The Malibu High School girls varsity cross country team captured second place last Friday in the Frontier League Finals behind winner Carpinteria High School at Moorpark College on a 3.1-mile course. Malibu’s varsity runners raced into school history with team captain Becki Ottusch, sophomore Gianna Fote, freshman Danielle Bush, senior Caitin Sherry, sophomore Claudine Book, senior Nallely Ruiz and junior Katie Rollins. These athletes earned the Sharks a piece of school history, marking the first time in more than six years that the Sharks have qualified for CIF as a team.
When the starting gun sounded, team captain Ottusch determinably led the entire field from the start and quickly advanced past the other runners. Fote and Carpinteria’s Kacey Nomura and Nicole Spaeth, and Villanova’s Casey Siuniak trailed Ottusch by 30 feet. The first half-mile saw Ottusch step up her pace to increase her lead. Before the end of the first mile, Ottusch had advanced 15 seconds ahead of the next four runners.
For Malibu’s second fastest female, when asked how she felt at the start of the race, Fote answered, “Not so good.” A fierce competitor, Fote ran through a painful knee injury uphill and downhill over the winding trek.
In the second mile, Ottusch pumped it up and gained another 10 seconds over her nearest competitor, Nomura from Carpinteria. And by the third mile, she was so far ahead of the pack that when she made a wrong turn in front of a course official, the official took time to react to the fact that she was the lead runner before yelling that Ottusch was off-course. Ottusch lost roughly 20-25 seconds by backtracking and returning to the winding course. Still, she was now roughly a half-minute ahead of her nearest competitor.
Ottusch lead the team on the Road to CIF, winning her second consecutive league championship.
“I felt really good during the race,” Ottusch said. “It had been a hard week because I had to put in extra running because [the team] missed training during the fire, and a few days after the fire due to bad air quality.”
Despite her knee injury, Fote placed sixth.
“I was actually really proud of myself, though I finished the worst I’ve ever run it,” Fote said.Newcomer Bush kept up a good pace during the entire race, something not easy to do going up long, steep hills with little recovery distance. Bush came in fourth for Malibu and 15th overall in the meet.
During the entire race, Sherry proved herself up to the challenge by keeping Bush’s jersey in sight and letting no one pass her. In the third mile, she took her speed up a notch, and Sherry followed suit to finish 16th. Greenhorn Book ran closely behind teammate Sherry during the entire race. Her limited competitve running experience didn’t hurt her too badly. At the finish line, Book came right after Sherry, about ten seconds behind. The Sharks’ 5th varsity runner, Book clinched the team’s second place finish with her 17th place finish, qualifying the team for CIF.
As seasoned veteran runners, Rollins and Ruiz knew how important their performance would be in League Finals. Despite injury, both varsity runners pushed themselves to keep running and finish. Ruiz came in 19th while Rollins earned 25th.
“I’m really proud that we got second,” Ottusch said. “My team made a great effort. I know it was a hard race to get back into running, especially since it was League Finals, but … we still got second. I hope we do well at CIF.”
The junior varsity competed in the varsity heat, with Jessica Kaplan, Emily Woodworth, Nina Geibel, Sarah Dahlinger, and Rebecca Nassimi finishing in that order. Kaplan ran so fast that she outstripped 15 varsity runners during the competition.
CIF Prelims takes place this Saturday at Mt. SAC in Walnut.