st at near 20 minutes flat, continuing to widen the margin of victory by displacing scoring runners from both St. Francis and Granite Bay. And to put an exclamation point on it, our 7th runner Izzy Soto came in ahead of the 6th runner from St. Francis and Granite Bay. All three teams advanced to the state meet where Whitney will have a difficult time outscoring either of these teams again, as they are incredible programs and will be ready for state. But for the day that was Section Championships, the Whitney Varsity Women’s Cross Country Team made history, scoring a mere 33 points, which is unofficially tied for the second best score ever for a Willow Hills Section Final and winning the section title by a 38-point margin of victory. It truly was perhaps the single greatest race in Whitney’s history.
STATE MEET
The CIF State Championship Meet is next, and will be our final competition of the 2022 season. It is rare for a single team to have both teams qualify for state, but it is especially unusual for both to win a section title in dominant fashion. Both squads go into Clovis on the Saturday after Thanksgiving ranked in the top 10 in D2. Good luck to all of our state runners as they bring their best to the most competitive state meet in the nation.