Allen Finally Learns the Value of Patience

Julie Allen is the two-time defending Orange County cross-country champion and has placed second and third in the last two state Division I finals.

Yet the Newport Beach Corona del Mar senior only recently concluded that running conservatively in the first mile of a race can lead to better times.

Allen, who is favored to win her third consecutive Orange County title at Irvine Regional Park on Saturday, would force the pace to start races.

Allen, who transferred from Fountain Valley to Corona del Mar in the middle of her junior year, felt she “wasn’t doing a race justice” if she started conservatively. The straight-A student began to change her attitude in late May, however, when a controlled start in the 3,200 meters at the Southern Section Masters meet earned her the fifth and final spot in the state championship race.

“She’s a very, very, talented runner who had no race savvy when she came here,” said Coach Bill Sumner of Corona del Mar. “Her way of racing was to go out hard and see if anyone could catch her.”

When similarly patient tactics produced career bests of 10:39.52 for third in the state championships and 10:36.03 for fourth in the Golden West Invitational, Allen was sold on the benefits of pacing herself.

“I found out it was easier to run 10:36 that way than to run 10:45 or 10:50 the other way,” she said.

Her roll has continued in cross-country. She is unbeaten in six races and the No. 2-ranked runner in the state by Caltrack.com.

She had the biggest victory of her career in the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 29 when she won the Division III title. Her 18:06 clocking over the 5,000-meter course gave her an 11-second margin of victory over No. 3-ranked Jenna Timinsky of Encinitas San Dieguito Academy.

Timinsky forced the pace from the start, but Allen caught her at the end of the first mile. Allen opened up a 15-yard lead on Timinsky on an uphill portion of the course at 13/4 miles, but didn’t panic when Timinsky pulled alongside her at two miles.

“She told me after the race that when Timinsky caught her, she just said, ‘I’m going again,”’Sumner said. “She saw an opening and she went for it.”

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Making progress: The Long Beach Poly boys’ team hasn’t won an invitational this season, but the Jackrabbits appear to be getting better as the season goes along.

Racing without senior Oscar Mendez, who was out with sore shins, Poly, the No. 9-ranked team in Harrier magazine’s national poll, placed a close fourth Saturday behind No. 4 McFarland, No. 6 Canyon Country Canyon and unranked Riverside Rubidoux in the seeded race of the Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Fresno.At the finish, the gap between the Jackrabbits’ No. 1 and 5 runners was 23 seconds.

“I was real pleased,” Coach George Wright said. “That was the first meet this season where everyone ran as well as expected or better than expected.”

Rough race: Don’t try telling Mark Bingham and Jameson Mora of Canyon that running is a noncontact sport.

Bingham was knocked to the ground by a runner next to him in the first 50 meters of the Clovis Invitational and Mora hit the deck after Bingham fell in front of him during the race that included more than 170 runners.