She Enjoyed Every Step of the Way

Senior Anita Siraki of Hoover High lost the biggest race of her career in the final strides of the national cross-country championships in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Dec. 9. But she hasn’t been playing the would of, should of, could of game.

Yes, Siraki is disappointed Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery passed her in the final 15 meters of the 5,000-meter race at the Oak Trail Golf Course at Shades of Green.

Yes, Siraki would love to have become the second runner from the region to win the girls’ title since the national championships began in 1979.

But Siraki, The Times’ Valley/Ventura County girls’ runner of the year for the second time in a row, takes solace that she was in position to win the national title.

“To come so close to winning and not doing so is disappointing,” Siraki said. “That’s only natural. But I would have been a lot more disappointed if I hadn’t had a chance to win.”

Siraki and fellow co-favorite Alicia Craig of Gillette, Wyo., led the field through the first two miles, but Craig began to fade to a 20th-place finish shortly thereafter, leaving Siraki in the lead.

Siraki, fourth in the 1999 national final, had a five-meter lead on Bei with 200 meters remaining. But Bei caught her with 30 meters left and passed her with 15 to go.

The loss was only the second of the season for Siraki, who won her first 11 races before finishing second to Craig in the West region championships at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut on Dec. 2.

Included in Siraki’s victories were a stunning course-record effort in the Mt. SAC Invitational on Oct. 21 and her second consecutive victories in the Division I races of the Southern Section and state championships.

“Mt. SAC is the [race] that stands out because I beat the [course] record by 17 seconds,” said Siraki, who has taken recruiting trips to Stanford, UCLA and UC Irvine. “It was just really exciting to run that fast on that course. . . . There are still times where I can’t believe I ran that fast.”

Siraki’s 16:38 clocking over Mt. SAC’s vaunted 2.95-mile layout crushed the previous course record of 16:55 by Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa in 1995 and led some to predict a victory for her in the national championships.

Bei prevented that from happening, but Siraki is looking forward to the outdoor track season in which she hopes to become the second U.S. girl to break 10 minutes in the 3,200 meters.

“I kind of think about [the national record of 9:48.59 set by Kim Mortensen of Thousand Oaks in 1996],” Siraki said. “But that would be a [26-second] drop for me. That would be a big drop. . . . But I definitely think I can break 10 [minutes].”