Recap by Meet Director Larry Meredith
The 16th-Annual Viking Opener Cross Country Invitational, hosted by Montgomery High School, had a little bit of everything a good meet should have: great weather, a big crowd, a course record, a surprise winner, favorites coming through, close team battles and a nail biting finish. The meet began in a cool fog but, by the time upperclassmen and women took to the trails, warm, sunny skies prevailed.
The 2-mile, figure-eight course covers rolling hills that mimic the topography of Woodward Park in Fresno, site of the state meet. Beginning at lake level the first 600-meter section is a gradual climb that helps spread out the pack. The next 600 is alternating ups and downs until reaching the lakeshore again along a shady trail. The runners emerge into a gauntlet of cheering fans at 1.25 miles, the end of the first loop. A roller coaster trail then takes the runners to the 1.5 mile mark where they cross an earthen dam. The runners then drop back down to a bike path at the lake’s edge to begin the final quarter-mile push to the finish.
The meet format is unusual. Athletes must run with their grade level peers. All freshmen and sophomores must run in the Frosh/Soph races; junior and senior girls in the Junior/Senior Girls race; junior boys by themselves and senior boys by themselves. Only the top 3 finishers for each team score and the 4th and 5th runners can bump opponents back.
There were some premier matchups that didn’t happen: Montgomery state champ Sara Bei turned her ankle and had to sit this one out for the second year in a row. Antioch’s powerful girls team was here but top runner Janie Nolan, 2nd to Bei at state last fall, was out with asthma-related breathing problems. Both are expected to be back at full strength soon. No so in the cases of Maria Carrillo standout Jordan Kinley and Eureka star Shaun Lyle. This pair had electrified the crowed here last fall, hitting the line in a photo finish time of 9:59 in the Frosh/Soph race. Kinley and Lyle are struggling to overcome injuries and may lose a big chunk of their seasons.
The meet’s surprise took place in the Junior/Senior girls race where, without Bei and Nolan, state 1600 meter track champion Jenny Aldridge of Maria Carrillo was expected to prevail. Ukiah junior Amber Trotter, 7th in the state 3200 last spring after taking 3rd to Bei and Aldridge in the North Bay League, started fast and led the entire first loop. Aldridge was fast on Trotter’s heels as they started up the final set of hills. Knowing she had to separate to avoid being run down by Aldridge’s powerful kick, Trotter applied pressure and broke away in the final half-mile, stretching her lead to 12 seconds by the finish. The winning time of 11:20 makes Trotter the 3rd-fastest girl in course history, behind the legendary Julia Stamps’ (Santa Rosa) 10:40 in 1996 and Bei’s 11:05 in 1998. Shannon Rowbury, a junior from Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) who placed 5th in the state meet 800 and ran 2:10 last spring, closed the gap on Aldridge and ended up 3rd, just 6 seconds back in 11:38. Aldridge and Rowbury now stand 6th and 7th on the all-time course list for girls. Santa Rosa senior Anna Shaver reeled in Vintage junior Jamilla Titus, also a state meet 800 finalist, over the final loop to finish 4th. Next came Montgomery junior Joy Terribilini, leading her team to the title in the absence of Bei. Antoich had junior Christine Perez in 7th and then Michelle Gallagher, a sophomore from Mercy High of San Francisco, missed her Frosh/Soph race and was allowed to run here unofficially. She ran 12:42 to take 8th. Senior Sarah Bashel of Montgomery was officially 8th and then junior teammate Elisa Pedersen took 11th to give Montgomery the team victory. Maria Carrillo senior Jenny Drady finished 9th to help her team secure 2nd place ahead of Antioch.
The meet record was turned in by Castro Valley junior Beau Bettinger, last year’s North Coast Section D-I champion. Bettinger was coming off a win at the hot and hilly Contra Loma Classic just 3 days earlier and trailed co-favorite Dale Kitt of Eureka through the first loop of the course in the Junior Boys race. These two had phenomenal sophomore track times of 4:20 (Kitt) and 4:22 (Bettinger) for 1600 meters. Bettinger made a move to the front as the pair passed through the crowd and up the next hill. Shortly thereafter Kitt suffered a fall and withdrew from the race, scraped up but otherwise uninjured. Bettinger was on his own in the chase for the Junior Boys course record of 10:08, established in 1992 by Eureka’s Matt Creason. Bettinger was up to the task, crossing the line in 10:04, a time that ended up as the fastest of the day and 8th-fastest in course history. The Ukiah pair of Chase Vau (10:19) and Casey Chadd (10:36) took 2nd and 3rd to lead their team to the win by just 3 points over Castro Valley, who had Chris Wong (10:49) in 5th. Santa Rosa had Niles VanDeventer (10:46) in 4th .
Castro Valley provided the top gun in the Senior Boys race as well, but this time the up-front duel remained close throughout the course. Alex Cardiasmenos was shadowed by Redwood’s Chris Johnson, last year’s Junior Boys’ champion, through the first loop. Eureka’s Travis Moe, who narrowly lost the race to Johnson last fall, was just a couple of strides back. Next came a wave of red uniforms, Nick Millar of Montgomery passing Redwood’s Chris Kuntz and then the rest of Millar’s teammates came by in rapid succession: twins Jon and Zac Fitch and Drew Fagent. Eureka star Matt Tout followed this group. Cardiasmenos pulled away from Johnson over the final quarter-mile to win by 2 seconds in 10:17. Millar moved past Moe and made a serious charge for 2nd, finishing just 1 second back of Johnson. After Moe (10:25) finished 4th, Jon Fitch (10:31) rolled in ahead of Kuntz (10:34) to tie the team score after 2 finishers each for Montgomery and Redwood. Zac Fitch (10:36) and Fagent (10:41) settled the outcome in favor of the host school by taking 7th and 8th. Tout (10:48) took 9th and Healdsburg state meet veteran Sean Harrell (10:55) was 10th.
The Montgomery boys were further well-represented in the Frosh/Soph boys race, as soph Regan Masi led from wire-to-wire to win in 10:38. Teammates Andrew Gallagher (10:49, 4th) a sophomore, and another Fitch, freshman Matt (11:20, 13th) gave the Vikings a total of 3 team titles on the day. Elsie Allen soph Jose Alverez (10:44) placed 2nd to Masi and Santa Rosa’s 2nd-place team finish was led by soph Steven Nopola’s (10:48) 3rd place finish individually. J.K. Withers (10:55), a freshman from Cardinal Newman, rounded out the top 5.
The Frosh/Soph girls race was also never in doubt for the favorite, Healdsburg soph Kelly Rogers. The defending Sonoma County League Champion was 50 meters ahead of Terra Linda soph Stephanie Farac as she ended the first loop and doubled that lead over the final three-quarters of a mile. Rogers’ winning time of 11:48 makes her the 7th-fastest girl to ever run the course. Soph Ashlee Drady (12:23) of Maria Carrillo led her team to victory by taking 3rd with teammates Megan Boes (12:52), a freshman, and soph Amy Nelson (13:30) taking 6th and 11th. Montgomery had the top 2 frosh in the race in 4th-placer Kim Conley (12:38) and 5th-placer Christy Sweaney (12:45). The Montgomery girls placed 2nd in the team standings for this race.