Stein Goes East After West Run

Natalie Stein of North Hollywood High downplayed the importance of the West region cross-country championships all season, saying the City Section and state finals were the meets she was pointing toward.

But the truth came out Saturday after she finished eighth in the West regional at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut to grab the final qualifying spot for the national championships in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Saturday.

“This is the race I’ve been thinking about since the beginning of the season,” Stein said. “I’ve thought a lot about it since last year.”

The soft-spoken, unassuming Stein finished 22nd in the West regional last year, but few cross-country experts regarded her as a potential national finalist before the race.

Dyestat.rivals.com, one of the nation’s most popular high school track and cross-country Web sites, listed 15 runners to watch in its West region preview.

Stein was not one of them.

It didn’t take long, however, for Stein to make her presence known.

She was among the top 25 runners in a tightly bunched pack after the first mile and she had moved to 11th at the base of aptly named “Poop-out Hill” shortly before two miles. She was ninth as she crested the final hill on the course with a half-mile left and moved into eighth with a quarter-mile remaining when she passed a faltering Jodee Adams-Moore of Bellevue, Wash.

“I was so happy,” Stein said of her move into eighth. “I just wanted to hold it. I didn’t want to lose it.”

She didn’t as her 18:21 clocking over the 5,000-meter course left her three seconds in front of ninth-place Loretta Kilmer of Ramona High in the San Diego Section.

Kilmer, a senior, ran 17:46 to place third in the Division II race of the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Nov. 25, while Stein clocked 18:07 for fifth in the Division I final. But Stein wasn’t concerned with the fact that 12 girls ran faster than she did in the state meet.

“I didn’t run a great race [at state],” she said. “I went out too fast. . . . I thought that if everything went perfectly [in the West regional], I had a chance at the top eight.”

*

Adams-Moore, who won the 3-A Division title in the Washington state championships on Nov. 4, was the latest elite runner to fall victim to Mt. SAC’s grueling course. She literally staggered over the final quarter-mile to finish 85th in 20:12.

While Adams-Moore was fading from third to 85th in the final mile, freshman Lindsey Owen of Nordhoff was making a big move forward.

Owen, who won Division III titles in the state and Southern Section championships, was about 45th after the first mile before moving into 32nd at the base of “Poop-out Hill” and 18th at the finish.

Her time of 18:46 made her the third-fastest freshman in the race behind Liza Pasciuto of Murrieta Valley, who finished sixth in 18:12, and Caitlin Chock of Roseville Granite Bay, 12th in 18:39.

*

Mark Nevers of Oak Park saved the best cross-country race of his high school career for last as he ran 15:51 to place 11th in the seeded boys’ race of the West region championships.

Nevers placed second behind Ryan Hall of Big Bear in the state Division IV final, but his performance in the West regional was more impressive because it came against a higher-quality field.

“I really feel like I gave it my best effort,” Nevers said. “And I’m really proud of my last race.”

Nevers wasn’t among the top 25 runners in the first mile, but he moved into 19th at two miles and passed eight more runners by the finish.

“The first mile took a lot out of me and up the switchbacks, I was getting killed,” he said. “But I really got a second wind and I was starting to pick guys off one by one.”

*

Senior Tom Kubler of Viewpoint never recovered from the fast first mile in the West regional and finished a disappointing 30th in 16:16.

“Way too fast, way too fast,” Kubler said of the first mile in which the leaders came through in 4:36. “When I started up the switchbacks, it was like my whole body was reacting.”

Kubler, 12th in the West regional last year, was 27th after two miles.

“I should have gone out slower,” Kubler said to a fellow runner. “I goofed.”