San Lorenzo Valley sets national record

She remembered hearing the announcer.

``You guys got to bring her home,'' the voice said. ``Come on! Make some noise!''

Alejandra Barrientos kept running. With no competition in her vicinity, the San Lorenzo Valley High junior sprinted down the straightaway at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Thursday, pointing her fingers toward the gray sky as she crossed the finish line. Soon, her teammates were in her arms, soaking up the moment.

With a time of 11 minutes, 41.28 seconds, the San Lorenzo Valley distance medley relay team established a national high school record at the 106th Penn Relays, eclipsing the mark of 11:43.53 set by University of Irvine in 1982.

San Lorenzo Valley finished 21.06 seconds ahead of runner-up Haddonfield Memorial of New Jersey.

When it was over, Barrientos, the defending state champion in the 1,600 meters and national leader this season in the 800 and 1,600, dropped to her knees and kissed the red track as her eyes filled with tears.

``This is the most wonderful feeling of accomplishment because it wasn't only me that worked hard for this,'' Barrientos said. ``It was three other girls. We were all putting all our energy and all our effort into this one goal. And we all ran our hardest and worked our butts off and worked together and encouraged each other for this.

``And we did it.''

The distance medley, which isn't run at the Central Coast Section and state championships, begins with the 1,200, followed by the 400, 800 and 1,600.

Barrientos' sister, Raquel, a freshman, started the record-breaking journey by covering the 1,200 in 3:42.1.

Then junior Lindsay Scarborough took the stage, running the 400 in 57.7 seconds and passing three runners.

``I was just thinking get out as fast as I can,'' Scarborough said. ``I thought of it not as a 400, but as two 200s.''

Shiloh Whiting ran the third leg.

``Lindsay had put us ahead,'' said Whiting, who covered the 800 in 2:17. ``So I just wanted to hold it and do the best I could and get Ali as much time to work with.''

Whiting, a junior, held the lead for about 600 meters. San Lorenzo Valley was in second place when she handed off to Barrientos, who took charge.

Barrientos ran the first lap in 69 seconds. She hit 800 meters in 2:21 and maintained a strong, steady pace to the end. She finished in a personal-best 4:44.5.

``When I came around the last 200 meters, the whole stadium was going crazy -- just screaming,'' Barrientos said. ``They all knew what was going to happen. It was just great.''

Recalling the moment her sister crossed the finish line, Raquel Barrientos said, ``I just started freaking out. I was with Shiloh and Lindsay because they made us leave that part of the track. Right when they said, `They did it, they got the national record,' we just started screaming and we all started hugging and we ran to find Ali. I was just so happy.''

The team, which received gold watches and a large plaque, later celebrated by taking a victory lap around the historic stadium.

``It was awesome,'' Coach Rob Collins said.

Collins had predicted a strong showing. His team ran the event in 11:55.68 at the Arcadia Invitational three weeks ago and almost certainly would have gone faster had Barrientos not competed in the 1,600 shortly before the race.

``This time, she'll be going in there fresh,'' Collins promised.

That was all the team needed. That and hours of hard work.

``Since the beginning of the season, our goal has been to set the record,'' Whiting said. ``Rob told us, `Yeah, you guys can do it.' At the time, we weren't really sure. But as the season went on, we got more sure.''

Thursday, they achieved the mission.