Chelsea (2nd from right) is shown with teammates (l to r) Allison Manderfield,
Emily Dimond, Johah Weeks, Laurynne Chetelat, and Coach Bill Gregg.

CHELSEA REILLY WILL BE A BEAR!
By Joe Hartman, DyeStatCal

        One of Cal’s prized signees on the women’s side will be miler Chelsea Reilly of Davis High School. Chelsea had a fantastic race as a sophomore at the 2005 SJS Masters Meet where she blasted to a time of 4:54.61. That time was beneath the 21-year old section mark, but unfortunately not quite as fast as Alex Kosinski, who was in the same race. But nevertheless she was able to move onto the CIF state meet. Once again she qualified for the state meet in 2006 with a Masters meet time of 4:59.00. Her best track races in 2006 included a 1600m time of 4:56.42 at Woody Wilson and a 2:14.79 800m at league finals.

        In cross-country, Chelsea is the leader of the Blue Devils team, currently ranked #6 in the state in Division 1. She has placed in the top ten at section finals three years in a row (5th in 2004, 8th in 2005, and 4th this year). During the 2006 invitational season, Reilly had first place finishes at the Granite Bay Invite and the Lagoon Valley Invite. She was also the fastest SJS female runner at Stanford (17:48, 8th in seeded race) and at Clovis (18:02, 4th in seeded race). In addition, Chelsea won her cross country league finals for the third year in a row.

DyeStatCal: Chelsea, it turns out you’re going to Cal. What were the schools you were considering and what turned out to be the tiebreaker?

Chelsea Reilly: My top four were Arizona, Stanford, Cal, and Duke… and Harvard a little bit.

DyeStatCal: Who was on your real short list?

Chelsea Reilly: Stanford and Cal. That’s what it came down to in the end. I actually never officially visited Stanford. But I got back from my Cal visit and I really knew that was the place. I loved everything about it – I have no complaints. The team is really amazing. It’s really like a family so I like that aspect of it. The thing about Cal that’s exceptionally special is that they really, really care about each and every one of their athletes. I know that they’re really like a speed-based, track-oriented program and that’s what I love. So I know I’ll be taken care of and I have a lot of trust in that coaching staff. I have a lot of trust in Tony Sandoval so I’m really excited to run for him next year.

DyeStatCal: The distance from Davis to Cal (about 65 miles) - was that a factor to still have your independence and be close to home?

Chelsea Reilly: Yeah, I like the distance a lot. I was thinking about going back east but then it really hit me how important my family is and how big of a part of my life they are. So I’m excited that I’ll be able to come home every once in a while and watch my brother play water polo. That’s really big for me. (Brother Max' Davis HS water polo varsity team just finished their season by taking 2nd place in the SJS).

DyeStatCal: Academically what do you plan on studying at Cal and why was that the right school in that regard?

Chelsea Reilly: For my major I plan on studying integrated biology. That’s sort of like a pre-med major. I’ll have a lot of exercise physiology in there. I’m really interested in sports medicine. Also George Brooks, the exercise physiologist, works at Cal and my mom knows him so I’m really excited to talk to him about that area of study.

DyeStatCal: What advice do you have for someone who’s a junior right now that’s going to go through what you just did?

Chelsea Reilly: Well, I really started this process pretty early, like the summer after my junior year. Actually after my sophomore I started driving around and looking at colleges on the west coast. So my advice would be to start looking early. And then kind of think about what’s important to you and define your values and find the right school that meets those values.