Photos

By Keith Peters
Palo Alto Online Sports

The 2012 Central Coast Section Cross Country Championships, set for Saturday in Salinas, just got a lot more interesting with the addition of one runner who has missed all but one meet this season.

That would be Gunn junior Sarah Robinson, who ran in the first meet of the season and then was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign due to a "medical problem."

Not even first-year Gunn coach Craig Blockhus knew of Robinson's status until just recently, and that was in regards to her availability and not why she had been sidelined. That's still a mystery.

While Robinson did miss qualifying for the CCS Championships by not running in the league finals, Blockhus was able to get her a medical waiver once he had a document from her doctor.

Blockhus finally obtained that doctor's note this week, met with Gunn Athletic Director Sarah Stapp on Thursday morning and finally got the official OK to allow Robinson to run.

Robinson is the defending CCS Division I champion in addition to finishing third at the State Meet in 2011 to cap a sensational season. She spent most of the year after that playing for the U.S. Soccer U-17 National Team and helping the squad qualify for the U-17 World Cup that was held in September in Azerbaijan.

Robinson, however, missed that tournament due to her medical issue. While she was expected to have a full season of cross country, that disappeared in a hurry.

Robinson will be at the starting line at Toro Park in Salinas on Saturday for the girls' Division I race at 2:05 p.m. The Titans barely qualified without her, finishing fourth at the SCVAL El Camino Division Championships.

With Robinson back, the Titans could be among the challengers for the top two spots, which earn berths to the CIF State Meet in Fresno on Nov. 24.

Robinson reportedly has been training on her own and worked out for 20 minutes with the team at least one day this week. Blockhus, however, has no idea of her true fitness.

Last season, Robinson won the CCS title with a 17.12 clocking on the 2.95-mile layout at Crystal Springs. Toro Park offers a 3.0-mile course.

Also battling for team honors in Division I will be the Menlo-Atherton girls, whose lineup of two juniors and five freshmen won the Peninsula Athletic League Championships a few weeks ago. The Bears were projected to finish third, that before Robinson became eligible.

Palo Alto is projected to finish fifth. If the Vikings don't qualify as a team, sophomore Katie Foug should be in the running for an at-large berth to the State Meet.

In girls' Division IV, Menlo School freshman Zoe Enright will battle for an individual berth along with sophomore teammate Lizzie Lacy. In Division V, Fiona Maloney-McCrystle of Castilleja also will run for an at-large berth.

For the boys, Menlo-Atherton has an outside shot to advance in Division I, Sacred Heart Prep sophomore Daniel Hill is a possible at-large candidate in Division IV along with Menlo's Andrew Schmitt and Matt Myers, while Priory junior Chris Gregory could lead the Panthers to a team berth in Division V.

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