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Coronado Cross Country – 2009
Women’s Team – Outlook
The Cougars face the loss of two
key runners (Hannah Green and Angela Vitulli) from last
year’s squad but have incredible depth which hopefully
can carry them beyond the Regional Championships. It’s
tough to make accurate predictions in June: but right
now it looks like there could be a dog fight amongst
Doherty, Rampart, Pine Creek, Liberty and Coronado for
the third through seventh spots. Only the top five
teams continue their season…moving on to the State
Championships in Fort Collins (October 31st).
Once again, a solid and deep Palmer
will be shooting for the team title but Air Academy
appears poised to give them a good race. Last year’s
Regional Champions, Doherty, looks to be tough again
this season, but the loss of Lynnea Sjordsma and two
others may have left this team a little too thin to
compete for the 2009 title. On the other hand, Doherty
could benefit from two talented incoming freshmen (from
Jenkins) and this could be enough to push them back into
contention.
Even though the Cougars boast of
(as many as) fifteen runners capable of running under
twenty-two minutes, the secret to their success will be
to find five who can run under twenty-one minutes.
Bailey Gearhart and Lauren Young are the only two
returning Cougars who have successfully dipped under the
twenty-one minute mark. They will be counted on to
continue to show the way. Rosie Bradley and Kaitlin
Burrell have each been in the low 21s and are certainly
capable of reaching the mid 20s. Alexis Work is coming
off an impressive track season and could be the fifth
and final piece to this puzzle.
However, there are several others
who could play a major role in the success of this
years’ team. Some of the known quantities include,
Megan Trujillo, Jill Brinkman, Rilegh Darby-McClure,
Jess Stauffer, Bri Waldorf, Hailey Hauser, Macayla
Sparks, Christy Garrett, Kaeli Vandersluis, Emily
Martin, Melinda Marino and Emily Asay. Freshmen
additions are always a bit of an unknown, but Coronado
could conceivably receive help from; Tiana Cerciello
(Holmes), Shannon Young (Jenkins), Savanna Telander
(Holmes) and/or Hailey Garton (Holmes).
Obviously, proper preparation for
the season goes a long ways towards meeting team goals.
Several of these athletes are already working out and
the early jump on the season is bound to give them the
“upper hand” come this August.
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