Associated Press
Sammy Silva, smiling after winning the Division III race, is congratulated by fellow San Diegan Mac Fleet.
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FRESNO – Athletes talk about leaving it all on the field. Sammy Silva left it all on the course.
The Our Lady of Peace senior captured the Division III title at the California State Cross Country Championships yesterday, grabbing the spotlight from a Torrey Pines team that finished second in Division I behind the third-place showing of sophomore Ali Billmeyer.
Silva held nothing back.
“That's as fast as I can go, not another second faster,” said Silva, who scorched the 3.1-mile Woodward Park course in 17 minutes, 35 seconds – the fourth-fastest time of the day.
“I really need to sit down and rest.”
Silva sat and collected her breath as runner after runner finished behind her.
It was the first girls state title from the San Diego Section since San Dieguito's Jenna Timinsky triumphed in 2001.
Silva won with her right shoelace untied the entire race.
This is not an event where you stop and tie your shoes, so she let the strings whip her ankles and hoped she wouldn't trip.
“I decided not to go out like I did last year, and stayed back,” Silva said. “I was really nervous last night and before we ran, but I felt good during the race and took off with a half-mile to go.”
Once she made her move, no one could stay with Silva, who beat Oak Park's Melissa Skiba by six seconds.
Earlier, the Torrey Pines girls placed four runners in the top 20 but were beaten for the Division I team title by an even more tightly bunched group from Dana Hills High in Orange County.
A number of Falcons runners set personal records.
“People were PRing right and left,” Torrey Pines coach Brent Thorne said. “We didn't lose it. We just got beat. We can't run any better.”
Billmeyer again showed herself to be a big-meet runner. As a freshman at the state track meet last spring, Billmeyer qualified for the final in the 1,600 meters, where she finished fourth.
“This is definitely special,” said Billmeyer, who finished 19 seconds behind the winner, San Clemente's Alex Dunne.
“I just decided to kick and see if I had it in me.”
Behind Billmeyer (17:45) was teammate Megan Morgan (17:47) followed by Falcons freshman Ashlyn Dadkhah (14th, 18:13) and senior Erin Gillingham (19th, 18:22).
San Diego Section champ Molly Grabill of Rancho Bernardo made Division I the strongest for local runners with a sixth-place finish in 17:52.
The Falcons await word today on a possible invitation to the Nike National Team Championships on Saturday in Portland.
Torrey Pines had the third-best performance in the state meet and will be looking for one of four at-large invitations.
