Chapus Runs Second at State Meet

Having repeated as the CIF Southern Section Division IV cross country champion one week before at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, resident Cami Chapus was trying for a three-peat Saturday morning at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The senior from Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City had some momentum heading into her latest race, having clocked a personal-best 17:06 to earn her second consecutive sectional triumph. On Saturday, Chapus was looking for her third consecutive Division IV state title, having won in 17:45 last year and 17:59 as a sophomore.

This time, Chapus covered the 5,000-meter (3.1 miles) mostly dirt trail course in 17 minutes, 56.7 seconds and edged fellow Wolverines senior Amy Weissenbach by one tenth of a second to take second place. Junior Vanessa Fraser from Scotts Valley in Santa Cruz County won the race in 17:45.1 and clocked the 11th fastest girls time overall. 

In the first of the day's 10 races, Chapus and Fraser set the pace early, running the first mile in 5:31.3 and 5:31.4, respectively, with Whittier Christian senior Kellian Hunt third in 5:31.8. Fraser took a seven second lead in the second mile and Chapus settled into second, five seconds ahead of Weissenbach.

Chapus, also the reigning state 1,600-meter track champion, announced earlier this month that she will join Weissenbach (the state 800-meter champion) at Stanford University next fall. Chapus and Weissenbach's efforts Saturday helped Harvard-Westlake take third in the team competition behind JSerra of San Juan Capistrano and San Lorenzo Valley of Felton.

senior Grant Stromberg, who won the Los Angeles City Section Individual crown last week, was 19th in the boys Division I race Saturday with a time of 15:37. Teammate Drake Johnston, a junior who ran third at City finals, was 43rd in 16:02 and Matt Hammer, a senior, was 56th in 16:12. Rounding out the Dolphins were junior Jonathon Tewodros (16:46), senior Nick Wong (17:40), senior Austin Gelber (17:52) and sophomore Matt Kato (18:11). Palisades, which won the City team crown, placed 13th out of 22 teams in Division I at the state meet.

Stromberg and Johnston both significantly improved their time and place from last year's state meet, when Stromberg was 37th in 15:43 and Johnston ran 16:19 to place 95th in Division I.

Freshman Marissa Williams was the only Palisades High female to qualify for state and she ran 19:22 to finish 75th out of 190 runners in the Division I race. Last year, Palisades' Jacklyn Bamberger ran 19:21 at the state meet one week after winning the City championship as a sophomore.

In the boys Division II race, Palisadian Andrew Bland, a senior from Los Angeles Loyola, was 40th in 16:02.1 and his effort helped the Cubs finish second in the team competition behind Golden Valley of Santa Clarita. Bland also won this year's Palisades-Will Rogers 5K on the Fourth of July. 

Click here for complete results from Saturday's state cross country championships.