A dozen high school girls from Northern California represented the Buffalo Chips Running Club of Sacramento last
Saturday at the US Cross Country Nationals in San Diego over the weekend. Expectations were high as the Buffalo
Babes, as they are more commonly known, were blessed to have on their roster the Nevada State 4a champion, an AAU
Junior Olympic champion, the California sophomore, junior, and senior of the year, and another first team All-NorCal
runner, along with six more fine area runners.
After very close triumphs at this meet the last two years, the Buffalo Babes overwhelmed the competition and won by
a score of 11 to 31 over the Dallas Metroplex Striders and four other teams (low score wins). The Buffalo Babes had
five of the first six team finishers. The Junior Women�s race was 6 kilometers long, or roughly 3.7 miles.
The meet, conducted by USA Track and Field, was held at Mission Bay Park near Sea World in San Diego and the Junior
Women�s race consisted of three 2-kilometer loops on a grassy, mostly flat, surface. This race included young women
ages 14 through 19, so several college freshmen from such schools as Duke, Notre Dame, Stanford, Colorado, and
Washington were also entered.
The Buffalo Babes had never had any girl finish in the top ten at this meet in three previous tries, but Laurynne
Chetelat of Davis HS and Jacque Taylor of Casa Grande HS in Petaluma are at the top of their game and ran brilliantly
finishing in seventh and eighth place respectively. Chetelat, a senior, is the Division 1 state cross country
champion and was the Sacramento Bee and NorCal runner of the year. She ran among the top six girls for the first two
miles, but faded just a bit to take seventh. Still her time of 21:51 is the fastest Buffalo Babes time ever at this
event. Chetelat will be running for Stanford next year and is currently coached by Bill Gregg at Davis Senior High.
While Chetelat was a bit disappointed with missing a top six finish, Taylor was ecstatic to finish where she did.
Halfway through the race, she had moved from tenth place up to eighth and managed to hold that spot for the remainder
of the race. Only a sophomore, Taylor was one of the youngest runners in the race.
Both Chetelat and Taylor finished ahead of twelve of the 16 college freshmen, including members of the starting seven
for Syracuse, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest. Taylor, who also represents the Santa Rosa Express club, was the
California Division 2 cross country runner-up and is a past Junior Olympic champion. She is coached at the prep level
by Carl Triola and at the club level by Bob Shor.
The Junior Women�s race was won by defending champion Jordan Hasay, a junior at Mission Prep H.S. in San Luis Obispo.
Using a completely different style from last February in Boulder where Hasay ended any suspense in the first ten
minutes by blowing out to a commanding lead, Hasay coasted for the first two kilometers at a pace that kept the top 23
runners within five seconds of her for the first loop. It wasn�t really until the fifth kilometer that Hasay shook
loose from Stanford freshman Alexandra Gits and added yet another title to her amazing career. The five-time state
champion then put on the afterburners to finish with a time of 20:32 to Gits� 20:45. Hasay�s time of 3 minutes, 16
seconds for her final kilometer was the fastest split of the day.
Aside from being the national team championships, the event also served as the qualifier for the 2008 IAAF World Cross
Country Championships to be held in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 30th. The top six runners in each race were invited
to join the USATF national team for this competition.
With Jordan Hasay deciding to stay stateside and focus on her important track commitments for the spring and summer,
Laurynne Chetelat earned a berth on the Junior Women�s world team. Eighth-place finisher Jacque Taylor also accepted
an invitation to attend a pre-world meet in Orlando, Florida. She will race in a North and Central American-only
competition representing the United States on March 1st.
The other top finishers in the Junior Women�s race were 3rd place, Emily Reese of Chamblee H.S. in Georgia, 21:26;
4th place, Marissa Treece of Notre Dame Univ, 21:33, 5th place, Emily Schitzer of Duke Univ., 21:34; and 6th place,
Lauren Saylor of the Univ. of Washington, 21:35.
This was clearly the best group of prep runners to represent the Buffalo Chips in recent times. From 2005-2007, the
Buffalo Babes had only had three members finish in the top twenty at this meet. But in San Diego, five of the top
twenty finishers were Buffalo Babes. Maria Malone of Folsom HS (12th place, 22:04), Deborah Maier of Ponderosa HS
(18th place, 22:26), and Kelsey Smith of South Tahoe HS (19th place, 22:31) had excellent races.
Malone probably ran the most steady, even-paced race of all the Buffalo Babes. She was the section runner-up to
Chetelat in Division 1, took 9th place at the state meet, and also made the state track meet last year at 3200 meters.
In December, she was named the NorCal junior of the year for cross country. Malone finished ahead of over half the
collegiate freshmen in San Diego.
Maier, a senior, is the Division 2 section champion and led her Ponderosa team to third place at the state meet thanks
to a fifth place finish there. Smith, who lives in California but competes in Nevada, was the Gatorade Nevada runner
of the year as a sophomore and has finished within the top three at the Junior Olympics the last two years and was
17th at this meet last year.
Jordan Burke, the Division 3 section Champion and 7th place finisher at the state meet, rounded out the national
championship team for the Buffalo Babes. The Buffalo Babes have now won three straight US Cross Country Championships
and have won 15 national titles at various meets since 2002. Twelve of those have been affiliated with USA Track and
Field.
The Buffalo Babes also fielded a second strong team of runners that took fourth place, just missing a podium spot.
That team was led by senior Kate Lambdin of South Tahoe HS, who was 3rd at the Nevada state meet. Lambdin barely
squeaked in the top 30 with a time of 23:28. Coming in 40th in a time of 24:29 was Sarah Tusting, a junior at Benicia
HS, who was ill at last year�s section finals but rebounded to finish 14th at the USATF Junior Olympics in Kansas.
