Foland, Pio Qualify for State Meet in 3,200 Meters

A battle-tested Bay League distance runner can survive the toughest of tests. Mira Costa High's 3,200-meter runners Aryn Foland and Savannah Pio proved that Friday in the CIF Masters Meet at Cerritos College, when a strategy change from Plan A to Plan B became necessary.

What Foland and Pio thought would be a leisurely early pace instead was completely the opposite. But the Mustangs' duo made the adjustment and easily qualified for the California State Track and Field Championships June 4-5 at Fresno's Clovis West High School.

Although Foland and Pio, both juniors, were not among the top five automatic qualifiers in the eight-lap event, they easily achieved the state-qualifying standard of 10 minutes 45.62 seconds. Foland crossed the finish line in sixth place in a personal best of 10:28.48. Pio, who has persevered through a series of late-season illnesses, including a bout with strep throat last week, placed ninth in 10:40.76.

"I'm just happy I got through,'' Foland said. "But I was completely unprepared for a race that fast. The first mile was run in like 5:11.''

Instead of a slow pace and the field of 12 runners being closely packed together, a trio of seniors led by Simi Valley's Liberty Miller, Oak Park's Melissa Skiba and Foothill's Sierra Vega bolted away. Foland was not bothered, even though she was left behind in a second pack of runners that formed.

"What was going through my mind was that my time was going to qualify me for state,'' she said. "Once I saw what the mile (split) was, I knew I'd qualify. But it also means that the pace at the state meet will be faster, which scares me.''

Foland has made tremendous improvement from her sophomore year, when her personal best in this event was 10:55. Her performance Friday is a phenomenal 27 seconds faster.

"My goal this season was to go under 10:30,'' Foland said, "and I did that today.''

Meanwhile, Pio was unperturbed by the tactics of Miller, Skiba and Vega. Pio said that competing against the best distance runners in the Bay League buoyed her confidence and that it remained steadfast going into the Masters Meet.

"I've run against probably every amazing runner in California,'' Pio said. "Today, I basically was running against the clock. When you run against the clock, you don't get discouraged or nervous. It was definitely a fast pace. But that's Southern California runners for you.''

Pio said she was well aware that she was on state-qualifying pace because her father was yelling out her split times from the stands.

"My goal at state is to run in the low 10:30s,'' Pio said. "I believe it's a realistic goal.''