2005 CIF-State Cross-Country Championships
Saturday, November 25 @ Woodward Park, Fresno

State Meet Bulletin State  -   Championships History
Woodward Park All-Time Lists   -    Qualifiers for 2006 State Meet
State Team Rankings   

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INTERVIEWS NORTHERN
CHAMPS - HANNAH DILLARD &
BRENT HANDA
Joe Hartman

 
Joe Hartman photos

HANNAH DILLARD INTERVIEW
DyeStatCal: Congratulations on a great race. Tell us about your strategy
today.
Hannah Dillard (Chico HS): My strategy… I was shooting for the record which
I totally thought was reachable. Last year I was 18:16 which means I’d have
to PR by 17 to tie it. So I totally thought I could do it because I know
I’m in better shape than I was last year. But, whew, I don’t know what
happened. My first mile was like 5:50 so I felt I was going fast and I
thought I could keep it. The first mile felt good, felt great actually.
The second mile with those two hills… I felt OK. Something just happened
in the third mile where my body just went numb and it was all I could do to
just keep running.

DyeStatCal: What kind of a week did you have?
Hannah Dillard: It was an easy week. Real easy workout on Monday. Nothing
on Tuesday. Wednesday like ten minutes.

DyeStatCal: Hannah, you’re the Stanford champion. Now a two-time section
champion here. Very well accomplished. How do you want to finish your
career two weeks from now?
Hannah Dillard: Well I’m disappointed here because I really wanted the
record but I ran my hardest and that’s all I can do. But as far as state, I
was top ten last year and would like to get top five this year, and PR of
course. (Hannah was 18:41 in 2005 at Woodward Park.) And then go on to
Regionals for the first time. I ran Mt. SAC this year and saw the course.

DyeStatCal: Really helps to see it once before Footlocker.
Hannah Dillard: Yeah definitely. Yeah, to know the hills and for the
strategy so I’m probably going to end at Regionals and want to finish with a
PR there.

DyeStatCal: What do you want to do for the four years after this?
Hannah Dillard: Well I really want to go to a four-year (school) and run
there. Chico State’s really interested and they’ve already made an offer
but being from Chico I don’t want to jump on that right away. Chico State’s
team is awesome and the coach is awesome and it would be a great school if I
went there but I really haven’t gotten very far in my search. I’m thinking
about staying on the west coast (she mentioned Cal Poly and maybe some
Oregon and Washington schools) . At first I thought I’d want to go far
away, maybe east coast. But as I thought more about it, (west coast) felt
right.

   
Joe Hartman photos

BRENT HANDA INTERVIEW
Brent Handa was North Section runner-up in 2004 by 9 seconds and in 2005 by
2 seconds. On both occasions the winner was Mt. Shasta's Austin Fritzke,
who is now at the US Air Force Academy.

DyeStatCal: It sure helps when Austin Fritzke is about 1000 miles away.
Brent Handa (Fall River HS): Yeah, a little bit.

DyeStatCal: Just kidding, a very good race in your own right, Brent. What
happened out there?
Brent Handa: It went pretty good. We started out pretty quick, about five
minutes for the first mile - for this course that’s pretty fast. And we
were pretty close together, me and Eric (Malain) were together right until
the last hill and I was able to gain some ground on him. I wanted to run
faster than I did last year. But we got out there and it didn’t really
happen.

DyeStatCal: Tell us what your goals are for state.
Brent Handa: I’m hoping to win the Division 5 race in the 15:30’s. Robbie
Knorr will the number one competition down there.

DyeStatCal: Your head-to-head battle with Eric Malain (of Enterprise HS)
today… how much have you run against him and how does it usually unfold?
Brent Handa: Me and Eric, we don’t race a lot. But we do race here and at
the West Valley Invite. For the last couple years Eric and I have been
pretty good friends. It’s interesting to race against him because we have
opposite strategies. He’s more of a speed guy and I’m more of a
distance/endurance kind of guy.

DyeStatCal: It seems like there were more people on the line than the last
few years. Is cross country growing in the North Section?
Brent Handa: I hope so. It was a pretty big field today. It was like
190-some kids. That’d really be great if the North Section was getting more
into cross country.

DyeStatCal: So who’s talked to you so far? What are your plans for the
future?
Brent Handa: I don’t know where I’m going to college yet. I’m thinking
about it. I’m in contact with Chico State, Cal State Fullerton, San Jose
State, and the University of Portland.