Setting the pace: Rasmussen cruises to girls small school title
U-Prep Girls, Mt Shasta boys garner team titles
By Jeffrey Jen - Record Searchlight
Wednesday November 3, 2010
Stephanie Rasmussen, a junior at American Christian Academy, runs ahead of everyone at the section small school cross country championship meet, held Wednesday at West Valley High School. Rasmussen won the girls race in 20 minutes, 9 seconds on the 3-mile course. Etna’s Emily Loogman, the eventual runner-up, races in the background.
COTTONWOOD — Stephanie Rasmussen held back some — but not too much — preferring to save some of her energy for a bigger meet next week. However, the junior from American Christian Academy did enough to win the girls race in 20 minutes, 9 seconds at the Northern Section small school cross country meet at West Valley High School on Wednesday.

Rasmussen jumped to the lead early, but had to hold off Etna senior Emily Loogman in the latter part of the 3-mile race on the West Valley course, the same course that will used to host next week’s Northern Section cross country championships. Loogman was second in 20:18 while American Christian freshman Autumn May was third in 20:35.

Of the small-school runners, Rasmussen may have the best shot of repeating her result the following week. The girls race for the section title figures to have at least a half-dozen serious contenders, although defending section champion Tiffany Heflin of Lassen has returned to top form. Rasmussen already has two top-10 finishes in the section meet, but is looking to go under 19:30 this year.

She jumped to a nice 25-meter cushion after the first mile as the
course wound its way behind the home grandstand of the Eagles football stadium. “I wanted to save a bit until next week,” Rasmussen said. “I wanted to win at a nice steady pace.” However, she couldn’t get too comfortable as Loogman started to make up ground on the second hill and closed the gap to around 10 meters after the second mile. However, Rasmussen was able to stay in front the rest of the way. “My weak spot is on the hills,” Rasmussen said. “On the second hill, she started to catch up and I was watching her a bit over my shoulder.”

After the top three, the race turned into a matchup between traditional Division V power Mount Shasta and U-Prep. The two schools accounted for the next seven runners. Panthers freshman Helen Mino Faukner was fourth in 21:28 followed by Mount Shasta junior Danielle Tognolini (21:59). In sixth was another U-Prep freshman Alyssa Stauffer (22:14) ahead of two sophomore Bears, Janelle Jaegal (22:32) and Eileen Sampson (22:48). U-Prep freshman Megan Hoffman was ninth (23:02) and Panthers senior MaKenzie Hoffman was 10th (23:07). Modoc’s Ashley Hoy was 11th in 23:54 followed by Mount Shasta junior Sara Rogers in 12th (24:00). Mount Shasta’s fifth runner, the last to score, was junior Jennifer Rubin (24:39) in 15th, but Panthers junior Lyndsey Brown (24:52) was next in at 16th. University Prep eeked out the team title among small schools, just edging out Mount Shasta 28-29. Trinity was third with 84 points followed by Williams (96) and Redding Adventist (125).
“We’re a very young team with a lot of promise, both boys and girls,” Bears coach Steve Neishem said. The Bears may not be quite at the level of a few years ago when they reeled off three straight Division V state titles (2005-2007) and won the section overall team title in both boys and girls in 2006, but Neishem feels he has a promising group who should be a D-V force again in the next few years.

His boys team won the small school title over Redding Adventist 58 to 68 even though the early part of race was controlled by the trio of Ghelfi, Redding Christian’s Jeffrey Crantz and Etna’s John Whelan. Those three were in a group after the first mile while Mount Shasta senior Sawyer Durhemme was about 12-15 meters behind and the rest of the field strung out after that. Ghelfi pulled away shortly after the hills section between the first and second mile and cruised to the finish. “It was a pretty hot day so it wasn’t great conditions,” Ghelfi said. “I started to pull away on the downhill after Elliott’s Torture. I don’t really look back while I run, but I was listening to see if they would catch up, but nobody ever did.”

Crantz, a junior, finished second in 17:29 followed by Whelan in 17:36. Durhemme was fourth in 18:01 and Mount Shasta sophomore Chris Cazneaux was fifth (18:26). Providence Christian’s Tucker Hoffman and Joshua Reese followed next with Trinity sophomore Sean Taylor in eighth in 18:38. American Christian freshman Michael Foltz was ninth (19:17) and Modoc sophomore Joe Derner (19:35) rounded out the top 10.
Eventual boys race winner Eric Ghelfi of Redding Adventist (center) races with Redding Christian’s Jeffrey Crantz (left) and Etna’s John Whelan (right). Providence Christian’s Tucker Hoffman and Mount Shasta’s Sawyer Durhemme (in blue), compete in the background.  

Complete Results
Small Schools/Shasta Cascade Championships
Wednesday, November 3
West Valley High School, Cottonwood, CA

