Knox takes over Warriors' girls cross country team

Vickie Knox began her Fallbrook High School cross country career as an athlete for the Warriors. This year she has taken over as the girls' head coach.

"I'm extremely excited," Knox said. "This is my dream job."

Knox was running a marathon in Idaho and missed the Warriors' first meet of the season, the Sept. 14 Laguna Hills Cross Country Invitational, and she first coached the Fallbrook girls in a meet Sept. 21 when the Warriors traveled to the Morley Field course in San Diego for the Mount Carmel/Asics Cross Country Invitational.

"The girls did well," Knox said.

The Mount Carmel/Asics Cross Country Invitational has grade-level races and only four of Fallbrook's five sophomores competed that day while Fallbrook has no more than three runners in any other grade, so the Warriors were not scored as a team in any race that day. Maya Papoulias was the 11th finisher in the freshman race with a time of 18:05.7 on the 2.75-mile course. Maddy Gaul completed the course in 20:46.2 for 59th place in the sophomore race.

Papoulias also took home a medal for being among the top 40 in her race at Laguna Hills. That course was 3.0 miles and her time of 21:03.5 gave her sixth place in the freshman race.

"She is very, very fast," Knox said.

Three other Warriors medaled at the Laguna Hills Cross Country Invitational. Gaul was the 25th sophomore across the finish line and took 23:38.8; senior Iselah Cabello finished 26th in her race and had a time of 23:55.3, and Maya Rink was the 38th senior race finisher and completed the course in 26:34.2. Judith Colores is a senior but a first-year cross country runner, and at Laguna Hills her time of 27:40.3 placed her 42nd among the senior girls.

The 11 girls on Fallbrook's team consists of five sophomores, three freshmen, two seniors and one junior.

The Jack & Jill Downhill Marathon in Boise was held Sept. 15. Knox had a time of 3:54.42 which placed her 40th among all females and sixth among women between the ages of 50 and 54. Her time in Idaho qualified Knox for next year's Boston Marathon. She has run the Boston Marathon three times, and in 2018 she ran in the New York Marathon.

Assistant coach Donna Honarvar coached Fallbrook's girls at the Laguna Hills meet in Knox's absence. Honarvar missed the Mount Carmel/Asics Cross Country Invitational to run in the Sept. 21 Surf City 10 kilometer race in Huntington Beach, and she became the first female across the finish line 38:23 after the race began.

Knox ran cross country only and not track when she was a student at Fallbrook High School. She was 7 when her family moved from Garden Grove to Fallbrook in 1975. Knox attended La Paloma Elementary School and Potter Middle School before her four years at Fallbrook High School. She ran for the Warriors before her 1986 graduation. Walt Parry was the Warriors' cross country coach at the time.

"This is my passion," Knox said.

Troy Hamlin was the Warrior girls head coach from 2003 to 2016, served as an assistant coach in 2017 when Lisa Hasvold was the head coach, and returned as head coach for 2018 when Hasvold was enjoying her new grandchild. Knox was an assistant coach under Hamlin in 2018 and became the head coach this year after Hamlin retired.

"I feel like I have very big shoes to fill taking over the coaching position," Knox said.

Honarvar was brought on as the assistant coach. "She has been an absolutely amazing asset to all of my team," Knox said.

The Fallbrook girls train approximately 6 miles per day on hills. "They're getting strong," Knox said.

The practice also includes total body training. "They're getting well-rounded," Knox said.

"I am excited to watch it grow," Knox said. "I think we're going to see amazing things from the girls cross country team at Fallbrook High School."