Both squads rose up extremely well and performed at top level on the biggest of stages. The boys placed 4th and the girls placed 6th, both ahead of their Mile Split rankings. Multiple historic achievements came from our runners’ efforts at the state meet.
Here’s a few achievements that are noteworthy:
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3rd time Whitney has qualified both boys and girls for the state meet (2018, 2012)
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1st time Whitney has won both boys and girls section titles
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Streak of state meet appearances by boys… since 2016
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Streak of top 5 for both varsity teams at sections… since 2016
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Our top 3 boys showed the greatest improvement year-to-year at state by far over any other SJS team, any division, at well over 3 minutes combined
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6 runners hit lifetime PR’s at state meet
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Boys were 4th … highest finish ever for a Whitney team at state
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Boys 3rd top 10 finish at state in Whitney history
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Girls were 6th … highest finish ever for a Whitney girls team at state
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Girls 1st top 10 finish at state in Whitney history
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No Sac Joaquin large schools team has ever had a better combined result than Whitney’s 2022 achievement of 4th place boys, 6th place girls in one state championship
It might also bare mentioning that in the boys race was Newbury Park, which is not only ranked #1 in the nation, and backed that up with a dominant team win at NXN despite subpar races from key members of their team, but may be considered the greatest high school team ever in the United States. In 2nd in our state race was Granada, elite enough to be an NXN qualifier. That’s the caliber of teams fronting the D2 men’s race at state, making our guys’ 4th place finish all the more incredible.
There is a little pressure put on any section champion team to perform well at state. In order for our section to maintain our number of state meet berths, our section must have at least one team place in the top 10 at state within a 3-year span, or lose a berth. If SJS has no top 10 team, our section is at risk of losing a state berth. And that pressure to finish top 10 usually falls on the top team from the section, the section champions. Whitney has taken care of business quite well historically. Whitney boys have won the section title 3 of the last 4 years (2018, 2019, 2022), and each time placed in the top 10 (10th, 8th, 4th).
Another objective is to “hold our position” so to speak as the top SJS team, meaning not let any of the other teams from our section finish ahead of us at the state meet.
Well, we are happy to report our state runners took care of business on every front, and then some! On both the girls side and the boys side, the Whitney teams performed at or better than hoped or expected.
MEN’S DIVISION TWO
Usually we approach a key race with pace goals in mind as well as paying attention to specific competitors, both individuals and certain teams. Our approach is no different for the state meet, but most of the runners and teams are very unfamiliar to our runners. One other dynamic that is very unique to the state meet is the velocity of 200 runners in the first 500 meters. So without a point of reference for positioning, and being that the start is frenetically fast, focusing on pace early was critical. Our seven runners did a great job of tuning out the stampede as they looked very settled two minutes into the race. So far so good!
Approaching the mile mark, our consistent front three of Nick Herrmann, Mateo DelGadillo, and Noah Lopez were shaping well with each other, less than 2 seconds apart. But in this condensed environment, 11 other runners were sharing their space, as 14 runners went through the first mile from 4:57.9 (Nick) to 4:59.8 (Noah). Despite an impressive sub-5 mile, no Whitney runner was in the top 60. In fact, solid #4 and #5 runners Callum Turner and David Hurren, who were just 6 seconds back in a 5:04 first mile, were not even in the top 100. The leader board showed Whitney in 10th place with Vacaville (our prime SJS competitor) right on our heels in 11th, just 4 points back. This was actually very encouraging, knowing with most of the work yet to be done, Whitney was already positioned in the top 10. It is almost certain that any Whitney team will improve position as the race unfolds. Dario Ruscica and Aidan Barkve wisely paired up and ran a controlled 5:23/5:24 first mile, and would end up passing many runners who got swept up in the hot start.
According to plan–running the usual “Whitney Way”–a lot of progress was made in the middle mile. Mateo gained 39 spots to move into a very promising 27th place with a mile to go, even though he ran a slightly positive split, further exemplifying the significance of patience in the first third of the race. The only runner in the top 40 to pass more runners than Teo in that middle mile was teammate Noah, who gained a whopping 47 spots to rise into the top 30. Nick gained 25 places in the same frame, up to 39th, making the 3 most prolific mid-race runners in the top 40 Whitney’s top 3. David moved up 23 spots to 82nd, and Callum was right behind, climbing 17 spots to 84th. Dario and Aidan ran side by side, together passing 30 runners in the middle mile.
