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Vanessa Fraser is on top of the world. Or at least California.
The junior cross country runner from Scotts Valley High School distanced herself from the pack last weekend and took home the first state championship in the history of the high school, in any sport.
Fraser won the Division IV California Interscholastic Federation cross country meet at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, Nov. 26. She edged out two-time defending state champion Cami Chapus of Harvard-Westlake as she finished the race in 17 minutes, 46 seconds, beating out Chapus by 11 seconds.
“I really love that course,” Fraser said of the 3.1-mile loop. “My training circuit worked out perfectly timing wise, so that I peaked at just the right moment. Everything just naturally kind of flowed into this race.”
Fraser also defeated San Lorenzo Valley High sophomore Anna Maxwell, her rival and longtime friend. Maxwell finished eighth with a time of 18:06.
“She is so deserving of this win,” Coach Doug Chase said. “Vanessa is really the workhorse of this team, ever the competitor, she is also amazingly gracious.”
Before the weekend race, it had been more than a year since Fraser had bested Maxwell, most recently at the 2010 Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Championships at Pinto Lake Park in Watsonville.
She finished behind Maxwell by narrow margins in the past two Central Coast Section championship races and the 2010 state meet, as well as all of their teams’ dual meet matchups.
“Vanessa is amazingly consistent and ever improving,” Chase said. “Her times just kept getting better and better as she closed in on Anna this was her day and her race.”
Though Maxwell had been ranked No. 2 going into the race and Fraser a distant third, it was Chapus who was ranked first according to ESPN’s Dyestat.com and was favored to repeat as a three-time champion.
“It wasn’t about beating Anna or Cami,” Fraser said. “Of course, to win the race I would have to beat them, but my goal is as always to do my best.”
Fraser hung with the pack for the first mile and a half before she started to pull away. For the final few hundred meters, she had a stinging reminder to keep up her pace.
“Last year, Anna passed me in, like, the last 10 meters,” Fraser said. “I heard people yelling that I was 60 yards ahead of everyone, but I was too scared to look back or slow my pace for even one step. I really didn’t believe I could win it until I crossed the finish line.”
Fraser, as a junior, cannot commit to any college yet, but her sights are set on joining the cross country team at Stanford University in 2013
“My dad went there, and my cousin played football there,” said Fraser. “I have developed a good relationship with their coaches through invites and camps. It was like two hours after the race that I got an email from them congratulating me on the state championships.”
Chapus, the senior who finished second to Fraser, has committed to run for Stanford next fall, opening the possibility that the two would become teammates.
With the win, Fraser claimed Scotts Valley High’s first state championship banner to hang in the Falcon gym. . She is preparing for the regional qualifier at Mount Sac in Southern California where she will compete to run in the final race of the season at the National Championships.
