By Pete Borello
The Mountain View High girls cross country team’s first trip to the state meet in more than a decade could be the start of something.
The Spartans head to Woodward Park in Fresno this weekend with a young team poised to return to state next year, and maybe even the year after that.
“Our five fastest girls are all coming back,” coach Evan Smith said.
Mountain View’s fab five comprises sophomores Mary Reynolds, Kristine Talbot and Alexandra Westbrock, junior Tania Morimoto and freshman Zoe Pappas.
These girls - along with senior Marloes Sijstermans - all placed in the top 30 at the Central Coast Section Division II championships Nov. 11 at Toro Park in Salinas. Their efforts led to the Spartans’ third-place finish at CCS and the last spot in Saturday’s state meet.
Mountain View, champion of the SCVAL El Camino Division, finished behind only Los Gatos and runner-up Gunn, which topped the Spartans by 12 points at CCS.
“The gap between third and fourth was pretty big,” said Smith, whose squad beat out fourth-place Aptos by a whopping 43 points. “As a team, it was our best race of year.”
For Reynolds, it was her second-best race of the year, according to Smith. She paced Mountain View with a fourth-place time of 18 minutes, 45 seconds.
“There were four girls in a close sprint for fourth, and Mary beat them all,” Smith said. “She’s very tough. She made a big step up this year.”
Morimoto, the Spartans’ next-best finisher at 19th, ran a season-best 19:54. Smith said Morimoto, who qualified for state a year ago with a 12th-place finish, is just hitting her stride after recovering from an iron deficiency that hindered her for most of the season.
Mountain View’s other notable performers at CCS included Talbot (22nd, 20:04), Pappas (23rd, 20:05), Westbrock (27th, 20:08) and Sijstermans (29th, 20:19). Talbot has been the Spartans’ most consistent runner this season, according to Smith.
Mountain View intends to leave Friday for Fresno, Smith said, so the team can check out the course before racing Saturday morning. Robbie Reid will also be running, having qualified individually with a sixth-place finish (16:11) in the CCS Division II boys race.
“It wasn’t his best race,” the coach said of Reid’s time of 16:11, “but you have to run well to get to state.”
A senior who has also entered the Western Regional meet Dec. 2 at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, Reid has been Mountain View’s top runner for three years. Smith said Reid “is getting a lot of letters from universities” interested in recruiting him.
Smith is hopeful Reid and Reynolds can finish among the top 20 in their respective races Saturday on the 3.1-mile Woodward Park course. Each field comprises 180 runners.
“It’s extremely competitive, and Southern California has the best runners in the country,” the coach said. “If you finish in the top 30, it’s a good race.”
There will be 23 girls teams competing, and Smith said that “if we finish in the top 10 in state, I’d be really happy.”
