Sports Update: Alameda High Girls Cross Country

By Chris Carlson

The AHS Girls Varsity XC Team is off to a fast start and has some ambitious goals for the 2011 season. The 2010 ACCAL champions aim to defend their League Title and improve on their 7th, 10th and 13th place finishes over the last three years at the North Coast Section (NCS) Div. 2 Championships. 

Head Coach Nino Hernandez and veteran girls coach Bruce Hicks share enthusiasm about this year’s team. The girls talk about the fun they had at their summer running camp near South Lake Tahoe. Coach Hicks remarked about the squad: “It is one of our biggest and may prove to be one of Alameda’s best. The girls put in good base mileage over the summer. They believe in the training. This is a super group of girls with a team attitude.”

Some in the running community may think Alameda still lacks star power. But this group is fairly young, continues to improve, can run in tight packs and now has greater depth. Junior Kelly Hosokawa has NCS Track Championships credentials and is joined by senior co-captains Irene Xu, Lindsi Tu, sophomores Sonia Xu, Andie Nguyen, Elise Yuen, Polly Fong and Mariko Stenstedt. New freshmen Montana Sepp and Isabel Sullivan also look to compete for varsity spots this year.

The Varsity team narrowly lost to rival Berkeley 28-27 during a league meet opener at Cesar Chavez Park in Berkeley September 9th on a course measuring a bit over 3.1 miles.

At the Lowell Invitational Sept 17th in Golden Gate Park, Alameda defeated San Ramon Valley and 16 other teams in a 2.8 mile varsity race with a field of 127 runners. The Lady Hornets placed its top 5 scoring runners in the first 33 finishers. Sonia Xu led the team (19:16, 8th) followed by Hosokawa (19:23, 11th), Irene Xu (19:46, 20th), Tu (20:13, 30th), Stenstedt (20:24, 33rd), Nguyen (20:25, 36th) and Fong (21:18, 67th).

In the Junior Varsity race on the same course, senior Rebeckah Vitucci (20:53, 5th) and junior Jessica Alvarado (22:01, 22nd) led their team to a 4th place team finish out of 14 schools.

The Frosh/Soph team placed 7th in a 15 team field of 173 runners. Freshman Isabel Sullivan (15:47,7th) and Sophomore Elise Yuen (16:04,17th) delivered standout performances over a 2.07 mile course.

The team will race in six more Invitational and League meets as they prepare for the NCS Div. 2 Championships at Hayward High November 19th. That meet could feature a very competitive 20 team Div. 2 field expected to include reigning champions Washington (Fremont) and strong teams from College Park, San Ramon Valley, Maria Carrillo and Dougherty Valley.

This year the Alameda girls believe they are in the hunt with those top teams. That individual and team awards are possible at any meet during the season. And they have also begun to fix their eyes on a special prize. The top 3 teams at NCS qualify to compete at the California CIF State Cross Country Championships in Fresno Nov. 26.

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