By Leonard COUTIN

The morning was a perfect one on Saturday for athletes preparing for the 30th Annual CIF State Cross-Country Championship hosted at Woodward Park in Fresno. Runners knew it was going to be a long day with 10 divisional races and 10 podium award presentations for the top 10 individuals and top three teams in each division.

It was an awesome sight when nearly 200 athletes lined up at the starting line of the 5000-meter race, all focused on getting out as quickly as possible. Not surprising, the first race of the day had its setbacks. Athletes were immediately called back to the start when runners were tripped and fell the first 100 yards off the line.

The Division V boys’ race was the second of the races scheduled. Flintridge Prep, which had a strong showing this season, hoped to maintain its title as the No. 1 state ranked team. Lead off for Flintridge Prep was Evan Pattinelli, who faced top runner Cooper Teare of St. Joseph Notre Dame. Teare had one of the leading times coming into the meet.

At the first mile Teare took the lead with Patinelli riding the outside shoulder of the pack. Flintridge Prep’s second and third runners, Jonathan Vahala and Sebastian Evans, were caught in the third and forth groups of runners. Their eyes were on Desert Christian of Lancaster and Valley Christian of Cerritos, the two rival teams that Flintridge Prep needed to control.

As the runners returned from the second mile, positions had not changed. Teare took the win with a time of 14:58.50, while Pattinelli placed second running 15:39.30. Desert Christian managed to score key positions – third and fifth – which earned them the lead over the Flintridge Prep team.

The second lead man for Flintridge Prep, Jonathan Vahala, placed 25th (16:33.80), while third runner and teammate Jonathan Evans scored 37th (16:44.70). Other contributors were Riley Coan who placed 40th  (16:45.00), Chris Tan, 46th, (16:47.40), Carson Hasbrouck, 47th, (16:48.30) and Sam O’Hagan, 91st, (17:22.90). Flintridge Prep scored second place in the CIF State team titles.

Final team scores: Desert Christian Lancaster 70, Flintridge Prep 103, Valley Christian Cerritos 134, Lick Wilmerding 180 and San Francisco University 213.

The Division V girls’ race was the fourth race of the day. Flintridge Prep returned to the course as state champions and hoped to clinch another title. Though it was clear that there were individual runners with better times, the key to the team’s success was the way their runners were scored so tightly together. Flintridge Prep lead runners Sophie Gitlin, Sasha Codiga and Natalie O’Brien have run closely together all season. Gitlin and O’Brien often switched positions to place first and second at all league meets. At the CIF Finals in Riverside O’Brien took second while Sasha Codiga placed third and Sophie Gitlin captured sixth. On Saturday, it was Gitlin who drove the stake into the hearts of the competition.

Francis Park High and St. Joseph Notre Dame did not have the necessary third, fourth and fifth runners to support their attack on the competing state champions. First place went to runner Kiera Marshall from St. Joseph Notre Dame (17:40.30). Flintridge Prep top runners were Gitlin, who scored first for the team placing 10th running 18:45.20. Codiga took 13th (18:51.10), O’Brien, 15th (18:57.30), Jenna Mijarres, 17th, (19:17.40) and teammate Maia Cohen took 22nd running 19: 28.00. Other FP contributors were Gabriella Bennett taking 33rd (20:00.40) and Caroline Wreszin, 56th, (20:26.00).

Final team scores: Flintridge Prep 51, Francis Parker High 170, Nueva 176, Lick Wilmerding 177 and St. Joseph Notre Dame 223.

The Div. 1 boys’ race was scheduled for the fifth race of the day. Falcon Colin FitzGerald had proven himself at the Clovis Invitational this year running the Woodward Park course in 15:24.50 to take seventh place. At the CIF Southern Section Finals in Riverside he established an impressive mark and took second place.

As FitzGerald warmed up, he presented himself again as a candidate who could do well; but for one reason or another there was something missing this day.

Although the start was quick, FitzGerald looked slushy coming to the first mile mark. This was typically where he would hang onto the lead runners, but this time he was just outside the pack of leaders. When the runners returned on the second mile mark, FitzGerald was not in sight with the top runners. It was clear that FitzGerald was off his mark.

FitzGerald finished 44th running a time of 16:04.70. When compared to how he ran at the Clovis Invitational, he would have placed seventh at the state finals running the same time.

Experienced runners know to “run one race at time and leave it.” Though FitzGerald did not have his best race at the state meet, he will prepare for the Footlocker West Regional Race held at Mt. SAC on Saturday.

“[I’m] not sure what happened at the state meet,” said Falcon Coach Mark Evans. “Sometimes this just happens and they have a bad race. [We] will try to figure some things out and move on.”

Though he had a disappointing performance at Woodward Park, FitzGerald has had a great season overall. His times on all the courses dropped significantly. He is No. 5 on the CV Park list for the school. He has gotten stronger and able to work harder and put in more mileage.

Evans was optimistic looking at the junior’s future.

“Colin will have a very good track season and will be one of the top returners next cross-country season,” he said.

The Div. 1 girls’ race was the eighth race of the day. Pacific League finalists included the Arcadia team and the top individual runner was Emily Virtue from John Burroughs High School.

Virtue continued to show her presence scoring ninth at the state meet running a time of 17:48.20. Arcadia senior Holly Lung placed 22nd running 18:16.80, Jasmine He, 32nd, (18:28.40), Eryca Yamane, 50th, (18:45.10), Cindy Liang, 60th, (19:01.30) and Joyce Wu, 66th, (19:07.20). Other Apache contributors were Joy Huang, 72nd, (19:09.80) and Gabriela Ramirez, 115th, (19:46.50). Arcadia finished with a fourth place team title.

Final team scores: Great Oak 47, Davis Senior High 67, Buchanan 139, Arcadia High 181 and Dana Hills 193.

Note that Great Oak boys and girls teams won the Div. 1 CIF state championship team titles.

  Leonard Coutin