Royal’s Pedersen Finally Running With Fast Crowd

It’s much easier to push yourself in workouts when you’re training with a group than by yourself.

Jaclyn Pedersen of Royal High knows that firsthand.

The outgoing Pedersen was among the top distance runners in Ventura County since her freshman cross-country season in 1997. But she had not improved since her sophomore year, when she won the county title and placed fourth in the Southern Section Division I final in cross-country and finished fourth in the 3,200 meters in the Division I track championships.

A stress fracture in her left shin limited Pedersen’s 1999 cross-country season to three meets, and her performances remained stagnant during the 2000 track and cross-country seasons.

“It was extremely frustrating,” Pedersen said. “All of these runners who I had beaten on a regular basis were annihilating me.”

After much thought, Pedersen concluded that her failure to improve was the result of training by herself.

With no one on the Royal girls’ team able to keep pace with her in workouts, Pedersen had to push herself in training.

“I felt like I was working my heart out,” she said. “But I just wasn’t doing the things in practice that I needed to be doing to run well in the big meets. The times I did run well were more a case of me mentally pushing myself beyond my physical limits.”

Pedersen, who has committed to Long Beach State, has been training with a group of boys at Royal since January and enjoying every minute of it.

“There’s usually five guys ahead of me, 10 guys around me and five guys behind me,” Pedersen said of her workouts. “It’s a big, big pack, but I feel like I’m getting in the best training of my life.”

Her races seem to indicate that.

Pedersen ran a school-record 5:08.59 in the 1,600 against Newbury Park two weeks ago and she won the 1,500 in a school-record 4:45.15 in the Santa Barbara Easter Relays at Santa Barbara City College on Saturday.

“She ran that pretty effortlessly,” said assistant Ryan Luce, who has been working with Pedersen since January. “I think if there had been someone next to her, she could have picked up and gone even faster.”

Pedersen agrees.

After beginning the season with a goal of 5:05 in the 1,600, she figures she can run in the 4:55-4:57 range.

“At the start of the year, I was just hoping to cut a few seconds off my [personal record of 5:09.69],” she said. “Breaking five minutes seemed like it was way out there, but I definitely feel like I can do that now.”

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Pedersen isn’t the only Royal runner on a career-best rampage this season.

Senior Tim Ramirez has lowered his bests to 1:57.1 in the 800, 4:05.97 in the 1,500 and 4:25.97 in the 1,600.

Not bad for a runner who was known more for his potential than his accomplishments.

“He’s finally decided to listen to what I have to say about training,” Luce said. “In the past, his thing was that he knew it all. And didn’t we all at that age?”

Luce said Ramirez had “never really worked hard,” before this season.

“He always wanted to feel fresh in races so he didn’t train hard,” Luce said. “He wanted his legs to feel fresh in every race, but that’s not the way it works when you’re training hard early in the season.”

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It’s better to be safe than sorry.

That’s why senior Alexis Weatherspoon of Grant won’t make her season debut until Wednesday in a meet against North Hollywood.

Weatherspoon, two-time defending City Section champion in the girls’ 100 and 200, finished fifth in those events in the state championships last year. But she figured she could have done better were it not for a tender left hamstring.

It was the second consecutive year that the hamstring had acted up, leading Weatherspoon, her mother and Coach James Harvey to contemplate a late start this season.

Their decision was finalized at the end of basketball season when Weatherspoon, an All-City guard, experienced soreness in her left knee.

“It’s a precautionary-type thing,” said Weatherspoon, who has a track scholarship to USC. “We didn’t want to chance anything.”

That caution might preclude Weatherspoon from competing in the long jump this season after winning the City title in the event last year.

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Freshman Alysia Johnson of Canyon appears capable of breaking the school record of 12.5 in the 100 after setting school bests of 25.2 in the 200 and 56.8 in the 400 against Saugus at College of the Canyons last week.

The school record in the 800 won’t fall so easily, however.

That’s because Lauren Fleshman ran a superb 2:11.05 to win the Division II final of the 1999 Southern Section championships.

That victory was part of an 800-1,600-3,200 triple that made Fleshman the only girl to win all three events in the section championships.

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Stanford completed an outstanding recruiting season with its recent commitment from Anita Siraki of Hoover.

Siraki, top-ranked two-miler in the nation last year and runner-up in the national cross-country championships in December, will be part of a freshman class that includes Sara Bei of Santa Rosa Montgomery and Alicia Craig of Campbell County High in Gillette, Wyo.

Bei out-kicked Siraki to win the national cross-country title.

Craig defeated Siraki and Bei for the West region cross-country title and was the top-ranked miler in the nation last year.

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Valencia will host Canyon in a Foothill League meet today that could decide the boys’ league title.

Valencia, led by Wes Felix and Chris Chutuk, is expected to score well in the sprints, relays and hurdles.

Canyon, led by distance runners Nick Zoetewey, Luke Llamas and Jameson Mora, could go 1-2-3 in the 800, 1,600 and 3,200.

“The field events will probably decide the meet,” Canyon co-Coach Dave DeLong said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Top 10

Rankings of track and field teams from the region

BOYS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Taft (West Valley) 2 2 Birmingham (West Valley) 3 3 Cleveland (West Valley) 4 4 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 5 5 Palmdale (Golden) 6 7 Hueneme (Pacific View) 7 8 Notre Dame (Mission) 8 NR Canyon (Foothill) 9 NR Moorpark (Marmonte) 10 6 Royal (Marmonte)

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GIRLS

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RK LW School (League) 1 1 Birmingham (West Valley) 2 2 Rio Mesa (Pacific View) 3 3 Notre Dame (Mission) 4 5 Cleveland (West Valley) 5 6 Canyon (Foothill) 6 8 Royal (Marmonte) 7 4 Thousand Oaks (Marmonte) 8 7 Crescenta Valley (Pacific) 9 NR Moorpark (Marmonte) 10 9 Buena (Channel)

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STAT OF THE WEEK

Six individuals and one relay team from the region have posted state-leading marks in their respective track and field events this year. A list of the local state leaders:

Boys

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Event Mark Name, School 200 21.68 Seth Amoo, Highland 400 47.5 Jason Lovell, Cleveland 110 HH 13.97 Chris Morgan, Taft 400 Relay 41.30 Taft Triple Jump 48-3 1/2 Jamil Smith, Palmdale

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Girls

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Event Mark Name, School 100 11.82 **Allyson Felix, L.A. Baptist 200 24.06(i) **Allyson Felix, L.A. Baptist Pole Vault 12-9 1/2 Melissa Astete, Birmingham

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Times in hundredths are fully automatic. Times in tenths are hand held. Hand-held times cannot be considered for state-leading marks in races of 200 meters or less. (i)--Indoor mark. ** Sophomore. Others are seniors.