Defending state champions from Carlsbad pursuing rare repeat by San Diego Section program, plus all-time Division 4 record and possible NXN at-large berth, starting with marquee showdown at SilverLakes Sports Complex

By Landon Negri for DyeStat

They rose from the middle of the pack last year, surging at the right time to win an impressive California state championship.

The girls cross country runners from Sage Creek High in Carlsbad hit their ultimate goal in November, winning the CIF Division 4 state title after turning back two-time champion Foothill Technology for a nine-point triumph at Fresno’s Woodward Park.

Goals were met and the title was won. But there is another part of the Sage Creek story, especially as six of the seven Lady Bobcats’ top athletes return for the 2019 season, beginning Saturday in the Bob Day girls sweepstakes race at the 39th Woodbridge Cross Country Classic at SilverLakes Sports Complex in Norco.

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In other words, what now?

Well, there’s a lot now.

LAVANYA PANDEY | SKYLER WALLACE | STORMY WALLACE | KAT SUMWALT

“We actually have talked about that,” Sage Creek senior Lavanya Pandey said. “And a lot of what we talked about is we know that our team does really well when we consider ourselves underdogs. So instead of thinking, ‘OK, we’re going to defend a title,’ we’re instead thinking, ‘You know what? We’re new to this whole record thing, so let’s think of ourselves as the underdogs in that.’”

Led by the Wallace sisters – Skyler, now a senior, and Stormy, a sophomore – Sage Creek won the San Diego Section Division 4 title before achieving its landmark state-title victory.

At the state meet, Skyler Wallace was third behind winner Audrey Suarez of Mayfield, running the 5-kilometer course in 17 minutes, 50 seconds. Stormy Wallace took sixth in 18:01, Pandey was 15th in 18:45.1, junior Natalie Huestis placed 60th in 19:41.2 and junior Elizabeth Gerhardt rounded out the team’s scorers by finishing 64th in 19:46.4.

Coach Jacob Feiring said the Bobcats – their team time of 94:04 was No. 2 all-time in Division 4 and nine seconds off of the state meet’s division record set by Santa Cruz in 2015 – raced “out of their minds.” But it also sparked the driving force for 2019, starting with hopes of repeating as Division 4 champions.

That, in itself, would be just a start.

“The girls want to be the best Division 4 team in state history,” Feiring said. “That’s really their goal. Last year, we were really close to that.”

Added Stormy Wallace: “I think it would be really cool to be the first (San Diego) Division 4 team to repeat at state. We’re definitely keeping that in our heads and just making sure we keep the season as good as it can be.”

And that sets up this week. Sage Creek will step out of its comfort zone and division-like competition to run in the sweepstakes race for the second straight year at Woodbridge after placing 13th last season.

The Bobcats will toe the line with talent like eight-time California Division 1 champion Great Oak, Arizona Division 1 state champion Xavier Prep and Texas UIL 6A state champion Coppell, as well as fellow Texas power Southlake Carroll, 2016 sweepstakes winner Desert Vista of Arizona, 2017 sweepstakes champion Clovis Buchanan, in addition to fellow elite California programs Newbury Park, Mira Costa, St. Francis Sacramento, Anaheim Canyon and El Toro.

“I think it really plays to our advantage, especially toward the end of the season,” Skyler Wallace said. “Even though there are some really fast schools in Division 4, there are even faster schools in the higher divisions.”

It won’t be the last time, either, as Feiring built a schedule that includes the sweepstakes race at the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational in Walnut, Calif., and the Hole in the Wall Invitational near Feiring’s native Seattle in October.

“I think it’s important,” he said, “that if you want to be the best, you’ve got to get beat by the best.”

Saturday will offer a first look. Yes, the Wallaces and Pandey are a known top three. Huestis will likely be outside the top seven until October as she recovers from a stress fracture suffered during track. Sophomore Kiaya Rowlett, the No. 7 runner from the state meet, junior Kat Sumwalt and sophomore Madeline Mack will compete in the sweepstakes lineup.

So will freshman Malia Leupold, a solid youth middle-distance runner making her high school debut. Feiring said she has run 4:46 in the 1,500 meters.

“It almost feels like the season hasn’t even started yet,” Pandey said. “And I know we’re doing all this training and things are going well there, but it doesn’t feel like cross country season until you start racing.”

While many teams have one or even multiple meets under their belt, this is race No. 1 for Sage Creek, with an eye for peaking correctly again late in the season.

The Bobcats also know they won’t surprise anyone.

“I felt like we were a little bit spoiled because we could kind of fly under the radar,” Skyler Wallace said. “This year, going in with more of a target on our backs, it does put a little more pressure on us. But I think we’re kind of using it to our advantage and we’re using that target to push us.”

Their goals are set. Repeating will not be easy, not with Foothill Tech looking for revenge, not with Menlo School looking strong in Northern California, and not with a Harvard-Westlake team boasting a sister act of its own in Daniela Quintero and Natalia Quintero.

The Bobcats are looking to join La Jolla (1989-90) and San Pasqual (1990, 2001) as the only San Diego programs to win multiple titles. But Sage Creek would be the only girls team in section history to capture back-to-back state championships in the same division, since La Jolla secured its championships in both Divisions 2 and 3.

There’s one other goal, too, one that puts Sage Creek squarely in the underdog role they so desire. Pandey, in fact, drew it up in conversation.

“We would love, if we could, to do well enough to get to (the Nike Cross) Nationals this year,” she said.

Out of the question? Maybe not.

The Bobcats ranked 16th in the merge among teams from all five divisions competing at the state championships, boasting the 11th-fastest overall team time, but was within 62 seconds of all but Great Oak, Vista Murrieta, Claremont and Granada, three of which competed at NXN.

Two automatic berths annually come out of the Golden State for the NXN meet, in addition to at least one expected at-large selection to compete Dec. 7 in Portland, Ore.

“I don’t think a D-4 team has ever done that,” Feiring said. “But I told these girls, ‘You’re going to have to have the race of your life at the state meet, because we don’t get that D-1 competition.’ When they do the hypothetical score, those girls get better competition in those D-1, D-2, and D-3 races, and that’s really the driving factor in terms of time.

“But having that in the back of their mind,” he added, “is really motivating them.”