PROFILE State Champ Buchanan Girls are Ready for Another Run

Seniors Grace Hutchison (left) and Sydney Sundgren (center), and sophomore Elliana Lomeli lead the Buchanan girls cross country team into the 2022 season. (DeAnna Turner photo)

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CLOVIS -- Seven a.m. seems far too early to be on a high school campus -- at least in the middle of summer. Many would surely choose the easy route. Return to sleep with the shades down and the A/C unit or fan blasting cold air as the heat in Central California is already climbing toward another triple-digit-degree day.

But at 6:50 a.m. on this Monday in mid-July, the last car with a Buchanan High School cross country runner inside has parked and the person is hustling to the practice field adjacent to Veterans Memorial Stadium. Buchanan head coach Brian Weaver and his assistants welcome their full teams. They ask how everyone is doing, how they are feeling, provide the day's practice run schedule, and make sure they know which groups they'll be in. Everyone is a little quiet now, but they still seem upbeat at 7 a.m. because they know what is expected and how to do it.

"I think we're really good teammates to each other and work well together during practices, running in groups and getting to know each other on a personal level. It helps us feel more comfortable in races when we're pushing and supporting each other," says senior and No. 2 runner Grace Hutchison.

Summertime means they are nowhere near postseason racing form, but today's practice moves Buchanan a step toward its season-ending goal of championship success. 

"Doing this," says Hutchison, "helps it become routine, become normal. We keep getting closer so when the time comes for postseason races, it helps that we're running for each other and as a team."

Built for Success

Buchanan's girls' team has plenty of evidence. The No. 1-ranked girls' team in the state according to MileSplit's 2022 list, the Bears are two-time CIF State Division I champions, winning in 2019 and 2021 (the 2020 State was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic). Last year's win completed a second straight postseason team title sweep, winning the TRAC league, Central Section Division 1 and State championships. Top runner Sydney Sundgren's third-place finish at the State D-I final last November was all that kept her from an individual postseason title sweep.

In the school's 30-year existence, the Bears have been a consistent winner. The 2021 league title -- the Bears took five of the top six spots -- was the 23rd for Buchanan's girls. The Central Section division championship, in which its top seven runners finished inside the top 10, was win No. 22. The current State title run joins their only other one, in Division II, in 1994.

In fact, one of toughest experiences Buchanan's program faced was in fall 1991, the inaugural year, when only two female runners came out for the team. But league title No. 1 came in 1992, the start of a five-year title win streak. The first section title win was in 1994 and that began a three-year run. Although their State title win in 2019 ended a drought, Buchanan had finished second or third six times in Division I until the breakthrough year.

All that success, though, isn't something to rest on, especially when it motivates the competition. Buchanan athletes understand the need to maintain this winning tradition.

"It's exciting being part of a program that has such a big legacy," says Sundgren, a senior. "It can be hard sometimes having expectations, but I think all of us on the team want to succeed and have those goals for the team. It helps us stay accountable in our training. Yes, it's hard at some points, but we all want to do good and do the best we can as a team."

The 7 a.m. practice time helps. The team's annual Morro Bay summer camp trip in July, a combination team bonding/change-of-scenery training run trip, is highly anticipated.

"Morro Bay gets us going into the season. It gets everyone as close as possible before we have to face all of the challenges we have, together," says returning standout Elliana Lomeli, who along with fellow key returner, Sierra Cornett, ran school-record sophomore times during the training camp. Incoming runners, Kynzlee Buckley and Tayler Torosian, also set Buchanan freshman record times in Morro Bay to make an early impression.

A change of scenery is often good for cross-country runners. Buchanan's 2022 season schedule includes two visits to Kingsburg, a journey to Orange County for the Woodbridge Invitational, Visalia for the Mount Whitney Invitational, and Elverta, near Sacramento, for the annual Flat SAC event.

Location, Location, Location: Woodward Park

Location helps Buchanan -- and all other nearby schools -- in October. The bulk of the team's training, running in the Oct. 8 Clovis Invitational, and all of its November postseason races take place at Fresno's Woodward Park. The TRAC league final is Nov. 10, the Central Section final is Nov. 17, and the State final is Nov. 26.

