CIF State Finals

FRESNO -- Saratoga High cross country star Steven Sum had mixed emotions after the 
California Interscholastic Federation Division III boys championship race Saturday 
at Woodward Park.

On one hand, he was "pretty happy" about his second-place finish in 15 minutes, 
17 seconds for the 3.1-mile course. On the other hand, he saw the opportunity to 
upset heavy favorite Austin Tamagno of Brea-Olinda, who won the race in 15:09.

"I don't think he had the greatest race today," Sum said. "I think we could have 
caught him if there was a pack behind him. ... If I had stayed up with him, I think 
I would have had a really good shot to beat him."

Sum was second at the one-mile mark (4:52.8) and passed the two-mile mark in 9:44.

"Everything was working perfectly the first two miles," Sum said.

Third-place finisher Colin Burke of Bishop O'Dowd finished six seconds behind Sum.

Los Gatos' Chris Foster also had a finishing time of 15:17, good for fifth place 
in the Division II boys race. He was also second at the one-mile mark with a time 
of 4:50 and fell back to 11th at the two-mile mark (10:00) before passing six 
runners in the last 1.1 miles.

Foster said that he got boxed-in during the second mile before breaking free, allowing 
him to move up. At the finish, he out-kicked five runners within three seconds behind him.

"I always feel I have a kick at the end," Foster said. "I managed to hold on that last 
quarter-mile and work through the pack from there. I'm happy with the place I managed 
to get, and the time too."

Menlo School's Lizzie Lacy placed third in the Division IV girls race with a time of 18:00. 
She led a two-person lead pack at the one-mile mark with a time of 5:19, was third at 
the two-mile mark (11:21) and held that position to the finish.

"I was going for the title, but ... I knew I started out a lot faster than I should have. 
I knew pretty early on that it would be a challenge to keep that pace," Lacy said. "But 
I was still really impressed with how far I've come this season."

Homestead freshman Elena Kamas also ran a fantastic race to place fifth in Division I 
with a time of 18:00. It is the highest state finish by an individual in Homestead history, 
said coach Kenrick Sealy.

Kamas was surprised when she learned after the race of her placing.

"I didn't think that would happen at all," she said.

Kamas worked her way up throughout the race, moving into the top 10 by the two-mile mark.

"I didn't want to go with the front group because sometimes I go out too fast, so I 
tried to stay with the second group and after the first mile, speed up a bit," she said.

Other top-10 girls individual finishes included Harker's Niki Iyer in the Division IV 
race (fifth, 18:26), Pinewood's Nicole Colonna (sixth in Division V, 18:57) and Helena 
Merk (ninth in Division V, 19:12), Gillian Meeks of Gunn (ninth in Division I, 18:10),? 
Lynbrook's Grace Ling (10th in Division II, 18:09) and Cupertino's Caroline Gee (10th 
in Division I, 18:14).

Bellarmine grouped all five scorers within 29 seconds at the finish of the Division I 
boys race to place sixth as a team with a score of 187.