The SFL regular season culminated this past Saturday with SFL Championships held at Jessup University. From SFL#1 held at SWRA in September, our Frosh Soph Girls were 2nd, our Frosh Soph Boys were 3rd, our Varsity Girls were 1st, and our Varsity Boys were 2nd. Finishing at least in the top 3 at the first league meet is significant, as it sets us up for a “winner-take-all” scenario for league finals. Generally, we either hold our position, or we rise up, and this year was no different as we claimed two varsity banners and two frosh soph runner-ups in the team competition. Individually, we had two champions. So it was a big day for Whitney Distance.
Frosh Soph Girls
Granite Bay continues to be one of the top girls teams in the state, from freshmen up to varsity. At SFL #1, their frosh soph team dominated, even though our top 2 girls in that race broke up their lead pack; freshman Eva Soto won the race, and sophomore Ava Hurren placed 5th. As the frosh soph girls race started things off Saturday morning, it was clear that it was going to be a two team race between Granite Bay and Whitney, with no other team runners in the front pack. Eva went to the front and once again held off the top Grizzly runners to claim the title of undefeated league champion. Ava equaled her SFL#1 result as well, placing 5th. Freshman Camryn Mougeotte and sophomore Rae Britton performed well as our 3rd and 4th runners, improving on SFL#1 by both placing in the top 10. Freshman trio of Abigail Speck, Kylee Barrett, and much-improved Teaghanne Mahaffey gave us 7 runners in the top 15. This would normally be a dominant win, except for the fact that the other 8 runners were all Granite Bay. In fact, no other team got a runner across the line until 19th place. Sophomores Inessa Maldonado and Addy Lee (nearly a minute faster than this race last year) as well as another freshman trio of Zoey Rigdon, Lara de Valk, and Mikayla Yanni all pushed into the top 30 to really close the gap on Granite Bay. The Lady ‘Cats finished league competition as SFL Runner-Ups in 2nd place.
Frosh Soph Boys
On the boys’ side, our varsity is pretty well set with exclusively juniors and seniors, so we had no need to move up any of our top sophomore runners. At SFL#1 in September, we were without the services of top sophomores Johann Gothold (knee injury from an off-leash dog) and Davis Little (illness). Still, our frosh soph boys rose up and managed 3rd as a team that day, which was our goal. But for SFL Championships, we had a full squad. We knew Folsom was the clear favorite, and Oak Ridge was ahead of us as well, not to mention Granite Bay which was just 5 points behind us at SFL#1. Davis, Johann, and fellow sophomore Tyler Crabtree–who nearly won SFL#1–all tangled with the top group and each ended up finishing in the top 10. Davis was 3rd, Tyler 6th, and Johann 9th. Freshman Luka Roganovic made a huge impact climbing into that front action and placed 13th. It was looking like our boys might do better than 3rd as a team, especially with 4th man Luka ahead of Oak Ridge’s 3rd man. Sophomores Maximus Kotte and Simon Aragoza ensured a good score, working hard to finish just about 15 seconds later. The freshman duo of Ethan Speck and Zachary Downing were next, running with much improved sophomore James Totaro. Sophomore Nathan Olah was just 5 seconds behind James, and within a half minute of that, Whitney’s depth continued to make a profound statement. Sophomores Keaton McDermott and Connor Groff as well as freshmen Matthew Byard, Evan Leman, and Sam Dalmau all came in. A quintet of freshmen, including Liam Powers, Michael Matthews, Cameron Holyoak, Maddock Su, and Irving Birmingham kept the maroon flooding the finish line to help Whitney improve on its 3rd place position in the standings to take 2nd as a team and finish the season as league runner-ups.