Mens Results
3 Mile Varsity
================================================================
 1   Eric Ghelfi            Redding Adventist      12     17:04
 2   Jeff Krantz            Redding Christian      11     17:29
 3   John Whelan            Etna                   10     17:36
 4   Sawyer Ducharme        Mt Shasta              12     18:01
 5   Chris Cazneaux         Mt Shasta              10     18:26
 6   Tucker Hoffman         Providence Christia    10     18:30
 7   Joshua Reese           Providence Christia    12     18:35
 8   Sean Taylor            Trinity                10     18:38
 9   Michael Folta          American Christian      9     19:17
10   Jac Derner             Modoc                  10     19:35
11   Tyler Moser            Weed                   12     19:41
12   Jose Martinez          Williams                9     19:46
13   Jonny Cervantes        Williams                9     19:47
14   Calen Badger           University Prep        10     19:55
15   Landon Arested         Modoc                  10     20:01
16   Patrick Bratton        Modoc                  10     20:02
17   Andrew Penington       Redding Adventist      11     20:06
18   Brandon Williams       Weed                   11     20:18
19   Mason Dion             University Prep        11     20:19
20   Malachi May            American Christian     10     20:21
21   Ameido Mohamed         Mt Shasta               9     20:30
22   David Langston         Weed                   11     20:32
23   Owen Bankson           University Prep         9     20:34
24   Daniel Martin          Modoc                  10     21:03
25   Conor Russell          Redding Adventist      12     21:07
26   Timothy Green          Etna                    9     21:08
27   Michael Moore          Redding Adventist      11     21:09
28   Wesley Woodside        Mt Shasta               9     21:19
29   Cody Lakin             Mt Shasta              10     21:20
30   Aaron Alido            Redding Adventist      11     21:30
31   Jacob Smoak            American Christian     11     21:33
32   Micah Mueller          American Christian      9     21:41
33   Chet Bolstridge        Mt Shasta               9     21:46
33   Ivan Gutierrez         Williams               11     21:46
35   Matthew Reese          Providence Christia     9     21:54
36   Marc Theolade          Redding Adventist      11     22:08
37   Tommy Hake             Mt Shasta               9     22:10
38   Garrett Shea           Mt Shasta              10     22:13
39   Miguel Sandoval        Williams               11     22:18
40   Cecyl Stout            Etna                    9     22:20
41   Ricardo Rico           Williams                9     22:32
42   Sean Hughes            Mt Shasta               9     23:01
43   Eric Contreras         Williams               10     23:23
44   Roberto Ramirez        Williams                9     23:33
45   Montana Baker          Trinity                12     23:51
46   Leo Choti              University Prep         9     23:57
47   Derrick Wierzbicki     University Prep         9     23:59
48   Brandon Baines         Modoc              -          24:56
49   Justin Smoak           American Christian     10     25:16
50   Tim Prisco             Modoc                   9     25:25
51   Luis Rios              Williams                9     25:51
52   Kyle Jarrell           Anderson New Tech      11     26:10
53   Juan Floriano          Williams               10     26:48
54   Zach Robertson         Anderson New Tech      11     26:48
55   Martin Hernandez       Williams               10     27:03
56   Ryan Tompkins          Redding Adventist      11     27:05
57   Greg Holguin           Weed                   12     27:27
58   Jacob Sherman          Anderson New Tech      11     36:58

Womens Results
3 Mile Varsity
================================================================
 1   Stephanie Rasmussen    American Christian     11     20:09
 2   Emily Loogman          Etna                   12     20:18
 3   Autumn May             American Christian      9     20:35
 4   Helen Mino Faukner     University Prep         9     21:28
 5   Danielle Tognolini     Mt Shasta              11     21:59
 6   Alyssa Stauffer        University Prep         9     22:14
 7   Janelle Jaegel         Mt Shasta              10     22:32
 8   Ellen Sampson          Mt Shasta              10     22:48
 9   Megan Hoffman          University Prep         9     23:02
10   McKenzie Hoffman       University Prep        12     23:17
11   Ashley Hoy             Modoc                  10     23:54
12   Sara Rogers            Mt Shasta              11     24:00
13   Yazmin Cruz            Williams                9     24:17
14   Brittany Dean          Etna                   11     24:37
15   Jennifer Rubio         Mt Shasta              11     24:39
16   Lyndsey Brown          University Prep        11     24:52
17   Tine Simonsen          Trinity                12     25:13
18   Violet Bolstridge      Mt Shasta               9     25:14
19   Katherine Holst        Mt Shasta              10     25:22
20   Kenna Funk             Modoc                   9     25:34
21   Margo Moore            Redding Adventist       9     25:50
22   Hannah Groom           Mt Shasta               9     26:10
23   Carson Herold          Etna                   11     26:16
24   Sarah Quaid            Trinity                 9     26:22
25   Lanie Johnson          Trinity                12     26:23
26   Abigail Cranford       Williams               12     27:22
27   Emily Tkach            Trinity                12     27:47
28   Leslie Mounivang       Trinity                 9     27:53
29   Hannah Johnson         Redding Adventist      11     27:56
30   Melissa Jump           Anderson New Tech      12     28:31
31   Kamalpreet Kaur        Williams               10     28:50
32   Tiana Besoain          Etna                   11     29:02
33   Amanda Lopez           Williams               10     29:25
34   Karen Garcia           Williams                9     29:28
35   Ashlin Covarrubias     Williams               10     30:05
36   Chaeni Velja           Trinity                 9     31:19
37   Mellisa Palermo        Trinity                10     31:36
38   Elisha Donahue         Trinity                12     31:37
39   Sierra Brown           Trinity                12     31:37
40   Brittany Coulter       FARI                   12     32:06
41   Tory Pourian           Trinity                 9     32:07
42   Bailee Sumner          Trinity                 9     32:07
43   Trinitty Griswold      Redding Adventist      12     33:12
44   Marissa Katleba        Williams               12     33:26
45   Claire Brayshaw        Redding Adventist      12     33:42
46   Ha-yeong Kim           University Prep        11     34:07
47   Jeanne Manand          Trinity                12     35:16
48   Lyle Green-Nickerson   Trinity                12     35:37
49   Hanna Loucks           Redding Adventist      12     37:52
50   Lisa Orsbun            Modoc                  12     37:53