Wildcats win three cross country championships

Sullivan Middle School won three of the four North County Middle School Cross Country League championships Nov. 1 at Kit Carson Park.

The Wildcats won the championships for sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls, sixth-grade and seventh-grade boys, and eighth-grade girls. Sullivan's eighth-grade boys placed sixth.

"I am not sure if three championships has ever happened in the history of North County Middle School Cross Country," said Sullivan coach Tamara Miller. "Sullivan is extremely proud of our accomplishments and has set our sights on four championships next year."

Cross country team scores are derived by adding the positions of a school's first five finishers; the sixth and seventh runners are not scored but can add points to other teams' totals. The position of the sixth runner is also used as the tiebreaker if two teams have an equal number of points.

"Cross country is a complex sport to coach, a sport that if you weren't a cross country runner yourself it would be difficult to fully comprehend and apply all that is involved in the recipe of success," said Miller, who ran cross country and also track at Fallbrook High School and the University of California, Riverside and as a La Paloma Elementary School sixth-grader in 1987 set the Don Dornon Games record for the one-mile race.

"You not only have to understand each runner on your team, each course they will race and the strategy for each course, but most importantly you must understand your competition," said Miller. "If you can predict the other teams, then you can adjust your approach in each race and each course.

"Cross country is a team sport, and the majority of my coaching is getting my runners to work together, whether in pairs or a larger pack," continued Miller. "My runners listen to me, trust my training and coaching for each course we have in our schedule. They know their strategy and apply it. The majority of my training applies to the end goal, which is the championship. I tailor all of my training, peak, and taper times around the championship course and date. Every runner on my team gains more personal confidence through individual and team improvement over the course of the season."

The course for all races at the championship meet was 2.00 miles.

Sullivan's sixth-grade and seventh-grade boys won the championship by one point. The Wildcats had 78 points and Martin Luther King (Oceanside) totaled 79 points. San Elijo (San Marcos) was third with 109 points.

The first Sullivan finisher, seventh-grader Wilson Christopherson, was 10th overall with a time of 12:11. Seventh-grader Devin Huntington was 12th at 12:14, sixth-grader Jacques Rogers had a time of 12:18 for 13th place, seventh-grader Tony Cortez was the 19th finisher and had a time of 12:33, and Fisher Phillips took 29th place with a 12:54 performance.

Phillips finished two positions ahead of Martin Luther King runner Elias Briones, whose time of 12:57 was worth 31st place. Austin Ovary of San Marcos Middle School also took 12:57 and edged out Briones for 30th place.

"I have always told my team every runner can make or break us," Miller said. "I told my runners to stick in their minds as they race that every runner who passes you could be the one point we lose by and every runner you pass could be the one point we win by. This certainly came true for my sixth-seventh boys team."

Briones was the Lions' fifth finisher. Martin Luther King's sixth runner took 41st place. Sullivan's sixth finisher, sixth-grader Austin Nord, placed 48th with a time of 13:22.

Initially Martin Luther King was believed to have been the winner because Ovary lost the tag which tracked his time. Briones appeared to have finished 30th, which would have given Martin Luther King and Sullivan 78 points apiece and given the Lions the win on the tiebreaker. When the San Marcos coach noted that one of his runners was missing Ovary was given his correct position and Sullivan had a one-point victory.

"What a win," Miller said.

Seventh-grader Sam Vanni placed 60th with a time of 13:39. Five other Sullivan runners finished in the top half of the 253-harrier field: sixth-grader Connor McMillan took 71st place with a time of 13:50, seventh-grader Riley Waddell had the 79th-place time of 14:02, seventh-grader Tyler Craven had a 14:03 performance which gave him 81st place, seventh-grader Beckett Payne posted a time of 14:11 for 87th place, and seventh-grader Ryan Alvarez finished 88th at 14:17.

Miller had 22 sixth-grade and seventh-grade boys on her team, and 20 of those ran in the league championship race.

"My top seven varied a lot in the beginning of the season and it was more difficult for me to get a handle on how to strategize," said Miller. "It wasn't until the third race that I was able to see the consistency of who my top seven were."

Five of those top seven runners had not previously run cross country.

"I knew if I could focus in more on those five and my two veteran runners and let them know that taking home the championship was definitely obtainable, then they would rise to the challenge," said Miller. "They did just that. Each week those boys improved individually and as a team.

"I set them up to run in packs and always told the pack behind to be in close proximity to the pack in front of them," continued Miller. "I would challenge certain individuals prior to a race to be up with the next pack they didn't normally run with so that an individual could realize his true potential if he doubted the mile pace he could sustain. It worked, and they listened."

The emphasis on pack running allowed for a 48-second spread between the Wildcats' first five runners.

"I trained them to run in packs so that they could work together on maintaining a consistent pace throughout the course with a strong finish where they try to outrace one another," Miller said.

The pack strategy turned out to be effective at the championship meet.

"I asked each runner to use their pace and put it all out there on the last day, and they did," said Miller. "They are a treat to watch race in packs, and because of the pack strategy they won."

Medals were given to the top 25 finishers in each race, and the top 10 runners were given all-league designation. The results gave all-league status to Christopherson and medals to four of the younger Sullivan boys.

The race for sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls had 227 runners. Sullivan took first place with 51 points, Martin Luther King had the second-place total of 92 points, and San Elijo accumulated 113 points for third.

