Freshman Distance Runner Is Speedy Beyond Her Years

Cal State Fullerton cross-country Coach John Elders sees Terry Vega as potentially “the next Heather Killeen.”

Being compared to the top female distance runner ever at the school is quite a billing for a freshman, but Vega already has shown some of that potential in the cross-country season. Vega has been the top finisher for the Titan women’s team in all four meets this season.

“Heather busted out right away as a freshman, the same way Terry did,” Elders said. “Terry has the same kind of talent, and she’s very mature as far as her approach to training goes. She doesn’t over-train the way some young kids do. She’s a smart runner. You don’t see that maturity in a freshman that often. She has all the tools to be good.”

Vega also is pleased with her start.

“Everyone told me not to expect too much from the beginning because a lot of people don’t do that well as freshmen,” Vega said. “I didn’t really know what to expect running in college meets. In high school, I knew the runners I had to try to beat in most races, and I was familiar with most of the courses. In college, it’s all new to me.”

She also is happy she decided on Fullerton.

“Some out-of-state schools contacted me, but I wanted to stay close to home,” she said. “This school is just right for me. I like the atmosphere, and I’m close to my family, and that was important to me.”

Vega has continued to live with her parents in San Bernardino this fall, but that’s made getting to practice at 7 a.m. a bit of a hassle at times.

“It’s a drive of more than an hour at that time of the morning, so I’ve been staying with my sister in City of Industry about three nights during the week,” Vega said. “I’ll probably move into a dorm by next fall.”

While the 1,500 meters was Vega’s favorite track event at San Gorgonio High School, Elders believes her best events in college will be the 3,000 and 5,000.

“I know she really likes the shorter distance, but I think she’ll be more of a strength runner,” Elders said. “Once she has some success in the longer distances, she’ll feel good about it.”

Vega says her only long-range concern is the back pain she sometimes experiences after races.

“It started during my senior year [in high school] during cross-country,” Vega said. “I don’t think it was an injury or anything like that. It just started hurting. It has bothered me at times this fall, but it’s mostly after I run and not during the race itself.”

Vega says physical therapy has helped.

“I had an MRI and it showed that the problem wasn’t bone-related, so I have to hope that the therapy will help,” Vega said. “I think I could be doing even better if it weren’t for my back.”

Vega says she is flattered by Elders’ comparison to Killeen, and doesn’t feel burdened by it.

“It just makes me aim higher,” Vega said. “But I don’t want to put any extra pressure on myself. For now, I just want to concentrate on running the best that I can.”

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Vega had her best time of the season Saturday in the Stanford Invitational, running the 5,000-meter course in 18 minutes 2 seconds. She finished 30th and had the sixth-best time among Big West Conference runners.

Elders said Carrie Garritson and Jenifer Martin also had solid races. “Carrie is still having some shin problems, and has been running some gutsy races despite the pain,” Elders said. “And Jenifer had her strongest race of the season.”

Garritson was 73rd in the field of 145 with a time of 18:50. Martin ran 19:04, finishing 92nd. Josh Slater’s 26:25 time for the 8,000-meter course was the best for the Titan men.

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The men’s soccer team completed the nonconference part of its schedule last weekend with a 7-3-1 record, and Coach Al Mistri remains hopeful his team will do well in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation race.

The Titans will have this weekend off before they begin the MPSF season Oct. 16 against Sacramento State at Titan Stadium. Fullerton plays defending national champion UCLA Oct. 18, also at home.

Mistri expects the top teams in the conference to be UCLA, Washington and Stanford along with the Titans. “If we beat two out of three of them, then I think we’d have a good chance of getting an NCAA tournament berth,” Mistri said. “But we’ll be playing two of the three [Washington and Stanford] on the other teams’ home field.”

Mistri hopes the weekend off will help his team be ready for the start of the conference season.

“We’ve not come as far as I hoped we would,” Mistri said. “We’re a good team, but not an elite team at this point.”

Mistri was disappointed by the shutout losses to Tulsa and Southern Methodist two weeks ago at SMU. “I really don’t know what the problem was in Texas, other than our maturity level still isn’t what it should be,” Mistri said.

Fullerton came back to win the Titan Classic last weekend with victories over Fresno State and Cal State Los Angeles.