Foland, Pio, Place In Top 10 At State Meet

Aryn Foland and Savannah Pio are typical high school distance runners. No matter how fast they have run, no matter how many times they have lowered their personal-best times, they always are seeking to run even faster the next time out.

So, Foland and Pio initially felt disappointed after the 3,200-meters final on Saturday at the CIF State Track and Field Championships at Buchanan High in Clovis. Neither girl approached the times that they ran respectively the previous week at the CIF Masters Meet.

But that disappointment ended when Mira Costa High girls coach Renee Williams-Smith pointed out to her two junior distance runners that finishing among the top 10 in the state is quite an accomplishment.

"I'm very proud of them,'' Williams-Smith said. "I know that they wanted to run faster. Distance runners always want to do better. That's their mindset. But I'm happy with the way that they ran. To finish in the top 10 in the state is really good.''

Foland placed seventh, in 10 minutes 42.07 seconds, just ahead of Pio, who finished eighth in 10:42.49. Pio turned in a 73-second final lap and passed four runners in the process. Foland picked off two competitors in her final sprint to the finish line.

The race was won by Molly Grabill of San Diego's Rancho Bernardo High, in 10:20.25. To put in perspective what Foland and Pio accomplished, seven of the top 10 finishers in the state 3,200 were qualifiers from the Southern Section's Masters Meet. That included Simi Valley's Liberty Miller, who placed second, and Oak Park's Melissa Skiba, who took fourth. Miller and Skiba ran one-two in the Masters Meet.

Foland and Pio knew going into Saturday's race what to expect.

"I think that they were more excited than nervous,'' Williams-Smith said. "But they were both ready to run. They ran together the first four laps and then the last lap.''

But during the grueling eight-lap race, the two Mira Costa runners found themselves in a distance runner's nightmare – No Man's Land - running alone with a swift pace well ahead of them and a lagging pack far behind them.

"I lost contact with the pace,'' Foland explained. "Once that happens, it's hard to get your momentum back, when you're running alone.''

However, Foland was so focused on her final lap that she did not even notice that her teammate was in a chase to catch her, too.

"I didn't even see her until after I crossed the finish line,'' Foland said.

Through a tough Bay League dual meet campaign, on through the rugged CIF qualifying meets and finally to the state meet, Foland and Pio have improved immensely and in the process and shaved seconds off their personal-best marks.

"They'll take some time off now,'' Williams-Smith said, "and then start training for cross country.''