09.10.08
Foothill’s Schwartz, North’s Lopez run to East Invitational titles
Foothill’s Schwartz, North’s Lopez run to East Invitational titles
The Bakersfield Californian | Wednesday, Sep 10 2008 10:07 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, Sep 10 2008 10:06 PM
Believe it or not, Foothill cross country state champion Chris Schwartz said he felt some butterflies Wednesday before the start of the East Bakersfield Invitational.
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North High’s Cecilia Lopez won the girls varsity race at the East Bakersfield cross country meet, held Wednesday afternoon at Lake Ming.
“The beginning of the race, I was a little nervous,” Schwartz said.
At the end, he left no doubt who the guy to beat is again this year. Schwartz ran the 3-mile course (slightly shorter than a normal 5-kilometer course) in 15:29, shaving more than a minute off of what he ran in winning this season-opening meet last year.
At this point, he’s competing mostly against the clock. The other runners are just there to push him to better times. “I’m going out there with the mindset of getting (less than 15 minutes) every race,” Schwartz said. “If I can’t, I’ll just try to lower my time every race.”
Schwartz began to pull away at the 2-mile mark, then widened the gap during a downhill stretch just before the finish. He was sprinting by the time he crossed the finish.
“We hammered speed with Chris all during track season, just hammered it,” said Foothill coach Aaron Rietz, who also coached Schwartz to a second-place finish in the state’s 3,200-meter race in track. “He’s gotten so much better.”
That’s a scary thought for the rest of the area, even if it looks like there are more quality runners than usual. Though shaving one-tenth of a mile off the course and better weather helped, times were significantly better this year than last. Schwartz’s 16:40 finish of 2007 would have barely gotten him in the top 10 this year.
At the top of the list was Ridgeview, which had the next three finishers after Schwartz: Brian Solia in 15:33, Robby Baker in 15:53.5 and Alex Garcia in 16:13. The Wolf Pack’s 35 points easily bested second-place Bakersfield High, which had 70.
“We’ve got a young group of guys that have worked really hard over the summer,” Ridgeview coach Adam Setser said. “I wouldn’t say it came out of nowhere, because I knew they were capable of doing really well. On the girls side, same thing.”
The Ridgeview girls also won the team title, scoring 73 points to Stockdale’s 89.
North’s Cecilia Lopez ran a 19:30 to take the individual title, bringing her into the spotlight on a team that had been led by Candace Carlson for the past year. Carlson was The Californian’s Runner of the Year last season but dropped out midway through this race. North coach Brian Huens declined to comment on why Carlson dropped out, but did say she wasn’t injured.
That left Lopez, who pulled away in the last mile to win a surprising crown.
“I came in expecting to work as a teammate, to get some team points,” Lopez said. “I didn’t expect to win. I finished the race and I thought to myself, ‘I could have gone faster.’ I need someone pushing me.”
Foothill’s Natalie Fernandez was second in 19:36, Liberty’s Ashley Barton third in 19:42 and Ridgeview’s Jessica Huizer fourth in 19:49.
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