DyeStat Page 1

Search 98xc

1998 Foot Locker Championship

West Region Summary by Doug Speck

From: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 1998 8:58 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Foot Locker West Quick Seeded Sums!

Foot Locker Western Regional - Race Sums
by Doug Speck

Girls
The Girls race of a hundred and fifty was off on a picture-perfect December sunny early afternoon, with defending champion Mariel Ettinger (Or) making a big early statement, leading by a full eight meters over the field as the group came off the grass at 150 meters. Through the first half mile, the Oregon star continued to press the pace, with a forty meter lead over Arizona’s Sarah Gorton. Ettinger continued to roll through the mile, passing that mark faster than any female prep in the history of the illustrious Mt. SAC course, at 5:05.

Sarah Gorton continued to lead the rest of the runners, far out of contact with the flying Oregon leader. Through the mile, nine athletes had slightly pulled away from the field, including past Foot Locker finalists, Abby Miller (Nv), Lauren Fleshman (Ca), and Allyson Marquand (Ca).

Through the tough hilly Switch-back loop after the mile, Ettinger continued to lead, but the pack, led by Gorton, started to rein her in. As the group settled down onto the airstrip before starting the last two tough hills, “Poop-out” and “Reservoir,” a pack of four battled up front.

Sara Bei (Ca), a ways back through the mile, had moved aggressively during the switchback loop and moved strongly into the lead, with Fleshman, Gorton, and Miller close behind. One sensed a real momentum to Bei’s arrival up front. Allyson Marquand, surprising Felicia Guliford (NM), Trina Cox (Ca), Kristel Redhair (Az), and Katie Moon (Wy) looked strong at the half-way point before Poop-out hill.

When the runners next appeared heading up Reservoir Hill it was the green-clad Bei who had moved to a lead of twenty meters over Lauren Fleshman, with Gorton still competitive in third, and early leader Ettinger fading fast. Bei crested Reservoir Hill, at two and a half miles at 14:25, looking very strong, with a little over a half mile to the finish. Rolling down the flat cement airstrip and up on to the track, the Montgomery of Santa Rosa sophomore purred to a fifty meter triumph over Lauren Fleshman 17:51-18:02. Trina Cox closed strongly the last half of the course to place third, with early pace-setter Ettinger finishing 31st and Sarah Gorton ending up 17th.

Bei later remarked that the patient start with big move over the hills is naturally suited to her style of racing, commenting that too quick a start here can put you in trouble as you labor over later hilly sections of the course. Her relaxed start put her into some heavy traffic during the first two flat loops that go up to the mile, but that she was thankful things widened and spread out a bit during the switchback loop so that she could work her way up.

Sara stated her goal here was to qualify, with a finish in Orlando among the top three and maybe challenge for the
championship there. (at the three mile finish line (course today extended up around the track to full 5000 meters) Bei was 16:59, only the third female prep under 17:00 behind former Foot Locker Champs Julia Stamps (Course Record 16:55) and Kristen Gordon (16:58).

Qualifiers -
1. Sara Bei (Montgomery HS, Santa Rosa, Ca) 17:51,
2. Lauren Fleshman (Canyon HS, Canyon Country, Ca) 18:02,
3. Trina Cox (Santa Rosa HS, Ca) 18:05,
4. Abby Miller (Green Valley, Henderson, Nv) 18:20,
5. Felicia Guliford (Gallup, NM) 18:23,
6. Kristel Redhair (Page, Az) 18:29,
7. Allyson Marquand (University HS, Irvine, Ca) 18:32,
8. Katie Moon (Evanston, Wy) 18:37.

Boys:

A relaxed start had a ton of people close through the relatively flat first mile, with Ben Ortega (NM) leading there at 4:35. As the field headed up over and down the switchback loop, a group of three moved to the front, with Adam Tenforde (Wa), Juan Reyes (Az), and Josh Rohatinsky (Ut) battling half-way through the event. Back just a tad were twenty-five people within a couple of seconds in the contest for the other qualifying spots.

As the leaders next came into sight as they started the run up Reservoir Hill, Rohatinsky had about ten yards over Tenforde. Putting his head down the Utah junior Rohatinsky powered up over the top of the very tough Reservoir Hill at 12:20 (2 � miles), extending his lead to thirty-five yards by that point.

The competition for the qualifying spots after first couple was very, very close with a half a mile to go.  Rohatinsky continued to power away, winning by eighty meters in 15:30, with Jed Barta (Id) edging Josh Spiker (Ca), Celedonio Rodriguez (Ca), and Tenforde in a battle for spots 2-5.

Afterwards, Rohatinsky commented that at the end of the regular season he had experienced some iron level difficulties in his blood. He almost collapsing during a sixth place effort in a Utah all-star competition in his last race, so he was worried coming into this weekend. He tried to put it all behind him the night before the meet.

He indicated he “snuck a look back” at the base of Reservoir Hill and seemed to notice that Adam Tenforde had slowed a tad, which combined with his confidence on hills, led to a determined decisive move. Josh commented on the pushing in the tight pack at the start of the race. He did not wish to take the lead, stating he would kill himself if he took the pace too early.

An early season goal the Utah star had was to place in the top ten at Orlando. When asked about his running family (sister Tara a BYU star), and if anyone else was coming up, he replied that his ten year old brother was a national age-group placer in the 800 meters at 2:24, faster than Josh himself ran through age twelve.

Josh was 14:43 at the three mile course finish line, behind Jeff Nelson (14:32), Bryan Dameworth (14:36), Eric Mastalir (14:38), Eric Reynolds (14:39), and Louie Quintana (14:40) on the all-time Mt. SAC course prep list. Nelson still holds the National Prep two mile record at 8:36, with Dameworth, Reynolds, and Quintana all former Foot Locker National CC Champs as high-schoolers. Rohatinsky will get credit for an eleventh regular Mt. SAC grade course record for his effort today, as all the above mentioned did it during their senior years.)