With all that forward momentum, Whitney’s score improved from 317 to 199, and from 10th place all the way up to 4th! With 3rd place more than 70 points ahead, the teams behind us had a better chance of catching us than we did of getting on the podium. Teo certainly did his part, hammering a wicked 4:49 final mile, gaining another 12 positions, the most of any runner in the top 30. With 500m to go, Teo was hunting down a pack of about a half dozen runners, one being the top SJS finisher from Section Finals. Teo put on a finishing kick that bested all in that pack to cross the finish line in 15th place, and as the top SJS representative. An amazing 15:33 PR for 5K puts him as the #2 cross country runner all-time at Whitney. Noah held his own, finishing well to maintain a top 30 finish, crossing in 29th. Noah’s final mile was 5 flat, within a second and a half of his first mile, demonstrating such maturity and control over very effective pacing. Noah PR’d with a massive 15:47, #5 on the all-time list. Nick moved up a couple spots to place 37th, and also broke 16 minutes, and was within 3 seconds of his PR. That’s three runners under 16 minutes, very hard to do at the state meet. Callum closed with a very gutsy finish, passing another 10 runners in the final mile to place 74th. David held his position in 82nd. Aidan ran a furious negative split to pass 26 more runners in the final 5:17 of his race, hitting a very nice 17:10 5K PR. Dario also finished strong, passing 9 runners in the final mile.
Most of the juggling in the top 10 took place in that middle mile as the positioning for the top 8 teams did not change after that. Whitney was not only able to hold onto 4th place, but gained nearly 20 points to solidify that result. Whitney’s 2022 Varsity Men’s Cross Country Team has gone down in history as a 4th place team at the hugely elite CIF California State Championships.
The state meet race was the capstone of a near-perfect season, or at least as close to perfect as can be imagined. These young men never lost until 3 teams beat them at the state meet, with one being the best team in US history, and another being an NXN qualifier. This collection of young men put in the quiet miles, not just throughout the summer, but season after season patiently getting better even before the summer of 2022. After the progress they showed during track season in the spring of 2022, observers couldn’t help but consider this group as potential section champions. Not sure that consideration also included all the SJS teams beyond D2, but that’s what happened. Also not sure that consideration would include a top 5 finish at state, but that happened as well. A wire-to-wire, undefeated season, training with patience and diligence, and racing with patience and diligence, from the first pre-season invitational in August, to large showcase events, to multiple competitions against some of the best programs outside our region, to a league title, to a section title, and continuing to race with the same maturity and poise as they had done all season. Congratulations to the 2022 Whitney Men’s Cross Country Team!
WOMEN’S DIVISION TWO
Being that our girls team was merely in the conversation as one of the top contending teams in SJS D2 to vie for a state berth (or as Mile Split put it, Whitney was not in the top 3 and considered an “outlier”), placing top 10 at the state meet was not in many discussions through most of the 2022 season. But as has been well-documented, after a season full of exclusively 2nd place team finishes, whether league meet or faraway invitational, our girls picked the best time to win a race… Section Championships. At state, our girls placed 6th and maintained the top position in the section, having the best finish among other SJS teams in the race.
The patient, steady approach to early stages of races we employ throughout the season is especially valuable at the state meet. If our runners are in the habit of controlled effort in the first couple of minutes, we have confidence nothing goofy will happen on the biggest of stages. One look at our runners 500 meters into the race was enough to affirm our girls didn’t sabotage their race and weren’t going to blow up. Even with measured output early, Whitney was in 9th place at the mile mark, and most of our girls were in good position to climb. This was a great development, since we were already in the top 10 and expecting to improve on that as we rarely end a race with a worse result than the mid stages of a race. We were going to need that crescendo, since Granite Bay was 34 points ahead of Whitney, running in 7th place.
Our consistent #1 Katie Kopec went through the mile in the front group, which was not out of the ordinary for her, even at the state meet. Ava Kopec went through in 38th place, with five Sac Joaquin runners within 4 seconds, likely working off of her rhythm. Ava would ultimately beat all of them, four by a much larger margin than 4 seconds, which is a testament to her pacing and to her toughness. Jane Landon, one of our 3 freshmen composing the state team, and who had been running varsity since SFL#1, went through in 70th as Whitney’s 3rd runner at the mile. Grace Scott was next in 82nd as our 4th runner to go sub-6-minutes. And then, showing terrific poise, were our two most recent additions to the top 7 varsity squad, freshmen Sophie Hutchinson and Addi Ewers, both hitting a wise pace of 6:15, giving them each a chance to be effective for their team during the next two miles. Interesting note… although only about 20 seconds behind Grace, Sophie and Addi were 70 places back, illustrating just how condensed the traffic is in a state race. Izzy Soto was also being purposeful in not overdoing it, tethering 5 seconds off at a 6:20 mile split. Overall, our team was in great shape; establishing a top 10 position knowing we still had quite a few rounds left to fire was a testament to just how strong the 2022 Whitney Girls team had become.