One of the fastest sophomores in the Sac Joaquin section, Courtney Crosta of Woodcreek HS, was 42nd in 24:39. Senior
Kelly McEnerney of Christian Brothers HS and juniors Sammi Diaz and Kelly Roberts of Ponderosa HS (the school that has
won three consecutive team section titles) rounded out the team.
The other high school coaches who prepared the Buffalo Babes for this meet are Dave Gregson of Folsom HS, Barbara
Richardson of Ponderosa HS, Dan Wilvers of South Tahoe HS, Terri McKillop of Woodcreek HS, Randall Fee of Placer HS,
Danny Delgado of Christian Brothers HS, and Joe Heffernan of Benicia HS. Priscilla Moreno, a 2004 graduate of UC
Davis, is the coach of the girls while on the road trips.
German Fernandez, a senior at Riverbank HS, was the winner of the Junior Men�s race. Fernandez won the Division 4
state cross country race taking down a fabled course record in the process, but this race was just as exciting.
Fernandez will go to Scotland with the rest of Team USA in late March for the IAAF world meet. He edged freshman Ryan
Sheridan of Iona College by one second in the eight-kilometer race, 24:18 to 24:19.
The rest of the Junior Men�s top six was: 3rd place, Emil Heineking of the University of Virginia, 24:34; 4th place,
Bobby Maldovan of North Carolina State, 24:38; 5th place, Kevin Williams, unattached (Colorado), 24:39, and 6th place,
Benjamin Johnson, unattached (New Mexico), 24:41. Brendan Gregg (Davis HS �07, Stanford University) was just edged for
the final world qualifying spot. He was given the same time as the sixth place finisher.
The Pacific Association of USA Track and Field (Northern California and western Nevada) was represented quite well at
this meet with five runners in the junior classification finishing in the top ten, not to mention both the girls� and
boys� winners. Jordan Hasay of Arroyo Grande and German Fernandez of Riverbank both hail from the Pacific Association
as do 7th place Laurynne Chetelat of Davis and 8th place Jacque Taylor of Petaluma in the Junior Women�s race as well
as 7th place Brendan Gregg of Davis in the Junior Men�s race. As youngsters, Hasay and Taylor were heavily involved
in the Pacific Association at the youth level with Hasay representing the San Luis Distance Club and Taylor donning
the blue kit of the Santa Rosa Express.
Besides the Buffalo Babes, Kenny Durell (Davis HS, 46th place) and Josh Arrietta (Oak Ridge HS, Long Beach State,
49th place) were two more Pacific Association runners in action down in San Diego.
For further information or photos of the meet contact Joe Hartman at [email protected] or 916-716-6697.
Results
USA XC Championships
Bold = Pacific Association, Red = Buffalo Babes
JUNIOR WOMEN�S 6K US CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
1 1026 Jordan Hasay San Luis Arroyo Grande CA 16 20:32
2 1023 Alex Gits Stanford University Edina MN 18 20:45
3 1046 Emily Reese unattached Dunwoody GA 17 21:26
4 1060 Marissa Treece Notre Dame Notre Dame IN 18 21:33
5 1052 Emily Schwitzer Duke University Durham NC 18 21:34
6 1051 Lauren Saylor U Washington Clovis CA 18 21:36
7 1014 Laurynne Chetelat Buffalo Chips Davis CA 17 21:51
8 1058 Jacque Taylor Buffalo Chips Petaluma CA 16 21:53
9 1064 Colleen Wetherbee North Carolina St Yarmouth MA 18 21:53
10 1013 Megan Burrell U of Colorado Colorado Springs CO 19 21:58
12 1038 Maria Malone Buffalo Chips Folsom CA 16 22:04
18 1037 Deborah Maier Buffalo Chips Cameron Park CA 17 22:26
19 1054 Kelsey Smith Buffalo Chips South Lake Tahoe CA 16 22:31
30 1035 Kate Lambdin Buffalo Chips South Lake Tahoe CA 17 23:28
40 1061 Sarah Tusting Buffalo Chips Benicia CA 17 24:29
41 1012 Jordan Burke Buffalo Chips Roseville CA 18 24:32
42 1017 Courtney Crosta Buffalo Chips Roseville CA 15 24:39
50 1040 Kelly McEnerney Buffalo Chips Galt CA 17 25:15
51 1019 Samantha Diaz Buffalo Chips Shingle Springs CA 16 25:16
56 1048 Kelly Roberts Buffalo Chips Cameron Park CA 16 25:53
JUNIOR MEN�S 8K US CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
1 1524 German Fernandez unattached Riverbank CA 17 24:18
2 1586 Ryan Sheridan Iona College Melville NY 18 24:19
3 1540 Emil Heineking University of Virginia Chardon OH 18 24:34
4 1571 Bobby Moldovan North Carolina State Universit Fort Wayne IN 18 24:38
5 1602 Kevin Williams unattached Lakewood CO 17 24:39
6 1547 Benjamin Johnson unattached Albuquerque NM 18 24:41
7 1530 Brendan Gregg Stanford University Davis CA 18 24:41
8 1553 Ryan Little Oklahoma State University Eden Prairie MN 18 24:50
9 1564 Joshua Mathis Oklahoma State University Potosi MO 18 24:56
10 1595 Matthew Tebo University of Colorado Albuquerque NM 18 24:58
46 1520 Kenneth Durell unattached Davis CA 18 26:31
49 1501 Joshua Arrieta unattached Long Beach CA 18 26:41
2008 USA CC Champs home page
2008 Jr. Women's results - (team results are a bit wrong... they did not score Sarah Tusting, BCRC 'B' team still got 4th)
2007 NACAC race link (USA did not win Jr. Girls in 2007)
(2006 NACAC XC Championships )
(2005 NACAC XC Championships )
