Treadway of Canyon Is Second to None--by One Second

Dave DeLong, cross-country coach at Canyon High, has a favor to ask of Highland peer John Johnston.

He’d like to know if Cassie Ramirez could run in all of Canyon’s remaining races this season. That way, junior Jazmin Treadway would perform superbly every meet.

Treadway has run well all season, but her top two efforts have come against Ramirez, defending Golden League champion for Highland.

Treadway edged Ramirez by one second Saturday to win her second consecutive title in the large schools race of the Santa Clarita Valley Invitational at Castaic Lake.

Treadway had a big victory against Ramirez inthe junior race of the season-opening Seaside Park Invitational at the Ventura County Fairgrounds on Sept. 9.

Treadway, runner-up in the Foothill League final last year, broke away from Ramirez with a half-mile left to win by 11 seconds in the Seaside meet. But she had to outrun her over the final 220 yards on Saturday to clock 17:59 over the three-mile course that consisted of relatively flat asphalt roadways and bike paths for the first 1 3/4 miles, and rolling dirt hills for the final 1 1/4 miles.

“I know she has a pretty good kick so I wanted to have a bit of a lead coming off the [last hill],” Treadway said. “I didn’t want to have to make up ground on her.”

Treadway, Ramirez and Canyon freshman Lauren Walker shared the lead for the first half of the race, but it became a Treadway-Ramirez battle shortly thereafter.

Treadway led by a couple of strides as she and Ramirez entered a stand of pine trees just before two miles, but Ramirez opened up a five-meter lead as they emerged from the trees 150 yards later.

“I felt like she wasn’t pushing it so I thought I’d better get going if I wanted to win the race,” Ramirez said. “I felt like I had to go because she has an awesome kick. I learned that at Seaside.”

Ramirez could not extend her lead. Treadway passed her at the top of the course’s final hill with about 330 yards remaining.

Ramirez caught Treadway on the descent before Treadway spurted to a five-yard lead and maintained it to the finish line.

“I want [Ramirez] in every race we run,” DeLong said. “Because every time Jazmin runs against her, she takes it to another level.”

Canyon, the No. 3-ranked Division II team in the state, had four of the next six finishers to easily win its fourth consecutive title with a 23-point total.

Indio was second with 121 points, followed by Highland with 139, Moorpark with 163 and Birmingham with 168.

Sophomore Brenda Stevens placed third in 18:22 for Canyon with Walker fourth in 18:29, freshman Leanne Riggin seventh in 19:03 and freshman Alysia Johnson eighth in 19:07.

Canyon won its second consecutive boys’ large schools title despite being less than full strength.

Senior Nick Zoetewey was taking the Scholastic Assessment Test and freshman Jace Getskow was running in the freshman-sophomore race, leaving Canyon without its Nos. 1 and 5 runners.

But juniors Luke Llamas and Jameson Mora, and sophomore Ryan Morgan placed first, second and third to pace the Cowboys to a 65-124 victory over runner-up Burroughs.

Llamas, third in last year’s race, clocked 15:08, with Mora at 15:11 and Morgan at 15:29 for Canyon.

Senior Germain Ortiz of Monroe placed sixth in 15:39, followed by Burroughs seniors Tony Ahr and Henry Nunez at 15:42 and 15:44.

Louisville, paced by Erica Hanson’s third-place time of 20:18, won its second consecutive small schools girls’ title with a 51-71 victory over Lancaster Desert Christian.

David Miller of Lancaster Desert Christian won the small schools boys’ race in 16:04 to help the Knights finish second with 58 points. San Diego was first with 52 points.