BEST PALS FACE OFF H.-W. RUNNERS TOUGH TO BEAT.Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News It wasn't much of a surprise when a Harvard-Westlake High of Studio City runner won a Southern Section Division IV cross country individual girls' title for the second consecutive season last Saturday, with defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre Lindsay Flacks returning for her junior season. What was surprising was that the winner was not Flacks but freshman Bridget Ballard. With Flacks sidelined with a groin injury, Ballard ran to an upset victory with a career-best effort of 18 minutes, 6 seconds at Mt. San Antonio College Mt. San Antonio College (commonly called Mt. SAC; pronounced as the word "sack") is a community college located in the Los Angeles suburb of Walnut, California, next to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona which is just over a hill. Mt. over the hilly hill·y adj. hill·i·er, hill·i·est 1. Having many hills. 2. Similar to a hill; steep. hill , 2.91-mile course. The performance was 35 seconds faster than her previous Mt. SAC best and broke Flacks' school record of 18:09 set last year. The emergence of Ballard helped lift Harvard-Westlake to a runner-up finish Noun 1. runner-up finish - a finish in second place (as in a race) second-place finish finish - designated event that concludes a contest (especially a race); "excitement grew as the finish neared"; "my horse was several lengths behind at the finish"; "the behind defending state champion Oak Park. With the return of Flacks for the state championships today at Woodward Park Woodward Park (34 acres) is a public park, botanical garden, and arboretum located between 21st Street and 24th Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. It is open to the public daily. in Fresno, Harvard-Westlake has perhaps the state's top 1-2 tandem and a potential team-title challenger to Oak Park. ``She ran unbelievable and had the race of her life,'' Flacks said about Ballard. ``Whatever the outcome of future races between us, it was an amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. accomplishment, and I am going to be proud of her.'' While Ballard's victory in the Southern Section championships was her first major title of her high school career, she has had success as an age-group runner. The past two years, Ballard has teamed with Canyon's Brenda Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. , Courtney Granger, Jessi Locke and Hart of Newhall's Brooke Russell on Valley Striders' winning teams in the USA Track & Field Junior Olympic national cross country championships. Ballard isn't sure what to predict for the state championships and racing best friend Flacks for the first time with a section title now to her credit. She never has defeated Flacks and used her teammate for pacing. The two finished 1-2 in the Mission League finals to lift Harvard-Westlake to the title for the second year in a row. ``I have always been striving to be as good as her and achieve some of the things she has,'' Ballard said. What the girls do share beside a section cross country title is an admiration for soccer. Both Ballard and Flacks have been juggling soccer and cross country throughout the fall. After finishing her race last Saturday, Ballard, a member of the Olympic Development Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Region age 14 team, barely had time to pick up her medal before heading to a soccer match to play for her club team, Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, United. ``It's a friendly rivalry,'' Harvard-Westlake cross country coach Kim Hieatt said. ``If either of them wins (today), they are going to be happy for each other.'' Ballard and Flacks are among five soccer players - along with senior Katie DeWitt, junior Reed Kristovich and freshman Karina Silvester - who also are nationally ranked age-group swimmers on Harvard-Westlake's cross country team. Hieatt is understanding of the girls' endeavors, shortening practice on the days of soccer practice. Although Ballard has an extensive background in swimming and running, her favorite sport is soccer. She said running up hills helps strengthen her arms for swimming, and running helps with soccer conditioning. Swimming would seem to be a natural endeavor for Ballard, who has been swimming since age 3 and is a four-time Junior Olympic qualifier in the backstroke. Ballard's sisters - Heather, 27, and Gretchen, 24 - were City Section swim champions and are record holders at Birmingham High of Lake Balboa Balboa, town (1990 pop. 2,751), Colón prov., in the former Panama Canal Zone, on the Gulf of Panama. The port for Panama City, Balboa was the administrative headquarters of the Panama Canal Zone. It was also the site of a U.S. navy base (closed 1999). . Brothers Matthew, 33, Jason, 32, and Christian, 30, also swam swam v. Past tense of swim. swam Verb the past tense of swim swam swim at Birmingham. ``It's all like one big circle,'' Bridget Ballard said. ``I have been told that it would help to concentrate on one sport, but I like all of them. I am not ready to decide.'' AT A GLANCE What: State cross country championships When: Today, first race at 8:30 a.m. Where: Woodward Park, Fresno Tickets: $8 for adults, $5 for children CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: Harvard-Westlake freshman Bridget Ballard will try to help lead the Wolverines to a team title today at the state cross country championships. Kirby Lee/Special to the Daily News Box: AT A GLANCE (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion