San Diego So Cal Roadrunners
USATF JO's - Eoin Fahy
Friday-Saturday, December 10-11, 2004 @ Schaumburg, Il

USATF Cross-Country National Championships:

RoadRunners have record medal haul

The SD-SCRR team took Schaumburg, Illinois by storm during the 2004 USATF Cross-Country National Championships on Dec 11th with a record-breaking medal haul in team and individual events. Months of hard training and racing in the highly competitive Region 15 (Southern California/Nevada) division paid off with several memorable performances over the Busse Woods course in the Chicago area.

In the first race of the day,the Bantam Girls 3K, the club got off to a flying start with a great team 2nd place finish, led by an All-Amercan performance by Mariah Slack in 13th place (11:49). She was followed in by Shelby Garritson (31), Rebeckah St. Laurent (33),Bekah Bosler (36), Jamie West (75), Rachel Bosler (122) and Quincey Hettinger (133). Most of this very young team will be eligible for this division again next year.

In the Bantam Boys 3K, national 1500 meter track champion Darren Fahy completed a memorable season with a wire-to-wire victory in a time of 10:27. Behind him, his good buddy Aaron Acord was having the race of his life, holding off the chasing pack for the entire distance to take the silver medal in 10:52. Strong support from LJ Herrera (44), Buchanan Garritson (47) and Christopher Spiering (62), as well as outstanding efforts by Steven Fahy (109), David Varner (110) and Matthew Spiering (176) gave SD-SCRR the national team title, edging Belvidere TC and Irvine Cougars.

At that point there was no stopping the Roadrunners. The defending team champion Midget Girls had All-American performances from Tiffany Duffy (3), Haidee Ortiz (5) and Shanna St.Laurent (12). Tiffany had her best race of the season finishing with the bronze in 10:51, a mere 5 seconds out of first place. Haidee and Shanna are repeat All-Americans, Haidee for a club-record 4th time! The team took 3rd place in a very tight race with great performances from Vanessa Zucker (49), Nicole Van Duzer (85), Jacquelyn Gentes (88), Chiara Maruggi (125) and Maegan Garritson (141).

The Midget Boys 3K race featured a thrilling head-to-head battle between SD-SCRR's Parker Stinson and Jared Kenney of Cornhuskers with both boys going under 10 minutes and Parker taking the silver in 9:58. An All-American performance by Andrew Ward (20), a top-30 finish by Conor Kuhlman (27) and strong support from Alex Fleischhacker (48),Brian Baker (144),Andrew Robertson (234) and Bryce Brady (239) gave the the club it's second national team gold medal of the day.

In the Youth Girls 4k race, national track 3000m silver medallist Erin Gillingham capped a highly successful season with an All-American 23rd place effort. While clearly not feeling her best she displayed great toughness in finishing with a time of 15:05. Teammate Sara Studer delivered a solid 16:16 effort (113) over the muddy Busse Woods course.

The Youth Boys team faced hot competition in the 4k race with the top 30 runners going under 14 minutes. The team of Samuel St. Laurent (106), Richard Garritson (140), Graham Hettinger (147), Billy West (148), Valente Villalobos (160) and Jesse Torres (180) tuned up for promising high-school careers with a commendable 13th place team finish.

When the mud had settled at the end of the day, the Roadrunners had taken home two national titles, a second and third in team competition; one gold, two silvers and a bronze in individual competition; and a total of nine All-American awards. An achievement to be very proud of for the athletes, coach Mena and the many parents who devoted their efforts into turning SD-SCRR into one of the elite youth clubs at the national level.