Does familiarity breed success? 

"There is something to be said for sleeping in your own bed," says Weaver, whose Buchanan teams -- he coaches boys and girls cross country and boys and girls track and field -- enjoy a year-round location advantage for key late season meets in both sports. Woodward Park has always hosted CIF meets and Veteran Memorial Stadium at Buchanan's campus has annually hosted the State track and field finals this past decade.

"Our kids love going to Woodward Park and the state championship meet," Weaver says. "It is very natural for them. We know what it is going to look like, how it will be set up, where the flags are and where the fence is. They've been there when they were in junior high and elementary school. Their parents took them there. They've raced there a few times. Our kids just love it."

They aren't alone. Fellow TRAC league teams, Clovis, Clovis North, Clovis East, Clovis West, Central and Fresno-area schools have the nearby advantage. Invitationals hosted here allow all teams in the state a chance to gain a competitive feel for the course.

Battling Through the Pain

Familiarity, though, couldn't prevent at least one major challenge for Buchanan's 2021 State Meet race. In the third mile, Grace Hutchison suddenly collapsed and stayed down. Having a key scorer for the Bears go down was a shock to the script, of course.

Hutchison, who was among the top 5 at the time, eventually got back up and walked the rest of the course to the finish line. She was 180th, last place, but the team had enough reinforcements to carry on and claim the title. Lomeli, a freshman at the time, came through with an eighth-place finish. Stefania Sesock, a sophomore (at left above), was 14th. Junior Caroline Mendyk was 20th. Another freshman, Sierra Cornett (at right above), also fell down, but much closer to the end line and she completed the team scoring with a 22nd-place effort. Buchanan won the State Meet D-I title with 51 points, comfortably ahead of runner-up Newbury Park (72).

"I think it showed that no matter what, every person is valued," Weaver said. "Not just the top five runners mattered, all seven did. When Grace went down and all the girls saw it, that was understandably very hard on them. However, their focus was still, 'I need to be the best I can be and me stopping is the wrong thing to do.'"

The title win was celebrated, of course, and Hutchison recovered physically. She does admit that the emotional pain was difficult to deflect.

"I was having the race of my life on that day, so I was happy with that aspect of it," Hutchison recalls. "But I was definitely sad for a couple of months after that."

One way she worked through it came the very next week after the State meet. Buchanan's girls' team traveled to Huntsville, AL to compete in the Garmin RunningLane Cross-Country Championships. There, she returned to her No. 2 runner role, finished 48th overall (24th for team scoring purposes) in a solid time of 17:28.15. Buchanan finished second in the national race's team standings. 

"That week in between the State and National meet was hard," Hutchison says. "Mentally and physically I was really tired. But the team helped so much by supporting me and it set my head straight." 

Hutchison followed with a solid spring track season. She was the CA MileSplit Central Section Female Distance Runner of the Year,  winning the Division 1 section title in the 1600 meters and advancing to the State Track and Field Championships in the 1600 and 3200. 

"Track really helped me get my mind off of it. I worked really hard for track so I'm hoping to keep the momentum going this fall, keep the positivity."

A return to the State meet is an obvious motivator for Hutchison, but on summer days like this, it is important for everybody to take stock and take it slow.

Great Expectations

Expectations are always present at Buchanan. There are three seniors leading the Bears' top 10 girls for 2022. The Top 10 list likely includes freshmen Buckley and Torosian. Another is Avery Hutchison, Grace's younger sister and the third Hutchison sibling to run for Buchanan. Morgan Hutchison, a member of the 2019 State title team and two years older than Grace, now competes at Fresno State.

All Buchanan runners pass the big red board as they enter the practice field area with top names, times and title wins of the past and present. The need to be better is an unspoken rule.

"It's definitely motivating. When you step on that starting line, you know what and who you're running for," Hutchison says. "This program has had so much success and you want to keep it going. It's what helps us work so hard in the summer so that we are ready for when we have to be."

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Ryan Blystone is a freelance writer and a regular contributor to MileSplit

Photos by DeAnna Turner, Patrick Corsinita, Jeffrey Parenti, and Kirby Lee/Image of Sport