By Steve Underwood and Kirsten Leetch It’s been a hard season for Jordan Hasay, but the patience is beginning to pay off.
With the World Junior XC Champs in late winter in mind, along with the trials for the same, the training plan for the Mission Bay Prep soph has been a conservative, long-term one, not conducive to running the fast mid-season times that she grew accustomed to being able to produce last fall. The results have been slower times on courses from last year and even a meet, the Invitational here at Mt. SAC, where she didn’t have the best time of the day (she ran 17:12 to win her race, but Marie Lawrence and Lauren Saylor had faster times in another).
Saturday, finally with some harder workouts under her belt, the “real” Jordan began to surface.
The defending FL West and FL Finals champion started to pull away just before 2 miles and outran Lawrence by 12 seconds, 17:43-17:55, to repeat as Foot Locker West champion at Mt. SAC in very warm (70+ degrees) and sunny conditions. She led a contingent of seven California girls that qualified along with Lawrence and two from Arizona. The Cali girls included team repeaters from 2004, like Buchanan sr Lauren Saylor (5th in 18:29), and 2005, like Oak Ridge sr Alex Kosinski and Serrano jr Kauren Tarver (7th and 8th, both 18:36). Then there were first-timers like Fountain Valley jr Elizabeth Coe (6th in 18:32), and Corona del Mar teammates Sarah Cummings and Shelby Buckley, who qualified as the top two FL West eligibles from Nike Team Nationals Saturday.
Xavier College Prep freshman Jessica Tonn and Mountain Ridge junior Nadya Bishton represented Zona in 3rd (18:24) and 4th (18:27), completing the 10-girl FL West team.
But in leading everyone to the line here, as she did last year here in her true coming out party, Hasay refuted the idea – at least for another week – that anyone else deserves the title of leading lady in prep cross-country. (continued below) 
Jordan starts to pull away from Mel. Photo John Nepolitan
“It’s been frustrating,” she said of the situation that had her running races without truly being race-sharp. “I’m going to be racing 6k (at the trials and World XC, if she makes it), so I got up to 60 miles a week (summer and early fall) to prepare for that. We didn’t do any speed work until a couple of weeks ago.
“Last week, though, my time was right there,” she continued, “so that gave me some confidence for this week. Marie is an awesome runner.”
Jordan ran the same way she did last year here, with the 2005 FL West race being the turning point for her in terms of really pacing herself well in big meets. She called the first mile “slow,” despite a 5:27. It wasn’t slow for Anna Sperry, though, who pushed it at the front as Hasay, Lawrence, Tarver, and Bishton fronted a big pack behind her.
As was the case last year, Hasay and Lawrence really gapped the field in the hills after the mile. When they came down to the crossover at the 9:00 mark (about 1.6-1.7M), they had put about eight seconds on everyone else. At that point, the trailers were led by Kosinski, Tarver, Bishton, and Coe.
The runners went up the next set of climbs, which included “Reservoir Hill” and “Poopout Hill,” and just before 2M, Jordan put her head down and started pulling away. She was 11:15 at 2M, with a few seconds on Mel, and extended it from there.
Mel was mostly her usual gracious self after the race, showing gratitude for what she did accomplish. “I’m excited about it (making the West team again). I was really trying to qualify and not thinking too much about the win.” When pressed a little more, she did show a little frustration, though. “It always seems like she pulls away from me at the same place here,” she said.
Lawrence never showed frustration at any of her previous runner-up finishes in San Diego, as she compiled an unmatched record of both success and just-missing. “I’m very satisfied. I’ve had a four solid years. I was worried that I’d plateau, but that didn’t happen. My sister (Collier) told me that I have been so privileged and gifted, and that helped me realize that.”
Still, the exemplary career will end next week, and Mel is certainly aware of it. Fans of the popular runner burn to see the grit she showed in winning the NON and USATF Jr. steeples last summer. “I’m going into the race thinking that this is my last high school cross country race, and I’m going to give it my all.”
Behind the history-making duo there was the usual blend of success stories, stories of combacking returnees, first-time qualifiers, and complete surprises.
(continued below) 
Elizabeth Coe, Lauren Saylor, Kauren Tarver, Alex Kosinski, and Jessica Tonn fly down a hill late in the race. Photo John Nepolitan
Arizona’s breaking up of the California domination included easily the biggest surprise (Jessica Tonn), as well as an expected first-time qualifier (Nadya Bishton). Bishton had her hard-closing rival until the final 200, when Tonn’s sprint got her and the shocking #3 finish.
Tonn was 2nd in the 5A-D1 state meet to Bishton, and 3rd in the Border War behind her and Rachel Velarde NM, but the margins were such that qualifying here would have seemed to most like a far-fetched dream. And when she spoke about it, she came across mostly with nervous giggles – and how many freshman wouldn’t, in her situation?
But it was precisely overcoming those types of sensations that had a lot to do with the best coming out in Tonn. “I used to get really nervous before races, but I’ve been becoming stronger, and more and more confident,” she said. “I’ve gotten a lot of help from my coaches, parents, training, and friends. I’ve been eating well and training hard.”
She certainly stunned Bishton, who has been used to seeing her in her rear view mirror all season. “I was surprised. She blew me away in the end.” But that was the only person who passed the junior all race as she was a very strong fourth.
