Trotter’s Pace Too Fast for Field

Amber Trotter of Ukiah High had a look on her face that combined disbelief, pain and joy after crossing the finish line of the girls’ individual sweepstakes race in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational cross-country meet Saturday at Walnut.

Disbelief at shattering the girls’ course record by 22 seconds with a 16-minute 16-second clocking over the 2.91-mile layout.

Pain after pushing her body to the limit.

Joy at running one of the best girls’ cross-country races in U.S. high school history after missing nearly all of track season while battling anorexia.

“I was so obsessed about certain things,” said Trotter, a senior. “My doctor forbid me from racing and I didn’t know how I was going to handle that.”

Ukiah Coach Jerry Drew said the anorexia had to be addressed.

“We had to get it under control,” he said. “She was headed on a road to nowhere. We had to ask, ‘What’s more important? Her health or her running?”’

Trotter, seventh in the national championships in December, came through the mile in a sizzling 5:03 Saturday. Yet, many knowledgeable spectators wondered if she went too quickly because Anita Siraki of Glendale Hoover had run 5:27 while setting the course record of 16:38 in last year’s meet.

“I just decided to keep going for it,” Trotter said of a first mile that left the rest of the field more than 100 yards behind. “I tried to turn [the first mile] into a positive and not worry about it. I said, ‘I’ve got a real good start here, so let’s keep it going.”’

She rolled through two miles in 10:56 and was 21 seconds ahead of Siraki’s pace.

Her winning time was 55 seconds faster than she ran in finishing second to Siraki last year and would have made her the No. 5 runner on a Canyon Country Canyon squad that won the boys’ team sweepstakes.

“You’re not supposed to run [16:16],” Drew said of her performance. “That’s not suppose to happen.”

Junior Yong-Sung Leal of San Lorenzo Arroyo turned in the fastest time of the meet to win the boys’ individual sweepstakes.

Leal, defending Division II state champion, led the field through the mile in 4:41.

He had a three-second lead over senior Henry Hagenbuch of Carpinteria Cate when he came through two miles in 9:57 before blowing the race open shortly after and finishing in 14:43.

Carl Dambkowski, runner-up to Leal in the state final, finished second in 14:56, with Hagenbuch third in 15:00 and junior Michael Poe of Etiwanda fourth in 15:01.

Canyon backed up its No. 6 national ranking in the boys’ team sweepstakes with an 83-125 victory over ninth-ranked Long Beach Poly.

Senior Kevin Davis of Fresno Clovis West won in 14:47, but Canyon had three of the next four finishers. Senior Luke Llamas was second in 14:55 for the Cowboys, with senior Jameson Mora fourth in 15:01 and junior Ryan Morgan fifth in 15:11.

The cumulative time of the Cowboys’ top five runners was 77:07, the fastest ever at Mt. SAC.

Anaheim Esperanza won the girls’ team sweepstakes with a 69-104 victory over runner-up Chino Hills Ayala.