FALL ATHLETES OF THE YEAR : Defeat Helped Taylor Focus on Winning

Last season, Edison High School’s Shelley Taylor was undefeated until the state meet, where she finished seventh. A severe sinus infection ruined Taylor’s near-perfect season.

This year, other runners caught up with the junior before the state meet. At the Central Park Invitational Oct. 6, Katella senior Martha Pinto swept past a favored Taylor and won by 26 seconds.

The loss upset Taylor, but it also motivated her and turned her season around.

“Central Park was real upsetting,” said Taylor, The Times’ Orange County girls’ cross-country athlete of the year. “I wasn’t really ready to run.

“After that race, I started concentrating more and I started feeling better.”

Taylor was undefeated until Central Park, having won the Laguna Hills and Dana Hills invitationals in September with ease. But she also had a cold at both races and was ill again at Central Park. Losing to Pinto there surprised her.

“I knew she was a good runner and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Taylor said. “But I didn’t really feel that she could beat me, and she did. So I started concentrating more and trying to stay healthy.”

No county runner came close to Taylor again. She easily won her third Sunset League title Nov. 3, defeating her nearest opponent by more than a minute, then breezed through the Nov. 10 Southern Section preliminaries, winning by more than a minute.

Taylor’s biggest challenge came at the section finals Nov. 17, where she met Westlake senior Jeannie Rothman again. As a sophomore, Taylor had become the first county girl in eight years to win a sectional cross-country title, beating Rothman by two seconds in the 4-A race.

This year, Taylor chased Rothman. Rothman finished 12 seconds ahead in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational Oct. 20, then won the section Division II-A race in 17:27. Taylor, running concurrently in the Division II-AA race, finished in 17:54.

“That was a good race for me,” Taylor said. “I wasn’t disappointed because I didn’t expect to beat her. And once again (like at the Mt. SAC Invitational), I had a good solid race, and I pushed myself the whole way.”

Then came the Nov. 24 state meet at Woodward Park in Fresno, and once again, Taylor was second to Rothman, who won the Division II title by 18 seconds in 17:28.

But Taylor wasn’t really disappointed as she was after her seventh-place finish in 1989. Some people speculated then that Taylor, who had been running for only two years, wilted under pressure. Taylor disputed that, saying it was the sinus infection that hurt her performance. This year’s meet was a vindication.

“I was real happy with the race (this season),” Taylor said. “I wanted to do real well at the race because last year I was sick, and I was supposed to win it.

“I was sick, but I still pushed myself to get into the top 10, and I ended up falling at the finish line.”

Taylor stayed upright this time.

And her season is not finished. Taylor qualified for Saturday’s Kinney Cross-Country Nationals at San Diego’s Balboa Park by placing sixth at the Dec. 1 Western Regional at Woodward. Runners from Alaska, Arizona, California, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Washington ran in the race, with the top eight qualifying.

TIMES ALL-COUNTY GIRLS’ CROSS-COUNTRY FIRST TEAM

Runner School Yr. Comment Tanja Brix University Jr. Three-time state participant, 12th in Division II. Jennifer Gillis Irvine Fr. Helped Vaqueros to fourth in state Division I. Heather Killeen Valencia Sr. Three-time Orange League champion. Kay Nekota Woodbridge Fr. Won county sweepstakes. Martha Pinto Katella Sr. Four-time Empire champ; sixth in state Division II. Kelly Roda Irvine Fr. South Coast champ; team 4th in state Division I. Shelley Taylor Edison Jr. Second in state Division II.

SECOND TEAM

Runner School Yr. Katy Eklof Costa Mesa Jr. Tracy Fatone Los Alamitos So. Laura Flatauer Canyon Fr. Sonja Hildebrand Mission Viejo Sr. Kim Nelson Canyon Fr. Allyson Myers Foothill So. Amber Parkinson Orange Lutheran So.

Runner Comment Katy Eklof 22nd in state Division III meet. Tracy Fatone 10th in county sweepstakes race. Laura Flatauer Helped Comanches to fourth in state Division II. Sonja Hildebrand 22nd in state Division II meet. Kim Nelson Led Comanches to fourth in state Division II. Allyson Myers Ninth in state Division III, leading team to second. Amber Parkinson 10th in state Division IV, led team to fifth.