HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP : It Pains Glusac to Win, but She Does

After winning her division of the Mt. Carmel Movin’ Shoes Cross-Country Invitational Saturday at Balboa Park for the fourth consecutive year, Fallbrook’s Milena Glusac could not feel the exhilaration of the moment.

Glusac finished the Division I senior girls’ race in 16 minutes 44.2 seconds over 2.7 miles,, more than 42 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Stacey Auer of Thousand Oaks (17:26.5).

Glusac’s time was slower than her 1991 showing (15:54) and her 1990 effort (16:27). It was the first time in three years Glusac was unable to eclipse her previous mark.

There is a reason for that. Glusac, bothered by a string of illnesses beginning at the end of last year’s cross-country season and extending through the track season, has come down with another ailment--one doctors have been unable to isolate and treat.

She has been bothered by what was first believed to be an intestinal parasite, then an ulcer, then pre-ulcerous syndrome.

Whatever it is, the main symptom is stomach pain every time Glusac runs or even trains.

The tears after Saturday’s race, then, were not shed because Glusac could not better her previous mark--every runner’s goal--but for the pain that ate away from inside.

Glusac looked up at reporters several minutes after finishing Saturday and admitted what was obvious.

“I’m sick again,” she said, adding that her stomach has been bothering her since July, when she traveled to Winnipeg to compete against the Canadian junior national team.

Earlier in the month, Glusac won the 3,000 meters in 9:48 at the U.S. junior national championships in Columbus, Ohio. But she then struggled to finish in Canada.

Now she simply hopes what’s bothering her can be cured so her senior year might turn out to be the antithesis of her junior year.

In 1991-92, Glusac began the cross-country season on a tear and positioned herself as a favorite to win the Kinney National. But poor health kept Glusac from vying for that honor and then sapped her strength during the track season.

“It’s better to have it now,” Glusac said. “Because maybe by the end of the season it’ll go away and I’ll be stronger.”