Siraki Breaks Course Record

Senior Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover High didn’t just break the girls’ course record in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational cross-country meet in Walnut on Saturday.

She annihilated it.

In a performance that left Siraki, her coach and numerous spectators shaking their heads in disbelief, Siraki clocked 16 minutes 38 seconds over the 2.95-mile layout to better the previous course mark of 16:55 set by Julia Stamps of Santa Rosa in 1995.

Stamps is regarded as one of the best cross-country runners in state history, but Siraki turned in a performance that had some experts comparing it to Melody Fairchild’s 16:39 clocking to win the 1990 national title at San Diego’s Morley Field.

Fairchild’s effort, which gave the then-Boulder, Colo., senior a 59-second margin of victory, had been considered the greatest cross-country performance ever by a U.S. school girl.

Siraki’s time was doubly impressive because she had been battling a cold since Tuesday night.

“I kind of lost hope [of setting a course record],” said Siraki, who ran 16:58 to win the Southern Section Division I title at Mt. SAC last year. “I wasn’t even expecting this today.”

Siraki, the top-ranked 3,200-meter runner in the nation during track season, was one of nine runners who came through the flat first mile in 5:27. But she took the lead as the course headed up a set of steep switchbacks and was never seriously challenged after that.

She had an eight-second lead on second-place Amber Trotter of Ukiah at the base of aptly-named Poop-Out Hill at 1 3/4 miles and her lead was 11 seconds when she came through two miles in 11:17.

Siraki knew she was on a course-record pace at that point, but she never expected to run a time that would have left three-time state champion Stamps nearly 100 yards behind her during her record run.

Siraki’s record effort overshadowed several outstanding performances.

Trotter’s 17:11 clocking moved her to fifth on the all-time course performer list, Long Beach Poly was a runaway winner in the boys’ team sweepstakes, J.J. Duke of Clovis won the boys’ individual sweepstakes and Clovis Buchanan upset Felton San Lorenzo Valley to win the girls’ team sweepstakes.

Long Beach Poly, the No. 2-ranked team in the nation by Harrier magazine, defeated No. 9 Canyon Country Canyon, 67-125.

Duke posted the fastest time of the two-day meet with a 14:56 clocking.

Buchanan edged San Lorenzo Valley, 116-117, a week after suffering a 48-point loss to the Cougars in the Crystal Springs Invitational in Northern California.