Natalie Wang of Carmel Valley Middle School was the first finisher in the race for sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls, posting a time of 12:09. Sullivan seventh-grader Abby Petersen took second place at 12:17. Ashley Purcell of San Elijo Middle School in San Marcos had a time of 12:25 for third place.

Maya Papoulias was in the eighth-grade race but competed against Wang in a triathlon during the summer. Wang had the faster running and bicycling times while Papoulias had the better swimming performance.

Sullivan seventh-grader Rori Gartner took fifth place with a time of 12:46.

"Abby and Rori were basically setting the pace a good chunk of the run," Miller said.

Wang was the faster runner in the final part of the race.

"Natalie just took off," said Miller. "Abby just couldn't catch her."

The results gave all-league recognition to Petersen and Gartner. Two other Wildcats in the race took home medals: seventh-grader Anay Garcia completed the course in 13:07 for 11th place and sixth-grader Jordynn Rogers had the 13th-place time of 13:15. Seventh-grader Ava Papoulias obtained 28th place with a 13:52 performance. Seventh-grader Ashley Fawcett posted a time of 13:53 which gave her 29th place overall and sixth among Sullivan girls. Sixth-grader Claire Bernier finished 138th at 17:11 and seventh-grader Meadow Lerche was the 141st finisher and took 17:28.

"For both of my girls' teams I had them run in pairs," said Miller. "Each pair had to make sure they could be within reaching distance of the pair in front of them. We ran a strong six on each of my girls' teams as a result, and no matter who switched off for that fifth or sixth spot in the race they were close enough to one another not to make a huge difference in the score."

The sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls were strong enough to dominate the race even though three of Sullivan's seventh-graders were placed in the eighth-grade race to provide them with a more suitable level of competition. Those three seventh-graders all finished among Sullivan's first four runners: Avery Lynas was the fifth overall finisher and had a time of 12:34, Sahara Khoury earned seventh place for her 12:42 performance, and Maya Khoury finished in 13:17 for 12th place.

Maya Papoulias is an eighth-grader who ran in last year's eighth-grade race as a seventh-grader. This year Papoulias had a time of 12:36 which gave her sixth place among the 116 runners. The results gave all-league honors to Lynas, Sahara Khoury and Papoulias and medals to those three along with Maya Khoury.

Sullivan's other six runners in the race are also eighth-graders. Mikayla Gioia raced for 13:42 and took 26th place. Samantha Amador had the 28th-place time of 13:52. A time of 14:53 gave Ariel Adicoff 43rd place. Alexis Martinez was the 56th finisher and had a time of 15:42. Jordyn Williams finished in 16:51 for 77th place. April Johnson posted a time of 17:14 which was worth 88th place.

Sullivan accumulated 48 points. San Elijo and Diegueno (Encinitas) each had 74 points with the tiebreaker of the faster sixth runner giving San Elijo second for the division.

Lynas, Papoulias, and Adicoff are the only eighth-grade girls who also ran last year.

"I knew based on the new runners I had recruited and the large amount of seventh-grade talent that I could balance both of my girls' teams to secure a victory," Miller said.

Although Sullivan also won last year's sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls championship four of those runners – Petersen, Gartner, Garcia, and Ava Papoulias – were sixth-graders as was Fawcett, who ran in other races but missed the championship race due to a cold, and Lynas, who was in this year's eighth-grade race. Miller noted that the addition of Rogers and the improvement of her five returning girls contributed to the sixth-grade and seventh-grade championship.

"It secured a solid six runners in the front packs of each race," said Miller.

Some of Sullivan's seventh-graders hadn't previously run cross country because Bonsall West Elementary School is kindergarten through sixth grade.

"They can't really run our sport until they're over at Sullivan as seventh-graders," Miller said.

Olive Peirce Middle School in Ramona won the eighth-grade boys race with 69 points. San Elijo finished second with 72 points. Sullivan's sixth-place total was 150 points. The eighth-grade boys race had 149 runners, including seven from Sullivan.

"All of my top five scoring runners improved their mile pace by an average of 13 seconds as compared to the same course at Kit Carson just two weeks before," said Miller.

Jayelon Rogers finished 10th in the championship race and had a time of 11:40 to earn all-league distinction and a medal. Ashton Strange earned 17th place and a medal for his 11:53 performance. Carlos Lobatos took 48th place with a time of 13:01. Darian Bonillo finished 61st and raced for 13:16. Preston Lane was the 62nd finisher and posted a time of 13:17. Michael Bailey was the 110th runner across the finish line and completed the course in 14:59. Jonah Saliba had the 132nd-fastest time at 16:42.

The four races included 49 Sullivan runners; seven of those were all-league and 14 received medals. "My team is doing great things in north county," Miller said.

Miller lived in Maryland for 14 years before returning to California and joined the Sullivan staff for the 2014-15 school year. That year Miller, who is primarily a math teacher, taught two physical education classes including one for sixth-graders, and the physical education classes allowed her to identify athletes for the Don Dornon Games.

Miller took over Sullivan's cross country program in 2016 and fielded 33 runners, and that year Sullivan's sixth-grade and seventh-grade girls won the league championship. Sullivan had 44 runners last year, when both girls teams won league titles and the sixth-grade and seventh-grade boys finished second. This year's Sullivan team had 53 runners, including four who did not race Nov. 1.

"Our goal next year is four wins," Miller said. "We'll see if we can make that happen."