North Section CIF Cross Country Championships

West Valley High School

Cottonwood, California

Friday November 12, 2004

Fritzke outruns field for top section honors in boys race while

Hodgkinson pulls away from Kirschman to take girls race

Text Box: By Jeffrey Jen/Record Searchlight and Hale Bale AC Staff, photos by Joe Hartman/DyeStatCal

COTTONWOOD — Austin Fritzke now has a section cross country title to match his sister’s. The Mount Shasta junior held off all challengers to win the boys race at the Northern Section Cross Country Championships on Friday at West Valley High School.

"It feels really good to have one myself now," Fritzke said of his victory. "I wasn’t sure if I could do it at the beginning of the year, but then I saw I was ranked high in the section and that gave me confidence."

His younger sister, Katie, a sophomore, won the girls section title last year, but finished fourth behind Pleasant Valley’s Hannah Hodgkinson, who for the third time this season bested Enterprise’s Lindsey Kirschman in the final mile.

Austin Fritzke’s 16 minute, 6 seconds on the 3-mile course was nine seconds better than surprise second-place finisher Brent Handa from Fall River. Cesar Silva of Corning (16:23), after challenging Fritzke in middle of the race, finished third.

Eastern Athletic League champion Tyson Teesdale of Foothill (16:27) held off a furous finish by Enterprise’s Nick Payton (16:28) to claim fourth. Yreka’s Brice Peters took sixth and was followed by Modoc’s Scott Joyce and West Valley’s Pat Crowl.

Fritzke, the Shasta Cascade League champion, led with West Valley’s Jordan Fairley through the first mile. Fairley dropped out of the lead pack during Silva's mid race challenge of Fritzke in the second mile, then struggled badly over the final mile to wind up in ninth in 16:46.

"I thought I was in great position in first couple of miles," Fairley said. "I was hoping to be right behind the leader and then pull away at the end. I was where I wanted to be, but then I started cramping up and I couldn’t move my legs."

Fairley's team, West Valley, did manage to win the overall boys team title, scoring 97 points to beat in a tight race, Enterprise (104) and Foothill (108).

"I had no plan," Fritzke said. "I would just go out and run and try to hold everybody off. I was worried about Teesdale coming up behind me since he’s a good finisher, but I had one last gear in me at the end."

The girl’s race turned out to be a battle between the sophomore Hodgkinson and the junior Kirschman. The two stayed together for the first two miles, but Hodgkinson again pulled away in the last mile, winning in 18:17, 23 seconds faster than Kirschman and only 18 seconds off the course record. "The plan was to follow in the first mile and then push harder in the second mile and hang on with her until the end," Kirschman said. "It didn’t quite happen."

A strong closing mile gave Durham sophomore Hagen Atkins, third in 18:50 and then came Fritzke. In a testament to the speed of the race, Fritzke’s fourth place time of 18:56 was 10 secondsfaster than her section-winning time of last year.

"I felt pressure on me as section champion, but it didn’t happen," Fritzke said. "Last year was a dream race for me, but I’m looking forward to competing with the girls in front of me. We’re all coming back next year." Fritzke can take solace as meet director Scott Fairley observed that this year's girls field was probably the strongest ever with four runners breaking 19 minutes on a West Valley course where a total of only eight runners had done it since the course was established in 1992.

A final sprint took Chico’s Hannah Dillard around Enterprise sophomores Stephanie Frescas and Amanda Barber, to claim fifth in 19:10. Behind their sixth and seventh place finishes and 16th-place result from Michelle Medina, the Hornets scored 92 points to claim the overall girls team championship.

Rounding out the top ten were Anderson’s Julie Shaw, who took eighth and Mount Shasta freshman Natalie Sojka was ninth followed by 2002 winner Danielle Robberson of Yreka. 2003 runner-up Natalie Robertson of Foothill, struggling with back troubles, finished 11th.