Bishton, in turn, was not a big surprise to make the team today at all, but who thought she was Foot Locker material at the beginning of the season? She came in this fall with a 7th at state from her soph year and a 3200 time in the 10:50s. But a “less is more” approach was fueling some big improvements. “Over the summer I guess I started to take my running more lightly,” she said. “In the past I was just so focused and worked so hard. Last summer, if I wanted to take a day off, I did, or if I wanted to have an ice cream sundae, I did. I just took everything a little less seriously.”
That taking a more relaxed approach and having more fun was going to pay off became apparent when Bishton got 3rd at Stanford to appear on the regional radar. “I really loved Stanford,” she said. “It was the fastest I ran all season. My only competition most of the season, otherwise, was our boys team.”
During the race, Bishton didn’t really have a strategy other than to “stay close to the leading girls. I knew I would really like the course. I’m way more of a hill person.
“The race did go out really fast at first and I thought maybe I should just trip and give up,” she added with a laugh. “But then it slowed down and I relaxed.” (continued below) 
Surprise qualifier Jessica Tonn AZ. Photo Bill Leung
Not giving up and getting things under control was a key for Buchanan sr Lauren Saylor, as the talented harrier made it back to San Diego after qualifying in 2004, but missing last year. After a junior year where she struggled, she had an outstanding fall with several victories and runner-up finishes at Woodbridge, Stanford, and Mt. SAC, losing only to Christine Babcock and Marie Lawrence, and beating almost all of the state’s best.
State didn’t go quite as well, as she took 3rd to Coe and Tarver in D1, with the 8th-best time overall, but she came right back today with a performance commensurate with how she’s been doing all year.
“This is a really nice ending to my senior year,” Saylor said. “I had a lot better summer coming in. I tripled my dose of iron, did 50-55 mpw, did some core work, and was consistent with my training.”
It was first clear that it could be a special year for Saylor when she had a runner-up finish to Babcock at Woodbridge. “It was really special, tying Lauren Fleshman’s course record.”
The night before the race, this runner who could be called an elder stateswoman of Cali prep distance runner admitted to some moments of doubt. “I said to myself, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t make it.’” But she had nothing to worry about in her 5th-place run. “I ran Mt. SAC the way I always do. I was comfortable in the first mile, and in the top 20 or so, then I was in the top 10 by the crossover. I didn’t feel bad at all when I got on the track.”
Fountain Valley jr Elizabeth Coe, on the other hand, hadn’t had the career-long expectations of making it here, but after she won the D1 race over Kauren Tarver last week, it was obvious that she was ready to join this elite group – or at least, obvious to most. “I’m a little surprised,” she said, “but people around me would tell me that they thought that I could make it (the team), so I wanted to do it for them.”
Coe got out where she needed to be and let her talent take over. “We went out pretty fast, but I settled in at the mile and looked around and thought, ‘Okay, I’m here. I’m okay.’ From there, I picked off girls as I could. In the heat I just wanted to make sure I stayed close to give myself a chance.”
But just because she’s going to the big dance now doesn’t mean Coe will change her approach. “I look to do the best I can and have a good time. My coach has goals for me, but I don’t really like goals that much – and he knows that – so he just sort of jokes around with me and tells me to run fast. I want to go out, feel good and do my best.”
The final two spots went to a pair of 2005 West team members who obviously had the talent to do it again. But when the season began, both were struggling with injuries and qualifying was very much in doubt.
Alex Kosinski, who continued her success from last fall into spring 2006 with a 4:42 1600, was out for 13 weeks with a stress fracture of the third metatarsal. “It bothered me for about eight weeks,” she said, “but then from biking too much, I got tendonitis in my foot, which kept me out for a total of 13 weeks.”
The Oak Ridge sr also swam to keep in shape and found when she hit league finals for her first race, things looked pretty decent. “I felt okay and was actually running faster, so I thought that my chances were good for making the team again.”
Saturday, en route to her 7th-place finish, Kosinski “felt pretty good throughout the race, but I always sort of die on Reservoir, and I did today. But I felt really good going down the hill and passed a pack of girls.” Next week, she hopes to run faster than last year and make the top 20.
Kauren Tarver, on the other hand, has had a tough time since last spring. In the late winter/early spring, she built on her 2nd strong finish at FL Finals by training through and producing an outstanding effort to make the World Cross-Country team, which gave her a trip to Japan.
But a difficult spring followed as a back injury flared up when Tarver was finally getting in shape again, with the late start, just before state. Then this fall the Serrano jr sprained her knee in September, hampering her training and racing.
By section finals, however, the old Kauren was back on track, with a solid victory that made a FL Finals bid likely again. She followed that with a runner-up finish at state, where Katy Andrews was DQ’d for accidentally impeding her during a finishing dual with her and Elizabeth Coe. “I don’t think it made that much difference in the outcome,” said Tarver.
Saturday, she struggled with feeling sick much of the way, which contributed to her slipping back later in the race. Still, she qualified with room to spare in the 8th spot. “I’m pretty happy with how the season has ended up, with the (injury) delay,” she said.
The West team’s fortunes in San Diego should be good again. Despite the fact that Hasay and Lawrence could face some stiff competition in their attempt to hold the top two spots between them, this is still a team with a nice mix of returning veterans and excited newcomers.
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