Varsity Girls
Since the start of the season, our varsity ladies have been ranked #1, and not just in league, but in the entire section. That presents an added challenge in many ways. But after a great summer, a productive and business-like series of training cycles, these runners have only solidified their position as the top team in the area. That being said, Granite Bay and Oak Ridge continue to be state-ranked teams with the talent and ability to take that top spot. As the championship race started, there was definitely some patience across the field, being that there was no scamper to push to the front as the mob headed up the first hill. After a bit of shifting, by mid-race the expected battle between Granite Bay’s stellar Emily Allison and our own Karissa Chamberlain was taking shape, as the two seniors took the familiar position of pushing hard, side by side. It was that close all the way to the finish line where Karissa edged Emily by literally a half second. Epic race! Meanwhile, heading into the final mile, there were 4 more maroon jerseys pushing into the top 10, so the race was shaping up nicely for a Whitney win. Senior Ava Kopec, running her best race of the season, closed hard passing runners to place 5th. Sophomores Jane Landon and Sophie Hutchison were 7th and 9th, and senior Grace Scott was 11th, all three within 10 seconds of Ava. Sophomore Addi Ewers, returning from illness, ran well to place in the top 20. Senior Sophie Bowen ran an impressive PR in 19 and a half minutes over the accurate 3 mile course to finish 21st, followed by a pair of juniors, Izzy Soto and Lexi Kool, both making it in the top 25, and both hitting 3 mile PRs. Juniors Mandy Rao and Alishia Elie, and senior Kaylee Holyoak crossed together next for Whitney. Junior Mykenzie Holyoak hit a 3 mile PR, and senior Taylor Bettencourt finished strong while not feeling her best on race day. Our top 5, from Karissa to Sophie H was a mere 28 seconds; a team spread that tight is lethal, especially when your spread begins with the overall winner. This is a testament to how these girls work so well together day after day from summer til now, and all the key workouts in their training through the season, where they work side by side. They are all very smart, they know how to be patient in a race, and they are exceedingly tough. They are league champions and still undefeated in the section. So proud of all of them!
Varsity Boys
Last year’s team had a lot of strong seniors. Only two juniors returned, David Hurren and Noah Lopez, and Saturday they led the team to yet another league title. They are a very dedicated group and have put in the “quiet miles” of summer and beyond to give themselves every chance to perform at a high level. Like the girls, the boys have a pretty tight spread, as there was less than 40 seconds from our first scorer to our final scorer, which is a major reason Whitney was able to capture a league title against very comparable competition.
David and Noah ran tough to ensure both in the top 5. Junior Jackson Geiselman was a key factor in the team’s achievement as he has been diligent in his cross training due to a lower leg injury; he has kept his fitness at a high level and was able to finish in the top 10. Seniors Perry Hutchison, Ty Ertel, and Joel Tajiri all finished before Rocklin’s 5th man, which affected scoring in our favor. Senior Noah Reed was just a few seconds later. Junior Tyler Kubota, not feeling 100% came in next, just ahead of Landon Wibbeler, who is having his best season his senior year. Junior Maxwell Bowen was next in leading five maroon jerseys in a span of 10 finishers. Seniors Peyton Boyd and Joey Gloria and juniors Connor Rekers, Aaron Humphries, and Jack Regan all broke 19 minutes on the tough Jessup course. Impressive newcomer junior Tyler Nordquist continued his steady improvement finishing strong in 20 minutes. And then junior Victor Needham, like Maxwell just a moment before, led 5 maroon jerseys in a span of 10 runners… seniors Akanis Surapak, Caden Martin, and Carter McBride, and juniors Daniel Cho and Om Patel put the Wildcats depth on full display. It was a true team effort, from summer to the end of the fall season, earning a Sierra Foothill League Title for the 5th time in the past 6 years Whitney has been in the SFL. Congratulations to the Championship Whitney Varsity Men’s Cross Country Team.
Both varsity teams claimed 1st place and a league title. Both frosh soph teams claimed 2nd place. Together, the four squads combined for the best overall result.
Next up is the postseason, specifically Subsections, which is a massive meet that features every team and runner in the Sac Joaquin Section, and serves as a qualifier for only the top teams to advance to Section Championships. The Whitney Distance goal each year is to qualify a maximum 7 squads to the finals. If league finals is any indication, the Whitney Cross Country Team seems to be up for the challenge.