Bella Vista Bronco Invite - Girls Preview - Joe Hartman

PREVIEW OF BRONCO INVITATIONAL - GIRLS ONLY

Last year the Bella Vista/Bronco Invitational was held
at Sierra College, and overall it was a very
successful day with some great racing. The '03 girls
large school race winner was senior Collier Lawrence
of Reno HS, with her frosh sister Marie effortlessly
holding back, staying on Collier's shoulder, and
apparently deferring to her older sister on this
particular day. Unfortunately, Reno is not attending
this year, depriving us of the chance to see the
FootLocker “heir apparent” in action once more. Marie,
who seems to be running better than ever, was the
runner-up by a split second at the 2003 Footlocker
Nationals to Katelyn Kaltenbach of Colorado.

The 2004 outlook? Cooler temperatures are expected
but with hazy smoke from several nearby fires (Lake
Berryessa area, Kyburz area, etc) organizers are
somehow hoping for some fresher air in the next 24
hours. The 2004 races will be conducted at the new
Willow Hill Reservoir course adjacent to Folsom High
School.

In the large school race featuring Div 1 and 2 ladies,
11 of the Section's Top 20 girls will be running (this
from Dan King’s hot-off-the-press SJS rankings).
Headlining on their home course will be Sr. Natasha
LaBeaud (3rd state 3200m, 3rd state D1 XC) and So.
Casey O’Day (2nd at Yolo), who seems to be
“next-in-line” in the phenomenal lineage of Bulldog
girls in recent years. Other Div. 1 runners of note
will be Fairfield’s Caprice Bradshaw (2nd place 1500m
at 2004 Jr Olympics), Nevada Union’s Shannon Lingo
('03 Metro Conf. runner-up), Sheldon's Shelly Pugh
(Delta #1 winner), and three fast ones from #4-ranked
Davis (#1 in Div. 1 SJS) Kaitlin Gregg (3rd at Yolo),
Chelsea Reilly (3rd at Lagoon Valley), and Nadine
Ibrahim.

Also in the large school race is a veritable “who’s
who” of Div. 2 girl’s talent. Caitlin Clark of
Granite Bay won’t be here, but if you were to pick a
Top 10 of all the girls in Division 2 in the whole
section, you don't really have to go a whole lot
further than this list of ten entered runners: One of
the D2 favorites Alex Kosinski (winner at Rocklin and
Clovis, and 2nd at Stanford-D1) and her Oak Ridge
sidekick Danielle Dominichelli; the phenomenal
Vacaville threesome of 2003 D2 section runner-up
Cecily Lemmon, fast-rising Analiza Rizo (4th at Lagoon
Valley), and super all-around athlete Tamar Gruwell;
late-blooming Benicia senior Kaylin Pennington (2nd at
Cowchip, 19:38 at Stanford); Woodcreek freshman
sensation Alex Ciaraglia (3rd at Rocklin and a
resounding first Wednesday at the SFL center meet in
the section’s toughest league); 2003 Section Champion
Cherise McNair of Sierra; veteran Kristina Holtz of
Tracy; and 6-time youth All-American Erin Wachter of
Cordova. For added flair, a fast Montgomery HS crew
will make the trip up from Santa Rosa.

In the small school race, expect the front runners to
be Hillary Trainor and Athena Gillen (Union Mine),
Kaitlin Frier (Calaveras), Lindsay Mosbrucker
(Oakmont), quick frosh Haley Carrigg (Roseville), and
the current pace-setters of St. Francis’ pack Mairin
Meltvedt and Maggie Lloyd. (Not sure if we’ll see
Oakmont’s Michelle Born and Stephanie Sconberg, or
Roseville’s Allison Steinkamp due to injuries.)

Teamwise, neither Placer (Cal Poly Invite) nor Del Oro
(idle) will be in the running. Defending champion and
#3-ranked (SJS, Div 3) St. Francis will be challenged
in the small school competition by Union Mine (#5
ranked in Div 3), Colfax (#3-ranked in Div 4), and
Calaveras (#5-ranked in Div 4).

In the large school race, it’s a preview of section
supremacy as the Top 3 teams in Division 1 will be
on-hand, and 4 of the Top 5 in Division 2. Ray
Hausler of #8 state-ranked Vacaville (D2) has had the
pleasant problem of being unable to rank his own Top 3
all year, and if that group can be closely followed by
Dubs and Lopez, the Bulldogs will win this meet.
Vacaville will be challenged by MEL-rival Davis
(ranked #1 in Div 1, SJS) and D1 sleeper Folsom, who
has surely by now woken everyone up and will be
running on some very familiar territory at this meet
(and also on Nov. 13th at sections). #3-ranked
Nevada Union will be able to see first-hand what they
are up against in Davis and Folsom as Div 1 only gets
two spots to the State Meet in 2004. The other Top D2
teams on hand will be #3 Oak Ridge, #4 Bella Vista
(led by CAL top girl Tara Harmon and also Nicole
Freeman), and #5 Woodcreek.