PLAYOFF PROFILES : Fullove Ready to Step It Up

She is expected to win her second consecutive Division IV title in today’s Southern Sectioncross-country championships at Mt. San Antonio College. Yet Shaluinn (pronounced SHAY-lin) Fullove of Louisville High has more than individual goals in mind.

She hopes to lead the Royals to their first section title and then to their first state championship next Saturday.

“Everyone’s pumped,” Fullove said. “We’re so excited about having a chance to win.”

Louisville finished in a three-way tie for third in last year’s section championships but dropped to fifth in the tiebreaking process and missed qualifying for the State meet by one place.

The Royals were not expected to be title contenders this season, but picking up senior Ashley Caro and sophomore Erin Spaulding, transfers from Chaminade, changed that.

“I’ve been running against some of the people on this team since we were little kids so we’ve known each other for a long time,” Fullove said. “There’s a lot of camaraderie on this team. That and the winning has made it a lot of fun.”

Fullove, a senior, is expected to contend for the state Division IV title at Fresno’s Woodward Park next week, and she will run in the Foot Locker West regional the following week.

Although she doesn’t expect to keep pace with defending national champion Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa or highly regarded Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks in that race, a top-eight finish would qualify her for the national championships.

Finishing in the top eight might seem far-fetched for someone who has a good--but not exceptional--personal best of 18 minutes 17 seconds over Mt. SAC’s three-mile course, but Louisville Coach Marie Murphy expects Fullove to improve substantially in the weeks ahead.

“She’s peaking for the State meet,” said Murphy, who represented Ireland in the marathon in the 1988 Olympic Games in Barcelona. “She should break 18 this week and then be able to able to run between 17:40 and 17:45 in the State meet.”