Julian cross country teams hope history repeats itself

By Phillip Brents
Posted Sept. 15, 2003

Bill Porter is entering his 13th year coaching cross country at Julian High School and last year witnessed a first: both the boys and girls teams advanced to the state championship meet.

He’d like for history to repeat itself this season.

Actually, there’s a good chance it could.

At right: Jill Spevacek works her arms on the Mustang-Baron Invitational course.

The defending San Diego Section Division V champion girls team returns six of seven runners who traveled to Fresno last season. Overall, it was the second consecutive year the team had qualified for the state meet. Given the team’s talent and youth, more trips to the Central Valley appear planned.

Junior Serena Gannon — last year’s Division V CIF champion — leads the returning six runners. She is joined by senior Clare Hutchinson, juniors Jill Spevacek, Tessa Ridgeway and Suzan Faller and sophomore Lindsey Vargo.

Spevacek finished as the team’s second runner at last year’s section finals, taking fourth place overall, followed closely by Hutchinson in fifth place and Vargo in seventh place. Ridgeway finished 10th in the 35-deep field to give the Eagles a sensational five First Team All-CIF runners in the race and first place in the team standings.

Faller was Julian’s seventh runner at the CIF finals, finishing in 21st place.

At the state meet, the Eagles finished eighth overall as a team for the second straight year. Among individuals, Gannon was 28^th while Vargo was 40^th, Spevacek 59^th and Hutchinson 71^st in placing among top half of the 156 finishers.

Newcomers to the team include senior Michelle Willis, junior Heather Tyndall and freshman Meghan Madigan.

So far, the formula for success has continued to produce. Julian finished ninth as a team in the varsity Gold Division race at the eighth annual Mustang-Baron Invitational Sept. 12 at Rohr Park in Chula Vista. The field included a record 31 teams and nearly 1,000 runners to give Porter a barometer reading on where his team stacks up in the early part of the season.

Gannon finished 13th on the 2.15-mile course in 14:43. She was joined among the top 40 finishers by Vargo (16:03) in 38th place. Ridgeway finished as the team’s third runner while Spevacek was fourth on the team and Madigan rounded out the Eagles’ top five scorers on the day.

"We’ve finished eighth at the state meet the last two years. We’re hoping to improve our position. We’d like to move up to fifth place. That’s a realistic goal in state," Porter said. "We’re also hoping to be able to defend our Division V championship and that Serena Gannon can defend her individual CIF championship."

Julian’s boys team finished second to Tri-City Christian at last year’s Division V CIF finals to join the school’s girls team at the state championship meet. With only three returners off that history-making unit, Porter admitted it will be more challenging to repeat the team’s success of last year but that the goal is attainable.

Sophomore David Neth, junior Seth Edman and senior Jonathan Smith are the three returners from last year’s state qualifying team (the Eagles finished 17th in the Division V state standings). Both Neth and Edman concluded standout campaigns with top 15 place-finishes at the section finals. Neth just missed making the First Team All-CIF list (top 10 finishers) with his 12th-place finish while Edman was 14th. Smith was Julian’s seventh man in the race, finishing 31st in the field of 45 runners.

At left: David Neth and Noah Sloan

At the state meet, Neth finished 127^th out of 179 runners but had the 18^th fastest time among freshmen.

It is the large turnout of newcomers, however, that looks to impact the team. They include seniors Michael Smith and Alex Anaya, junior Chris Gutierrez and freshmen Noah Sloan, Jared Anderson and Krists Auders.

Sloan has had quite a breathtaking debut season. He was 17th out of 89 finishers at the season-opening West Hills Wolf Pack Invitational.

"We got second at CIF Division V last year. We’re hoping to get at least second this year. Our goal is to return to the state meet with a new group," Porter said.