CIF Prelims
Saturday November 10, 2012  at  Mt. SAC

Men qualify without Drew

It didn’t look good before the race as junior captain Drew Jack was not able to go due to a bug.  Sophomore George Mundo put the team on his shoulders and dragged it into the Finals by placing 10th and providing critical points that led to the team’s 7th place finish in the heat.  George’s 16:27 matched older brother Gilbert’s best SAC time.  George wasn’t the only story on this day.
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Girls take 5th in their heat

Veronica Mejia, Sarah Linton and Carlin Koch did their best to simulate pack runners as they finished 8 seconds apart to power the team to a 5th place finish in the CIF Prelims heat on the mountain course at Mt. SAC on Saturday.
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(Girls take 5th in their heat - continued)
Before the race, they figured to finish about 7th, enough to advance to the Finals.  But between those three girls scoring well and junior leader Alissa Barraza adding only 1 point to the team’s total, the team was all alone in 5th place with no other team in sight.

The sun was out and the air was dry, perfect conditions for Veronica as she maintained a steady 6:53 pace for each of the three miles.  Only two competitors passed her in the last mile, usually the most challenging portion of a race for her.  Not on this day.  Her 20:39 finish was 23 seconds faster than her previous best at SAC (last year at CIF Finals).

Sarah started the race briskly, hitting the airstrip (about halfway) in 15th place.  But that pace was taking its toll and she struggled up PoopOut and ended up in a pack with Carlin and Olivia at the 2 mile mark.  Carlin and Olivia hit the mile 2 post in 40th place with Carlin now setting the pace.

There is a flat half mile in back of Reservoir that spectators never see.  By that point, the athletes are so spent that very little passing occurs.  The exception was a recovered Sarah who came off Reservoir in 40th place, 7 places better than her mile 2 position.  Carlin came down Reservoir in 37th place, having picked off 3 competitors.  It was an impressive run for freshman Carlin Koch, who showed steady growth her entire first season.  The more experienced Sarah ended up crossing the finish line ahead of Carlin but they both finished strong.  Olivia had a difficult final mile but her 51st place finish put her in the top half of the field and capped the scoring for the girls.

Another impressive team effort that sets up next week’s race as an opportunity to show how these girls now perform as a Division 4 power.

(Men qualify for Finals - continued)
John Judge and Yuvan Wickramsinghe ran together for the first half mile before John began to pick up the pace.  Kenny tried to stay in contact.  But this was not to be a day of pack running.  Without Drew and with George determined to race near the front, the guys got spread out.  George, John and Yuvan consistently picked off runners in the first 2 miles and improved their positions.  Kenny found the early pace difficult and fell back by the Mile 1 post.  That is where he made his stand as he passed 8 runners in the next mile, which included the Switchbacks and Poop-Out,  Kenny repeated the process in the final mile, passing 8 more competitors and picking up valuable points for the team.

By the second mile, John had picked off 14 runners and was tiring. Yuvan was 10 seconds in back of John and setting a steady pace.  The Titans needed to finish no worse than 8th in the race in order to advance to the Finals.  To do that, they figured to have to beat Nordhoff.  Like San Marino, Nordhoff had one strong performer (Robin Allison in 7th place) but dropped off rapidly.  Matt Rogers was their next guy and he was wedged between John and Yuvan at the second mile.  Kenny was well ahead of Nordhoff’s third runner so, at that point, we were in good shape to advance.  However, with the race still running, you really don’t know where you stand.  As our 5th man (Tomas Liu) crossed the finish line in 72nd place, Nordhoff’s 5th man had already crossed in 66th.  Nervous parents waited by the team tent until a very happy but barely audible Coach Mundo came with the news of the 7th place finish.  Four consecutive years in the Finals!