LODI RUNNERS WIN LEAGUE AGAIN
Tokay’s Anema twins take 1st, 2nd places
It didn’t take long for Kari Anema to set the pace at the TriCity Athletic League cross country championships.
The Tokay junior pulled away in the first mile of the 3.1-miles race at Lodi Lake Park, and never relinquished the lead on her way to a first-place finish at 19 minutes, 5 seconds. Her twin sister, Kali, overtook Lodi’s Yasmin Melendrez down the final stretch to take second place at 20:01.
Lodi, though, place all five scoring runners in the top 15 of the race, including, places three through five, for the team victory and the Flames’ 17th straight league title.
“Yes, we went undefeated this season, but when you look at an undefeated record, you think man, they were perfect in every way. This time, we had our own problems and we came through,” said Lodi coach Chris Galindo. “That’s what’s nice about this girls team, we had a few struggles here and there, but no matter what obstacle came in our path, they found a way to overcome it. It just shows the tenacity of these girls, how well they work together, how well they train together.”
Melendrez placed third at 20:03. Lodi teammates Pamela Decko and Carlee McCabe raced each other for the fourth spot, with Decko winning out. Both runners were timed at 20:22. Audrey Garcia was eighth at 21:10, and Frida Rodriguez was 15th at 21:48.
Lodi scored 35 points, with Lincoln in second at 46. Tokay was third at 60.
Kari Anema pulled away early, as the race meandered back into the Lodi Lake Nature Area, and held a comfortable lead over the Lodi runners and her sister by the time they came back to the lakeside.
“I was feeling really good,” Kari said. “I wasn’t expecting to take a lead so early in the race, but I was feeling really good, so I decided to just go for it and try to PR (personal record), that was
kind of my goal today.”
She accomplished that goal, knocking off nearly a minute from her previous best this season.
“I’d been injured for a month and a half this season, so I didn’t really know where I was at,” Kari said, referring to a hip injury that kept her off the race course for the first part of the season. “I haven’t raced lately, so those PRs were from early in the season when I was out of shape. But now that I’m in shape I can start running to my potential again.”
Kali, meanwhile, kept pace with the pack of three Lodi runners, and caught up with Melendrez as the runners turned onto the final stretch. She out-sprinted the Lodi senior over the last hundred yards.
“I stayed pretty conservative,” Kali said. “I felt really good the whole race, but I wasn’t sure if maybe they would pick it up part of the way, and they didn’t end up picking it up, so I was just kind of chilling.”
Kali runs the 800 and the 1,600 during the track and field season in the spring, so she has experience holding back for that final sprint.
The best part for Kali? Going 12 with her sister.
“It’s been awesome racing with her,” Kali said. “It’s one of my favorite things about it. If anyone was to get first, I want it to be her.”
In the team race, Lodi’s depth won out. Lincoln had five runners in the top 12, but Lodi’s combination of the top three in places 3 through 5 and the next two coming in high carried the Flames.
“The last week, we haven’t been running here. We wanted to get into the mentality where we want to treat this place not as our home, but as the place where we come to race,” Galindo said. “If you warm up here, you’re just kind of jogging around. So I said you know what, we’re going to come here on Wednesday, we come prepared, this is a race, and they did.”
In the boys race, Daniel Winter’s 16:06 for first place carried St. Mary’s to the team victory as well, with 29 points. Lincoln was second at 36, followed by Lodi at 78 and Tokay at 109. Lodi finished third in the final team standings.
For Tokay, Angela Machado was 13th at 21:33, Chloe Mohr was 21st at 22:07, and Sheema Mohsin was 23rd at 22:31.
Luke Petersen led the Lodi boys in 11th at 17:06, followed by Nicolas Rasoilo in 13th at 17:15, Liam Epperson-Dorsa in 14th at 17:19, Lucas Fonda in 16th at 17:27 and Charles Starr in 24th at 18:20.
Josue Herrera was Tokay’s top runner, placing 18th at 17:34, followed by Manuel Munoz in 21st at 18:00, Kai Bayers-Cardone in 22nd at 18:02, Angelo Trigg in 23rd at 18:03 and Zacariah Kellogg in 25th at 18:26.
The next step for all teams is the Sac-Joaquin Section Sub-Section Meet at the Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Frogtown on Nov. 9.