By the time the 2.1 marker was registering, Whitney had worked up to 6th place, and had attained the top position among all Sac Joaquin teams, but only by a 20-point cushion. Katie was not able to climb into the top 10, but was holding in the teens. Ava managed to gain 5 positions in the middle 2.1, up to 33rd, running a very gutsy effort to close in on the top 30. Jane and Grace passed a combined 30 runners in the middle 1.1, giving strong indication that Whitney would assuredly hold onto 6th place. And as if that wasn’t enough, Addi and Sophie each passed nearly 50 runners in that same segment, closing in on the top 100 with still a mile to go. Izzy also made gains, passing 17 runners. Just like our boys team an hour earlier, that middle mile proved to be significant to our outstanding finish.
In the final mile, all doubts about our girls slipping were dispelled as Whitney’s point total improved by 23 points, making it tough for any team to try to supplant our girls. In fact, Ventura, which was 147 points ahead of Whitney at the mile mark, had a dwindled advantage of 66 points at the 2.1 mile mark, and at the end the margin had shrunk to a mere 4 points. Whitney almost caught and passed Southern Section powerhouse Ventura for 5th place. Katie was able to gain a couple spots in the final mile and achieve a top 20 finish, placing 16th in a very fast field. Ava did manage a top 30 finish, crossing the line in a very impressive 27th. Jane continued to move up, climbing yet another 10 runners, placing 43rd; Jane was the 8th SJS runner through the chute, meaning 3 of the top 8 SJS runners were Wildcats. Whitney was well on its way to backing up that section title at the state meet.
Of the many state meet appearances by Whitney teams, depending on the level of a team, it is sometimes a goal to see if we can get any runners in the top 100. And if we do, how many, and by how much? Put one way, for any runner to finish in double digits at the state meet is an incredible achievement. For this 2022 girls edition, we already had 3 not just in the top 100, but in the top 50, which is very rare. After that kind of performance, any amount of depth can result in a coveted top 10 finish at the toughest state meet in the nation. Grace ran super gutsy in the final mile to place 73rd, so we had 4 scorers in the top 100. And those two freshmen, Addi and Sophie proved more than up to the task of competing on the biggest stage, passed another 18 and 11 runners respectively to cross the line well under 100th, in 85th and 93rd. Addi was our one runner who actually ran a faster final mile over the first mile, by 3 seconds. Sophie, maybe even more incredibly, did what Grace did on this course at Roughrider… ran a perfect even split; Sophie’s first and last mile were each 6:15. Izzy rounded out the top 7 having gained 14 places in a very tough race.
As has been highlighted, our girls varsity team this year worked under the radar for much of the season. People began to notice them rising at SFL#1 where we beat Oak Ridge and came within single digits of Granite Bay, and the squad began to appear in rankings and in articles, mostly with a flavor of “outlier” or “possible contender”, not just to make state, but maybe vie for a section title. The miniscule one-point defeat by Granite Bay at league finals, coupled with the second time Whitney beat D1 powerhouse Oak Ridge, not to mention a couple close 2nd’s to St. Francis, launched Whitney into the top 10 state rankings. But still not many predicted they would beat such highly ranked Granite Bay and St. Francis. In what was arguably the greatest race in Whitney XC history, Whitney’s 2022 Varsity Women’s Team not only earned a state berth, but beat very elite teams to claim a Section Title, placing an astounding 4 individuals in the top 7, and all 5 scorers in the top 16 for a nearly 40-point victory, which was yet another shocking detail. No question our girls “showed up” at Willow Hills on Championship Saturday. The next question was simply was this a fluke or could they repeat this at state? The answer was clearly that it was not a fluke, but that they could and would perform once again at the highest level to solidify their championship standing as a team.
END OF 2022 SEASON
The state meet marks the official end of high school cross country team competition. There are national events that individuals can qualify for, and the Kopec Sisters did head down to Mt. SAC for regionals. Both Katie and Ava ran very well, with Katie placing 4th and earning an all-expenses-paid invitation to Nationals where she placed 28th. Katie is our lone senior among our top female runners and together with the seniors on the guys’ side, Mateo DelGadillo, Nick Herrmann, Callum Turner, Aidan Barkve, and Dario Ruscica, these high character individuals have left a mark on history that is nothing short of amazing. Such maturity as senior leaders after such commitment and loyalty over 4 years to be so poised for this pinnacle! Their story will be told and retold as a point of reference for how to do things the right way to achieve the highest marks, and simply as a story that will be fun to tell over and over again. Congratulations to all of our runners who played a part in lifting Whitney Cross Country to 6th place and 4th place at the California State Championships.