La Jolla's Rylee Olson buzzes to sixth place
to lead the Vikings girls to third place
in the CIF team finals. (Photo by Ed Piper)
On Sat., Nov. 21, the La Jolla girls cross country team finished third in the CIF Division 4 finals at Morley Field, missing second place by the narrowest of margins--one point.
Coronado won the finals with 56 points (low totals win), with Santana in second with 94, La Jolla back one with 95.
The difference between the Vikings and Sultans girls' times: four-tenths of a second.
Only an electronic system could record such a minute difference in times.
Each of the girls wears an electronic chip, contained in a small device, that they loop into their shoelaces for the race.
As results were revised after the race and runners' places in the mass humanity of individuals running in the event--one of 10 or so races for the whole day--were finalized, the gap became smaller and smaller between La Jolla and the second-place team.
Parents and participants in the LJ camp were literally or figuratively slapping their foreheads in amazement at the realization of how fine the cat's whisker was that separated the two teams.
It was a testament to the La Jolla girls' fine performance on the morning that people were even guffawing over the tight race.
True, Santana gets to go to the state meet with Coronado as the top two finishers, and La Jolla doesn't. But it still was a very good day. A very good performance by first-year coach Mandy Benham's squad.
Junior Rylee Olson clocked an 18:14 for the 2.75-mile course winding up and down on grass and among eucalyptus trees in Balboa Park. That put her in sixth place. Sierra Roberson, a freshman, finished 11th, junior Julia Walton 17th, Sierra's older sister Sakura 30th, and Ines Robo 33rd.
The thing was Santana's first five finished 5th, 7th, 13th, 15th, and 56th to edge La Jolla. Having four finishers among the top 15 sealed the deal. La Jolla's fifth runner, Robo, to her credit, placed far higher than Santana's fifth runner (23 places higher).
Cross country team results are scored similarly to golf. In cross country, you can field seven runners, then the top five finishers count toward your score. In CIF golf, you can send out a team of six golfers, with the lowest five counting.
Coronado had a clear advantage, scoring a low 56 points to outdistance second-place Santana by 38 points, because the Islanders placed three runners in the top eight. They finished 1-2-8. Then their next two runners placed 22nd and 25th to bring them home.
La Jolla girls golf coach Aaron Quesnell will preach it to you: It's not so much how stellar your top golfers are. Your fifth golfer is the key to compiling a strong team score. If your fifth golfer or runner places far back in the pack, you're sunk. Fortunately, in both sports, the Vikings do well in this respect.
* * *
"Grandma" Deborah was at the meet. Deborah is grandmother of Sierra and Sakura Roberson, who finished 11th-30th in the Division 4 race for La Jolla. Deyna, the girls' older sister, helps coach the girl runners. She is also visible in the spring at La Jolla track workouts for the girls.
Deborah was enjoying the meet. She moved from the La Jolla spot on the grass at Morley Field--the old team nearby without an awning to protect from the increasingly warm sun Saturday--to the finish line as races went on. She is smiling and friendly.
One piece of family lore was gleaned: There is a flight of kids in the family whose names start with the letter D, including Deyna, who was a runner in her time. And there is another group of kids whose names start with the letter S: Satori is Sakura and Sierra's sister, a senior who runs track. Satori played basketball the last two years. Sakura played basketball as a freshman.
Copyright 2015 Ed Piper
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