By Justin Hsieh, Staff Writer
On Saturday morning, the girls’ cross country team competed in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division One State Championships for the first time in 11 years, achieving an overall eighth place finish out of 22 of the fastest teams in California. This spectacular accomplishment was the end to a superlative season for the girls’ team, whose state prospects have been their ultimate focus for the past four months.
“Since this was these girls’ first time racing on the State Meet course, and their first time at such a high-pressured competition, my expectations were tempered, as I know the value of experience, which this team was still building on,” said’ Head Coach Jerry Palazzo. “A top 10 finish was my hope for them, so their eighth place finish was an outstanding accomplishment. Given the circumstances, I thought that all of these girls performed very well.”
The girls raced at the famed Woodward Park cross country course in Fresno, where the state competition is held every year. Although rain-induced slipping hazards and narrowed paths, an unusually fast start, and difficult rolling hills in the second mile proved challenging for the girls, all seven runners managed to stay on pace and finished the five-kilometer course in under 20 minutes. The girls were led by seniors Ashley Faller, Sara Feitz and Isabella Guerra, who placed 30th, 67th and 71st with respective times of 18:35, 19:10 and 19:12. For these seniors, who had led the girls team throughout their season, the state triumph was the culmination of a long four years of growth for the team.
“Coming into the state meet I was nervous about the race, [even though] I hadn’t been nervous for a race all season. I knew our team would do well but the state meet was a beast I had never tackled before,” said Feitz. “We’ve worked extremely hard and slowly moved our way up from barely going to CIF [Southern Section] preliminaries my freshman year, barely going to [Southern Section] finals my sophomore year, just missing the cut for state in my junior year, and now my senior year making it to state and not only that but eighth in the entire state of California. I feel extremely satisfied with this season.”
Building up for the state meet was the girls’ guiding plan throughout their long and successful season, from their conservative early races in August and September, to their dominance at county and league meets in October and their final push in November at Southern Section Prelims and Finals. Although the team remains optimistic about their future, they acknowledge that such a top-tier year will be difficult to surpass, especially given the graduation of half of their varsity team this year.
“With four seniors among the top eight on this current team, we’ll have plenty of work in the coming year to get back to the State Meet. I believe that our returning runners, though, including two freshmen, will provide the leadership necessary to do so,” said Palazzo. “The sport has lost popularity though at Fountain Valley High School, with very little influx during the past two years. It’s difficult to say why, but it may be linked to the fact that cross country is too challenging for many. We’ll see.”
