Siraki Outruns Bad Feeling, Comes On for Good Finish

As the years go by, Anita Siraki of Hoover High could have two contrasting memories of the West region cross-country championships held at Mt. San Antonio College on Saturday.

The first could be of the joy she felt when her seventh-place finish in the seeded girls’ race made her the fourth Hoover runner--and first girl--to advance to the national championships since the meet began in 1979.

The second could be of the “sick feeling” she experienced during the race.

“That feels great,” Siraki said of qualifying for the national championships at Oak Trail Course at Shades of Green in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Dec. 11. “But my race [felt] terrible. That [was] the worst feeling I’ve ever had from start to finish of a race.”

The top eight in each race advanced to the national championships.

The girls’ race was loaded with surprises.

Alicia Craig of Campbell County, Wyo., placed first after leader Felicia Guliford of Gallup, N.M., collapsed because of breathing difficulties with 150 meters left.

Defending champion Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery faded from first to 10th in the last three-quarters of a mile and touted Sarah Gorton of Mountain Pointe, Ariz., dropped out after two miles.

Bei, a junior who was third in the national final last year, led the field through a pedestrian 5:35 first mile.

Siraki, state Division I champion, was in 12th place at that point and moved to ninth at the base of aptly-named “Poop-out Hill” just before two miles.

She moved into eighth a quarter-mile later and was briefly in fifth at the top of the final hill on the course after passing a faltering Bei with about 1,000 meters to go.

“I thought something was wrong with her because she was running off to the side,” Siraki said. “There’s kind of a line on the course that all the runners take and she was off to the right.”

Siraki was in sixth place when she ran onto the Mt. SAC track with about 260 meters left, but she was unable to hold off junior Alejandra Barrientos of Felton San Lorenzo Valley in the final 150 meters.

Barrientos, defending state champion in the 1,600, clocked 18:21 over the 5,000-meter course with Siraki two seconds behind in seventh.

Senior Valerie Flores of San Pedro was the first Californian.

Flores finished a surprising fifth in 18:21 after a cold slowed her to fifth in the state Division I final at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 27.

Craig, a junior, timed 18:07 and sophomore Guliford got up to finish second in 18:13 after experiencing what she described as an asthma attack.

“I’m just glad I made it,” said Siraki, who finished 15th in 18:59 last year.

Junior Natalie Stein of North Hollywood finished 22nd in 19:23 after a dismal 43rd-place finish in the state Division I final.

“I don’t know what happened at state,” Stein said. “But it took the pressure off [Saturday].”

Junior Laura Jakosky of Agoura, Ventura County champion, was 44th in 19:54, with junior Kelley Hess of Thousand Oaks 53rd in 20:01.

Senior Rae Stumbough of Nordhoff, state Division IV champion, placed 75th in 20:25.

Junior Tom Kubler of Viewpoint was 12th in the boys’ race in 16:20.

“It was a lot better than my performance in the state meet,” said Kubler, who finished fifth among Californians.

Kubler won the state Division V final, but his time of 15:51 tied him for 30th overall.

Although he was in about 60th place after the first mile Saturday, his time of 4:50 was only six seconds back of leaders Josh Rohatinsky of Provo, Utah, and Ian Dobson of Klamath Union, Ore.

Kubler was in 21st place at the two-mile mark and in 12th when he entered the track stadium.

“That was the toughest race I’ve ever run,” he said. “The heat and the all the dust made it very difficult.”

Rohatinsky ran 15:37, becoming the first boy to win consecutive West region titles. Dobson was second in 15:45.