CROSS COUNTRY: SIRAKI RUNS HARD ROAD TO REACH NATIONALS; SHE FINISHES 7TH IN RUGGED FINAL.Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News The Footlocker West Regional cross country championships 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. on Saturday was mostly a race of survival for Anita Siraki. The Hoover High junior persevered on a dry and warm day to finish seventh in the girls' seeded race in 18 minutes, 23 seconds over the 5,000-meter course to qualify for the national championships next Saturday in Orlando, Fla. Alicia Craig of Gillette, Wyo., won in 18:07 by six seconds after runner-up Felicia Guliford of Gallup, N.M., fell from exhaustion Exhaustion Situation in which a majority of participants trading in the same asset are either long or short, leaving few investors to take the other side of the transaction when participants wish to close their positions. while leading with 150 meters to go. Defending regional champion Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Santa Rosa, city, Argentina Santa Rosa, city (1991 pop. 80,629), capital of La Pampa prov., central Argentina. It is a modern city and road junction surrounded by a rich agricultural and cattle-raising area. Montgomery finished a non-qualifying 10th after leading for well over two miles in the treacherous conditions. The top eight finishers advanced to the national meet. Tom Kubler of Viewpoint, the state Division V champion, was 12th in the boys' seeded race in 16:20 to earn second-team all-region honors. Natalie Stein of North Hollywood finished 22nd in 19:23 to earn third-team all-region honors in the girls' race. Laura Jakosky of Agoura was 44th in 19:54 and Kelley Hess of Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. was 53rd in 20:01. ``My race felt terrible,'' Siraki said. ``It was the worst-feeling race I ever had from start to end. It was a sick feeling. I was dying. You just have to decide how bad you want to make it to nationals.'' Siraki, who won her school's first state Division I girls' title in Fresno last week, had plenty of motivation in becoming the fourth Hoover runner and first girl to qualify for the national meet. Hoover's three previous qualifiers, Eliazar Herrera, Margarito Casillas and David Lopez - who qualified for the national meet in 1989, 1991 and 1996, respectively - were on hand to lend encouragement to Siraki. Siraki's performance gave Hoover the distinction as only the third Southern Section school to produce four national-meet qualifiers along with Agoura and Thousand Oaks. Sacramento Jesuit is the state leader with five. Siraki was in ninth shortly before two miles and moved into the top eight after overtaking o·ver·take tr.v. o·ver·took , o·ver·tak·en , o·ver·tak·ing, o·ver·takes 1. a. To catch up with; draw even or level with. b. To pass after catching up with. 2. Bei at the top of Reservoir Hill with half a mile to go. Saturday's course was nearly identical to the traditional 3-mile Mt. SAC Sac: see Sac and Fox. SAC - 1. An early system on the Datatron 200 series. [Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)]. course used for the annual invitational in·vi·ta·tion·al adj. Restricted to invited participants: an invitational golf tournament. n. An event, especially a sports tournament, restricted to invited participants. Adj. 1. and Southern Section championships, but finished on the track for the additional tenth of a mile. Only three seconds separated fifth-place Valerie Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the of San Pedro (18:21) and final qualifier qual·i·fi·er n. 1. One that qualifies, especially one that has or fulfills all appropriate qualifications, as for a position, office, or task. 2. Abby Miller of Henderson, Nev., in eighth. ``The weather was bad and I was breathing dust,'' Siraki said. ``It was not a good day to run. All I was thinking was I need water when I crossed the finish line. I am just glad I made it.'' Although Hoover coach Greg Switzer has attended the national championships with Herrera, Casillas and Lopez, this year's meet will be a new experience. The championships, which began in 1979, were held in San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. until they were moved to Orlando in 1997. ``Each time has been spectacular, but Florida is a lot further than San Diego,'' Switzer said. ``What can I say? It is a blessing from the Lord. I can't wait for No. 5.'' Kubler is already looking forward to next year's race after a promising performance Saturday as the fifth-best Californian. The effort culminated a long racing season for the junior, who was running in his 16th race. He called Saturday's race far superior than his performance en route to the state title. Running in the final event of the day, Kubler started conservatively and had to fight dusty trails Dusty Trails is an American music duo consisting of Vivian Trimble (formerly of Kostars and Luscious Jackson) and Josephine Wiggs (formerly of The Breeders). Trimble does lead vocals and Wiggs sings harmony vocals. from the 24 previous races and negotiate around several fallen runners in the 200-runner field. His knowledge of the Mt. SAC layout paid dividends as he moved up from well over 50th place after the first mile. Ten of the top 12 finishers were seniors. Kubler will be the No. 2 returner in 2000 behind 10th-place Erik Heinonen of Eugene, Ore., who finished three seconds ahead. ``It was the toughest mile I ever ran with the dirt and everything,'' Kubler said. ``I saw a couple of guys go down right in front of me on the pavement. It was brutal. I was able to move up and make up a lot of ground after the people who went out too fast quit.'' TORNADO WATCH
A tornado watch (SAME code: TOA; sometimes referred to as a "red box" by meteorologists and storm chasers) is issued when weather conditions are favorable for the Anita Siraki became the fourth Hoover runner and first girl to qualify for the national championships with her seventh-place finish in the Footlocker West Region championships Saturday. A look at the Tornadoes' past national qualifiers: Eliazar Herrera, 1989 Margarito Casillas, 1991 David Lopez, 1996 Anita Siraki, 1999 CAPTION(S): box BOX: Tornado watch (see text) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion