Div 1-2 Sweeps: Girls Team
How the race was run | What they said | The Finish

How the race was run

With the temperature 40 degrees cooler than their home course, US#3 Sultana came up big.
Kelsey Delagardelle (left) and Danielle Varela led the charge starting the second mile up the
switchbacks. Just behind them is ultimate winner Clair Rethmeier.

The individual race looked like a romp for Liza Pasciuto (left) as she crossed the air strip near the end of the second mile. But Clair Rethmeier moved into second (below) and caught Pasciuto on the back side of Reservoir Hill in the third mile.

Rethmeier (left) led going up Reservoir Hill, but Pasciuto dug deep for a tremendous surge to retake the lead quickly at the top of the hill. (below)

Pasciuto leads entering the air strip for the last time with 200 meters to go

But Rethmeier has the last surge to take command.

What they said

by Doug Speck

Claire Rethmeier (San Pasqual, Escondido) -
Comments on the general race, "I did not want to go out really fast, just stay with the pack. At the mile I was in the pack about 4th or 5th. I moved up to challenge after the switchbacks. I was in the lead up the last hill, and I was passed near the top of that hill. In the straightaway I caught up and passed her. I made a move when I came up and moved past the leader. I did not have a time goal coming in, my Coach just told me 'run your hardest, and the time will come.' I wanted to finish in the top 4 or 5. This is my best race of the year. Usually we run races just a bit shorter."
Coach John Mahr (Sultana, Hesperia) -
Asked about his team's race, "We were number one really happy because Kelsey Camara has a hip injury from last week, and we passed our first exam, our midterm, here at Mt. SAC, so we are really happy. We did not get into any of the time goals for this race. We followed the Tim O'Rourke (former Arroyo HS of El Monte) and Ken Reeves (former Nordhoff HS of Ojai coach) school of thinking of how to run the race, and we did not talk about the time goals because we did not know our top five was going to finish healthy today. There is enough pressure on the team as there is. We accomplished all that we wished to logistically. The Inland Empire race we had never gone to a couple of weeks back, and we went there to blow out the carburetor a bit. This race we have been a bit nervous about because of all the hoop-la. They were all talking about how we need to be tough the second half of the race, and that was what I wanted to hear. We have four weeks to get ready for State Finals, and we want to improve. We are ranked third in the country, and I think we can run about a minute better or minute and a half better if everyone is healthy and feeling good. We finished our twice a day training a week ago, as it is simply too dark, like this morning. We still do a lot of miles and hills. This team has the general characteristic of being "super humble." Their team saying is 'let the feet do the talking."
When asked about the weather's affect on training in the desert, "We just run in the heat. We run in 110 degrees. We may do a nine mile run, break it into two parts with a 30 minute rest, and drink an awful lot!"

Mt. SAC results