Field Finally Catches Up With Fleet-Footed Siraki

The waiting is almost over for junior Anita Siraki of Hoover High.

After winning her first five cross-country races of the season by wide margins, Siraki will be tested in the individual sweepstakes race of the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational on Saturday morning.

Siraki, who placed fourth in the state Division I final last year, faces a stellar field that includes junior Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery, defending Foot Locker West regional champion; senior Abby Miller of Henderson, Nev., fourth in the West regional; senior Jamie Witt of Folsom, defending state Division II champion; and senior Valerie Flores of San Pedro, sixth in the state Division I final.

“I can’t wait,” Siraki said. “It’s like the first real race of the season when I’ll get pushed by other people.”

Siraki, whose Armenian parents gained political asylum in the United States in 1985 after fleeing their native Iran because of persecution for their Christian beliefs, placed seventh in the individual sweepstakes last year. She was nearly a minute and a half behind Bei’s winning time of 17:05 over the hilly, 2.95-mile course, but she could be Bei’s biggest challenger Saturday.

That’s because she improved greatly at the end of last season and ran even better in track.

“The state [cross-country] meet was a big race for me,” Siraki said. “Because it made me realize that I could be really good if I kept working at it. It motivated me to train harder for track.”

Siraki upset friend and state Division I cross-country champion Lauren Fleshman of Canyon to win the two-mile run in the L.A. Invitational indoor meet at the Sports Arena in February, and she posted winning times of 5:04.0 in the 1,600 meters and 10:55.6 in the 3,200 in the Meet of Champions Distance Classic at Azusa Pacific in March.

But it was her performance in the prestigious Arcadia Invitational at Arcadia High in April that elevated her standing.

First, she anchored Hoover to a come-from-behind victory in the open distance medley relay with a 1,600 leg of 4:52.3.

Then she ran 10:30.81 in the invitational 3,200 to place second behind Fleshman’s then-nation-leading time of 10:21.36.

“That was so far beyond my expectations,” Siraki said. “I don’t know how I could run that fast in the 3,200 after running 4:52 in the relay. It was so weird because I came through the 1,600 in 5:16, which was basically my [personal record] in the 1,600 the year before, and it felt easy. I was just so relaxed.”

Siraki’s only regret last season was a fifth-place finish in the 3,200 in the state championships at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento in June.

Siraki appeared to have a chance at finishing second behind Fleshman, but she went out too hard and finished fifth in 10:41.60.

“That was a pretty dumb strategy, especially for the state meet,” Siraki said. “I should have run my own race. Going out hard like that just killed me. That last [1,600] was torture. There was one point where I wished I could drop out.”

That’s a detailed analysis coming from someone who had “no idea about anything” when she went out for the Hoover cross-country team as a freshman.

“I wanted to do a sport,” Siraki said. “And I liked running. I was like, ‘This is pretty cool to go out and run with a group of people.’ ”

Coach Greg Switzer of Hoover quickly realized that Siraki was special.

She ran 50 miles in her first week of training and clocked a promising 19:19 over the three-mile course at the Woodbridge Invitational in Irvine.

She pulled a calf muscle shortly thereafter, however, and the injury hampered her for the rest of the season.

She had an unspectacular track season until the league finals, when she clocked 5:15.22 to finish second in the 1,600 and 11:59.68 to place third in the 3,200.

Those performances served as a springboard for a sophomore year that has fueled high expectations this season.

Siraki, who ran 105 miles in her final training week of the summer, is favored to win the state Division I title at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 27 and picked to finish among the top eight in the West regional at Mt. SAC on Dec. 4.

A top-eight finish in the West regional would qualify her for the national championships in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Dec. 11, and make Siraki the fourth Hoover runner to advance to the national meet that began in 1979.

Switzer guided Eliazar Herrera (1989), Margarito Casillas (‘91) and David Lopez (‘96) to All-American finishes at the boys’ level, but Siraki is the first elite girl he has coached.

“She is a complete runner,” Switzer said of the 5-foot-2 1/2 Siraki. “She is mentally tough, physically talented and has a body structure that is solid and allows her to withstand the rigors of training. She had the problem with her calf as a freshman, but she hasn’t had any injuries since then.”

Fleshman, who is having a superb freshman season for No. 1-ranked Stanford, says Siraki’s zest for running sets her apart.

“She definitely has a love for the sport and is willing to make sacrifices for it,” Fleshman said. “She trains like a college runner would, and that’s unusual at the high school level.”

Razmik Siraki, Anita’s father, says his daughter has always immersed herself in personal endeavors.

“She has been gifted that way from the beginning,” Razmik said. “When she was in gymnastics when she was younger, she was very passionate about it. She is the same way about running.”

Siraki, a near straight-A student, concurs.

“I really enjoy running,” she said. “If I don’t enjoy something, I can’t be good at it. . . Running is something I love to do.”