Hoover’s Siraki Surprises

Some runners spend their whole careers in quest of that one perfect race in which they run as fast as they possibly can.

Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover High might have had her second perfect race in three weeks in the national cross-country championships at Oak Trail Course at Shades of Green in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Saturday.

Siraki, a junior, finished fourth in the girls’ race a week after placing seventh in the West region championships at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.

“I was just going for the top 15,” Siraki said. “I find it so weird that I was seventh in the regionals and fourth in nationals.”

Siraki clocked 17 minutes 23.9 seconds over the 5,000-meter course to become the fourth Hoover runner to earn All-American honors since the national championships began in 1979.

The top five finishers in each race earned first-team All-American honors with the sixth- through 10th-place finishers named to the second team and the 11th-15th selected to the third.

Senior Valerie Flores of San Pedro, the first athlete from the City Section to run in the national championships, placed 19th in 17:52.5 in the girls’ race.

Senior Augie Escobar of Villa Park placed 12th in the boys’ race in 15:14.8 with senior Travis Laird of San Marcos near San Diego 25th in 15:49.0 and senior Daniel Mejia of Anaheim Katella 26th in 15:58.1.

Siraki won the Southern Section Division I title with a scintillating 16:58 clocking over Mt. SAC’s hilly 2.95-mile course on Nov. 20. But she didn’t run as well in winning the state Division I title at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 27 or in the West regional.

She was “so nervous” on the drive to the course Saturday, but she settled down when the race began.

She was in 19th place in the 32-runner field after the first mile, but her time of 5:23 was only six seconds behind leader Katherine Hartmann of Woodstock (Ill.).

Siraki moved up to ninth place after two miles and was in fifth after three miles before passing Felicia Guliford of Gallup (N.M.) for fourth just before the finish.

“I was surprised when I heard my time at the mile,” Siraki said. “It was faster than I expected. . . . But I just said, ‘You know what? I feel good so I’m just going to go as fast as I can and hope that the people I pass don’t come back and pass me.’ ”

Guliford, a sophomore who was fourth in the national championships last year, was leading the race with less than 200 meters left. But she collapsed with an asthma attack shortly thereafter, just as she did in the West regional.

Senior Victoria Chang of Punahou (Hawaii) sped past Guliford to win in 17:05.8 with senior Victoria Jackson of Lake Forest (Ill.) second in 17:14.2.