Jordan Hasay at Clovis

FRESNO --

San Luis Obispo Tribune 10/6/07

By Lisa Houk

The Mission Prep junior has become a mini-celebrity, literally with her petite frame, at the Clovis Cross Country Invitational at Woodward Park. After Hasay easily won the girls championship race in 17 minutes, 23 seconds Saturday, she was surrounded by fans and runners of all ages clamoring for her attention. She signed autographs on shoes, slippers and T-shirts and posed for photos after her win.

Hasay had taken just four steps out of the finishing chute when she met the crowd.

“I’m getting used to all the people, but sometimes I need to rest,” said Hasay, who owns a PR of 17:02 on the 3.1-mile course which is the site of the state meet Nov. 24. “I just wanted to go out pretty conservative for the first mile and then see what I had left for the last two.”

Hasay ran a 5:25 first-mile split and kept a 5:38 pace to capture her third straight Clovis Invitational title. It was her first victory in the championship race that featured a field of 132 runners. Her two other wins came in the divisional races with the team. She didn’t match her top meet time of 17:17, which is the third fastest in the history of the 29th annual meet. The meet record is 16:57 and the course record is 16:43.

“I was hoping to finish around 17, but it’s OK,” she said. “I was pretty excited on the last mile. But my first mile

was actually pretty slow for me because I usually go out in 5:20.”

Hasay did set a course record for attracting the most people at the first-mile marker. About 500 people ran down the hill from the start, crossed over a little wooden bridge and lined along the mile marker to see her come through.

Hasay, who’s been running 7 miles per day in workouts, is preparing for the Mt. SAC Invitational Oct. 19-20 at Walnut.

“Hopefully I’ll run a PR,” she said. “My best is 16:48 on the Mt. SAC course.”

Also at the Clovis Invitational, the Arroyo Grande girls team had the best finish for San Luis Obispo County schools.

Despite competing without two of their top five runners because of “minor injuries,” Arroyo Grande coach Sean Ricketts said, the Eagles managed to finish third in the Division II race with 139 points.

Arroyo Grande had three individuals finish in the top 25: Jana Hayashi was third in 18:32, Haley MacDonald was 19th (19:58) and Mona Saghri 25th (20:02).

Ricketts said it’s up in the air as to whether Karlee Owens and Katie Lewis can return in time for Thursday’s PAC 7 mid-season race.

“We’ll see if they can run (Thursday),” Ricketts said. “It’s on how they feel.”

On the boys side, Arroyo Grande was 14th with 357 points. Taylor Castanon led the Eagles with a 12th-place time of 16:16.

In Division III, San Luis Obispo’s girls were fifth with 162 points. Julia Uyttewaal paced the Tigers with an eighth-place time of 19:24.

The Tigers’ boys were seventh with 285 points. San Luis Obispo’s Brian Knight was 16th in 16:41.

Morro Bay’s girls took ninth in Division IV with 307 points. The Pirates’ top finisher was Sammy Thomas (41st in 21:09).

The Pirates’ boys were fifth with 180 points. Trent Hutchinson led Morro Bay by finishing 19th in 16:46.

• Dick Brug Invitational:

The Atascadero girls dominated the Santa Margarita Lake 5K course, finishing with 48 points, well ahead of runner-up Paso Robles’ 79.

Mimi Peterson (20:40), Muriel Bench (21:12) and Mariah Livengood (21:13) came in third, fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Greyhounds.

The Bearcats were led by Carissa Long (21:39.04), who came in 10th, and Loryn Bedell (21:39.83), who followed closely in 11th.

In the large schools boys competition, which was won by Mount Whitney with 47 points, the Greyhounds came in fifth (133) and were paced by Charlie Ashley’s ninth-place time of 17:21.

Paso Robles was eighth with 196 and was led by Tyler Gay (11th, 17:33).

Nipomo’s boys won their small schools race, led by An-drew Garcia (17:01), who came in second behind Paul Den-linger (16:54) of Templeton. The Eagles’ 54 team points followed the Titans’ 38.

Mission Prep finished fourth with 106 points and was paced by Matt Richman’s ninth-place finish in 18:38.

Coast Union’s lone runner, Kyle Lucas, finished 18th (20:28).

Templeton, led by Kasey Or-man in second place (20:54), placed four runners in the top six in the small schools girls event to win with 26 points.

Mission Prep’s Annie Mooney won the race in 20:18.

Alexandra Caraso took seventh in 22:04 to lead Nipomo.

Neither the Royals nor the Titans earned team points.