Petersen qualifies for state meet

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

The three Division II girls cross country teams with the highest team scores at the CIF San Diego Section meet Nov. 20 at Morley Field in San Diego qualified for the state meet as a team, and the five fastest individual runners not affiliated with a school which qualified as a team also qualified for the state meet Nov. 27 at Woodward Park in Fresno. Fallbrook High School's girls finished fifth, but Fallbrook sophomore Abby Petersen placed 13th among the Division II girls and was fifth among the Division II girls whose team didn't qualify, so Petersen will be competing at the state meet.

"I'm just really excited," Petersen said.

"I knew it was a possibility," said Fallbrook head coach Marco Arias. "I'm extremely happy that she was able to do it."

The course was 2.96 miles. Petersen had a time of 19:56.6.

"She had a good race," Arias said.

"It was a hard race. Definitely nice weather, though," Petersen said.

The league championship meet Nov. 13 at Guajome Park included temperatures above 90 degrees. That course was 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) and Petersen finished fourth with a time of 21:23.9.

Cross country team scores add 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. Poway had three of the first four finishers and won the meet with 34 points. Mount Carmel had 75 points for second place. Scripps Ranch had the third-place total of 82 points. Steele Canyon accumulated 122 points for fourth place.

The Fallbrook positions gave the Warriors 182 points for fifth place. "That's phenomenal," Arias said.

The 2021 meet was the first since 2019, when Fallbrook's girls finished last among the 17 Division II teams. The 2018 girls were 15th as a team. Fallbrook placed 10th in 2017, which was the Warriors' previous finish in the top 10 and their first finish among the top 10 since the 2011 girls were eighth among Division I teams. The 2007 Warriors placed sixth among Division I schools, so the 2021 fifth-place finish is Fallbrook's highest in the past 15 years.

Two of the individual qualifiers are Vista High School runners. The Panthers placed sixth with 184 points.

San Dieguito Academy sophomore Sage Ligotti posted the 12th-pace time of 19:55.4 to finish immediately ahead of Petersen and become the fourth individual qualifier. The 14th-place finisher, Mount Carmel senior Roxy Hudson, had a time of 19:57.7.

The state qualifying stipulations included that an individual qualifier must place among the top 14 overall. Petersen was about 20th early in the race and about 15th midway through the course. "The last mile I managed to make my way up to 13th," she said.

Petersen became Fallbrook's first girls state qualifier since Noelle Garcia, who was a senior in 2008. (The most recent Fallbrook boy to qualify, Michael Froboese, was a senior in 2010.)

"She just kept working, kept grinding it out," Arias said. "She gave me everything she had. She left it all on the course."

Injuries to two other sophomores put Petersen as the Warriors' top female runner this year. "She always rose to the occasion," Arias said. "She just kept getting better."

Petersen wasn't going to match the 17:40.5 winning time of Poway senior Mackenzie Rogers but was satisfied with 13th place. "I'm really happy with it. I didn't expect it at all. I'm really proud of how I did," Petersen said.

The second Fallbrook girl across the finish line, sophomore Cassandra Rivero, placed 35th overall at 21:09.8. A time of 21:25.8 gave sophomore Sahara Khoury 41st place. The 44th-place time posted by freshman Lucia Mochel was 21:34.2. The final high school cross country race for senior Maddie Gaul included a time of 21:42.4 and 49th place.

Although each team was allowed seven runners Fallbrook only had six, and junior Jade Boltinghouse completed the course in 22:27.5 for 64th place.

"It's fun to be out here with my team. It's just been a really good season," Petersen said.

Note: Articles about the Fallbrook High teams at the league meet, along with photos, will be published next week.