Siraki Becomes Leader of the Pack

The hunter could become the hunted next year.

That became clear when junior Anita Siraki of Hoover High finished a surprising fourth in the girls’ race of the national cross-country championships at the Oak Trail Course at Shades of Green in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Dec. 11.

Siraki, The Times’ Valley-Ventura County region girls’ runner of the year, entered the national final as one of the top performers in California. She left it as one of the contenders for next year’s title.

“There are very few people who 1/8Siraki 3/8 should go out behind now,” Coach Greg Switzer said. “She has to prepare herself to run with the lead pack next year and that’s a huge gamble in itself.”

Siraki, seventh in the West region championships at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut on Dec. 4, has excelled over the last 18 months by going out behind the leaders in major races and working her way to the front.

That tactic paid off handsomely in the national final when she went from 19th place after the first mile to ninth at two-miles to fourth at the finish of the 5,000-meter race. But Switzer says she won’t be able to win a national title by coming from that far back.

“The winner always comes out of the lead pack at the mile,” Switzer said. “You don’t have to be the one pushing the pace at that point, but you have to be in that pack if you want to have a chance at winning.”

Siraki won nine of 12 races this season, including her first Division I titles in the Southern Section and state championships.

Her 16:58 clocking in the section final moved her to third all-time on Mt. SAC’s hilly 2.95-mile layout. Along with her performance in the national meet, some experts predict fast times for her in track.

Siraki ran a career best of 10:30.81 in the 3,200 last season and finished fifth in the state track championships in June. She isn’t sure if that event will be her primary race this season.

” 1/8Switzer 3/8 wants me to focus on the 1,600 and I really don’t want to,” Siraki said. “I like the 1/83,200 3/8 more because if you make a mistake or have a bad lap, you have time to fix it.

“But if you make a mistake in the 1,600, you don’t have a lot of time to correct it.”

Switzer admits that Siraki will run more high-quality races in the 1,600 than the 3,200, but a decision about which race to focus on in the state championships probably won’t be made until late May.

“I’m already thinking about getting her into some fast 1/81600-meter races 3/8,” Switzer said.

“But she doesn’t need to run very many fast 1/83,200 races 3/8. We want to be very selective about those.”