In the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno Nov. 22, the women’s cross country team finshed the race the same way they went in: in second place.
The Warriors ran against 17 schools from all over California and scored 95 points behind Orange Coast, which took first place with 46 points.
In the men’s race, Sal Bautista ran as an individual and finished in 49th place out of 137 runners with a time of 21:36.
“The women ran very well,” coach Dean Lofgren said. ” We went into the race ranked second in the state and came out second. Orange Coast won as they were ranked to do.”
No.1 runner Heather Rosas finished fifth out of 132 runners with a time of 18:33.
Webber finished 25th in 19:27; Morrison was 26th in 19:27; Cherry came in 32nd in 19:34, followed by Tostado, 34th in 19:38, Evelyn Lopez, 43rd at 19:51 and Dennise Warnecke, 49th at 20:00.
” We each knew it was the last race, so we had to cover as many people as possible,” Webber said. “All seven of us really stayed strong throughout the entire race.”
The Warriors did not succumb to stress while running because Lofgren said that the women were like “season veterens”.
” Cora and Jennifer looked like they never broke concentration the whole race,” Lofgren said.
The runners tried not to be overly anxious during the race.
“Our group isn’t the type that seems to need a lot of pep talks and pumping up and thats not our coaching style anyway,” Lofgren said. “So all of our personalities and philosophies blended will together.”
With the season over, Lofgren is proud of the the women’s accomplishments.
“Our women had a tremendous season which improved steadily as the season progresses ,” Lofgren said. “Very rarely can a team improve as a group consistently the entire season as we did this year.”
Webber also said that the team became more powerful due to each woman’s effort throughout the season.
“I think the women in this team are incredibly strong. They go 110 percent every single day not just during the races but training and every thing,” Webber said.
When the gun went off for the men’s race, Bautista was caught napping.
“Sal got a bad start in the race and pretty much played catch-up the entire way,” Lofgren said.
Bautista said that when the race was announced he was not ready to run.
“I was the last person to run,” Bautista said. “It was a hard race. I did my best but I couldn’t finish in top ten.”
Lofgren said that his 49th place does not truly reflect his ability because Bautista had to move up through the crowd of runners throughout the race.
“His 14th place in the Southern California Regional field of 275 runners better reflects his tremendous work ethic and level of talent this season,” Lofgren said.
