Stanford Invitational

Trip Down Memory Lane
2000-1995-1990 Meets!

   
Amazing string of three consecutive California female National champs - all were in the
1995 Stanford Invite as preps! - Julia Stamps (1994 - Santa Rosa-left) - Kim Mortensen
(1995 - Thousand Oaks) and Kirsten Gordon (1996 - Carondelet) - See how they did below!

1995

Four divisions back in those days.

Jesuit (Carmichael) took their second consecutive Boys Div I title here, scoring 106 to take De la Salle (Concord) at 137. Ayub Abdusalam (Hoover, San Diego), who probably helped start the string of east African prep stars in San Diego county, won the individual title at 15:50 over John Hake (Arroyo, El Monte) 15:58. On the Girls Div I side Clayton Valley ( Concord), which had a super program under Coach Ron Silveira, until he resigned, moved up from Division III to work on their #5 national ranking in Harrier magazine by racing DI here. They won with 49 points over Bend ( Oregon) 136. Julia Stamps ( Santa Rosa) cranked a 17:19 winning time over Kim Mortensen ( Thousand Oaks) 17:41, with Julia blazing a 5:11 first mile (3 seconds faster than the Collegiates came thru this day!). Interestingly, Julia would defeat Mortensen in the State and Regional competitions, then become ill and take a nasty fall in the hotel the morning of the National finals that December and Mortensen would win there, as Julia dropped out at a bit over two miles. Mortensen went on to run 9:48.59 the next spring for the still standing prep 3200 standard, with a 9:52.80 - 10:15.13 win over Stamps in the June State Track Meet. Mortensen went to UCLA, then dropped out of running, with Stamps having some fine seasons at Stanford, then going through a nasty broken leg when she took a spill on a skateboard near the end of her career there.

Division II Boys had Jon Stevens of Mission San Jose (Fremont) take the contest at 15:54, with Edison (Huntington Beach) the team titlests over MSJ. Jen Schindler (Ponderosa, Shingle Springs) was 18:40 with Scripps Ranch the team winners on the Girls D2 side.

Girls D3 had one of my favorite people, Kristen Gordon (Carondelet, Concord), who was to become another California national champion in the sport (1996), edged Elaine Canchola (Nordhoff, Ojai), another with a super career 18:22-18:22 right at the tape! El Modena ( Orange) took the team title with 81 over Nordhoff's 98. Boys D3 had Micheil Jones (Livermore) take the individual title at 15:33, with a fine Nordhoff team winning by 82 points with a 60 point total.

Girls D4 had 400 student Pearl River, New York edge California's best at this level, Morro Bay 59-71, with Orange Lutheran's Kristin Groncy winning at 19:31. Soph Isaiah Festa (Morro Bay), who went on to some super running at Arizona State and Wisconsin, took the Boys D5 race at 15:56, leading Coach Cary Nerelli's squad to a 39-109 win over Piedmont.

     
Leal photo - Rich Gonzalez
Memorable 2000 group! - Yong Sung Leal (Arroyo, San Lorenzo) won his division as a soph!
Anita Siraki (Hoover, Glendale) fastest of day on the way to Stanford as student/athlete!!
Ryan Hall (Big Bear) wins Division IV in 2000 - on to great career at Stanford - getting
married 9/25/05 to Sara Bei (fittingly on the Stanford Invite Weekend) - Amber Trotter
(Ukiah) won at Stanford and in 2001 won Nationals by 40 seconds!!!

2000

A number of eventual greats won here, with Buchanan an amazing day with two team wins (Boys/Girls Div I) on a warm day that the Central Section power probably thrived on.
Canadian Marcel Hewamudalige from Vancouver had the day’s quickest Boy’s clocking with a 15:54 Div I win over South Eugene’s Erick Heinon, and Bellarmine Prep’s Neil Davis. Buchanan scored 89 in the Boys Div I contest to win over Davis HS, and nationally ranked Mead of Spokane, who the previous week had competed in the Great American meet in North Carolina (whew, lot of travel!). Yong Sung Leal (Arroyo, San Lorenzo), only a soph won the Div II Boys’ contest at 15:55, with the amazing Leal up and down during a high school career, then disappearing after that with some interesting religious beliefs. Eventual fine collegiate and beyond runners, Mark Batres (Don Bosco, Rosemead) Div III 16:06, Ryan Hall (Big Bear) Div IV 16:06, and Tim Nelson (Liberty Christian, Redding) Div V 16:18, took the other Boys’ contests, with Batres (Cal Poly/Pomona), Hall (Stanford), and Nelson (Univ Wisconsin) making their collegiate marks down the road!!
On the Girls’ side it was Anita Siraki (Hoover, Glendale), who took the Div I contest in 18:12 the day’s quickest, with Buchanan scoring 115 points and a team time of 101:25 for the win there. Anita is still running at Stanford. Junior Amber Trotter (Ukiah) really started her impressive run through the next year with her effort here, looking strong with her 18:23 Div II win over Lori Mann and frosh Caitlin Chock of Granite Bay. Trotter the next fall would probably run of US prep cross country history's great end of season runs with a monster national individual title run, then disappear from the running scene in a surprising manner. Jenny Aldridge (Maria Carrillo, Santa Rosa) took the DII contest at 18:52, and San Lorenzo Valley (Felton) showed great for a second weekend in a row after a trip to North Carolina, winning the Div II contest with 44 points and emerging with the day's top team time of 100:21 (Buchanan was 101:25). Kristen Cohoon (Chadwick, Palos Verdes) was the DIV titlest at 19:09, with Pearl River New York, a squad that had the team's top runner have to go home the night before the meet when her father suddenly died, win the division teamwise. Clara Horowitz (Head Royce, Oakland), now at Duke, won Division V at 19:16 a week after she placed high in the Great American in North Carolina, with traditional power University (San Francisco) the team winner.