National Olympic Cross-Country Championships : Valencia’s Lugo Battles Back to Finish Fourth

After staying with the lead runners through the first 4,000 meters of the National Junior Olympic cross-country championships Saturday at UC Irvine, Chris Lugo of Valencia High School said he suddenly felt a strange presence slowing him to a jog.

“You know that expression, ‘the bear’s on your back’? I think the whole family of bears and Goldilocks were on mine,” he said.

Though Lugo, 17, said he was sick with the flu all week, he managed to finish fourth in the young men’s division race with a time of 16:35. He was the top finisher among California runners.

“I tried to stay with them (the leaders), but they just took off,” Lugo said. “I was pretty tired and just felt really flat.”

The men’s race was won by Ernest Shepard of Piedmont, S.C, who ran the 5,000-meter course in 16:18.

In the young women’s division, Karen Packham of Meridian, Ind., won in 19:46. Corina Weiler, in 59th place, was the first Orange County finisher (22:53).

“It was a really tough course,” said Weiler, a senior from Capistrano Valley High School. “”Last year, I got 99th in Cincinnati (junior national cross-country championships) and I bettered my time by two minutes.”

Carrie Garritson, 10, led the bantam girls’ race and won her second consecutive national championship at 11:38 on the 3,000-meter course.

“It wasn’t that hard,” Garritson said. “The course was hot but it didn’t bother me too much.”