WALNUT — It isn’t every day that La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey gets upstaged in a cross country meet, but it happened Friday at the Mt. SAC Invitational.
Sort of.
The fleet-footed redhead, the defending state champion in Division 4 and a two-time Mt. SAC winner, actually lost a race. And 20 minutes later, Ayanna Hickey of The Bishop’s School captured the Division 3-5 Individual Sweepstakes.
Dailey set a torrid pace in Team Sweepstakes but couldn’t hold off fast-finishing Abigail Errington of South Pasadena, who clocked a time of 16 minutes, 57 seconds over the notoriously hilly 3-mile course which for the first time in 48 years was reconfigured.
Dailey, who was second in 17:06, led the entire way until a portion of the course called “The Gauntlet,” a short but extremely steep uphill just 400 meters before the runners stepped on the track for the final 300 meters, where Errington surged past her.
Hickey won a photo finish by less than a second over Sage Creek’s Gabriella Peters. Both were given the same time—17:56.
“It wasn’t the course, it really didn’t feel that different, it just wasn’t my day,” Dailey said. “I wanted to go out at 5:09 for the mile (she ran 5:21) and when she went past me, I couldn’t respond.
“We’re both in the same division at state, and that’ll be a good race. I beat her earlier at Woodbridge and she beat me here. This will motivate me.”
Hickey stepped on the track with a substantial lead over Peters but when she looked back, Peters closed the gap. Hickey out-leaned her at the finish line before collapsing to the track.
“That was a pretty big win for me,” said Hickey, who is now one of the favorites in Division 5 for the state meet. “My coach is going to be so mad at me for looking back. I came in with a lot of confidence — I was surprised at the competition.
“I was supposed to push it coming off the final hill (Reservoir) but I couldn’t kick. We’ve been working on my kick, too. Still, this was better than last year.”
A year ago, Hickey ed out at the finish line and had to be taken to the medical tent. Although she was released, the next day she was taken to the emergency room with was diagnosed as kidney failure. She missed the next three weeks of training but recovered in time to finish third at the state championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Peters, meanwhile, wished she’d started her kick a step or two sooner.
“I thought I could catch her,” said Peters.
Peters’ second-place finish was a major factor in the Bobcats capturing the team race with 78 points, well ahead of Monrovia’s 95. The lowest score wins in cross country.
The Bobcats’ challenge will be to unseat state champion Cathedral Catholic in the Division 3 section and state championships, which could be a real challenge. The Dons’ girls were barely edged out by South Pasadena, 64-65, in the Team Sweepstakes.
“They’re No. 2 in the state for a reason,” Dons coach Dan Geiger said about South Pasadena. “We knew coming in they’d be tough. We were No. 1 but they deserved it. But we’ll rebound.
“It’s good to be humbled every now and then.”
Jocelyn Gibson led Cathedral Catholic, placing fourth overall at 18:18.
Sage Creek’s Josiah Bowman was the top boys’ finisher as he placed fourth in the Division 3-5 Individual Sweepstakes, clocking a time of 15:18 and leading the Bobcats to a second place in the team race, just five points behind Burrough’s of Ridgecrest, 102-107.
