November 03, 2004

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Palo Alto Online

Siraki proves she's in it for the long run

by Keith Peters

Anita Siraki came out of Hoover High in Glendale like most athletes following a standout prep career - with high expectations for even better performances in college.

And why not? Siraki, after all, won the Division I state title in cross country her junior and senior years and finished second at the Footlocker National Championships as a senior.

She came to Stanford with a scholarship and high hopes for a bright future. For the past three years, however, there have been more nightmares than dreams for Siraki as she has yet to win one college race or even finish second. Last year, she raced seven times but only figured in the team scoring once for the national champions.

That's why last Saturday's third-place finish at the Pac-10 Conference Championships meant so much for Siraki. After three frustrating years, she finally contributed to an important team title.

"This summer I was thinking a lot about running, and what I wanted to do with it," Siraki said. "I kind of made up my mind that I want to run competitively as long as possible. I also figured that this is my last year of running cross country, so I need to give something back to the team. I need to accomplish some of the goals that I came to Stanford to accomplish.

"I didn't want to leave, not having given something back to Stanford and our team."

Siraki gave herself and her team a big boost Saturday in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park as she clocked 20:46 over the 6,000-meter course to grab third overall. The best big-meet finish of her career helped the nationally No. 1-ranked Cardinal score 30 points and win their ninth straight conference crown. Senior Alicia Craig led Stanford by finishing second in 20:26.

In the men's 8,000-meter race, two-time defending NCAA champion and No. 2-ranked Stanford won its fifth straight conference title with 37 points as senior Ryan Hall took second in 23:48. Both Craig and Hall earned first-team all-conference honors as did Siraki - for the first time.

"There are so many great girls who are so inspiring each day," Siraki said. "So, I wanted to be a contributing factor. I didn't want to be (a non-scoring) sixth or seventh. I wanted to be helping the team, which is what I came to do."

Having Siraki back pushing the younger runners and challenging for points is a huge bonus for an already talented Stanford women's team. Siraki was 130th and failed to score at last year's NCAA finals, where the Cardinal beat runnerup BYU by only eight points.

Everyone is back from that squad, Siraki is running better than ever and the Cardinal have the added luxury of a fine group of freshmen. If all goes as planned at the 2004 NCAA Championships on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind., no other team should be within a zip code of the Cardinal.

Siraki said last year was actually a step in the right direction for her.

"I looked back at races and like I'd finish and be happy," she said. "I'd run well, but I always knew I could do better. That was another thing I was getting sick of - that lingering feeling of knowing you're not running at your full potential."

Injuries and illness, however, did hinder Siraki's progress her first two seasons.

"The biggest indicator I can point to is that last year she finally had a consistent full year of training, whereas she was kind of interrupted by injuries her first two years," said Stanford women's coach Dena Evans. "The groundswell of that year of training has resulted in some really nice improvements this year . . . Her teammates are really excited for here, that she's coming around and doing some things she intended to do when she came her."

Evans agreed that this is Siraki's best season since her prep days.

"Oh, yeah," Evans said. "Just coming out to practice every day, she has a different look in her eye. She has a lot more confidence. The goals she wants to go after are realistic. It's hard to dream big when you haven't taken some of the smaller steps to get there."

Siraki has taken those small, frustrating steps and finally has arrived.

"Given the choice of having a senior year that makes an impact or one where you fade into the sunset, there's definitely a fork in the road there," Evans said. "And she's gone down one direction and it's great to see."

It was also great to see the Cardinal women hold off second-place Arizona State (47 points) without two-time defending Pac-10 champ Sara Bei, 2003 Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year Arianna Lambie or current freshman Shannon Bergstedt running. All three are expected to be back in the lineup when Stanford defends its NCAA West Regional title on Nov. 13 in Fresno.

In addition to Craig and Siraki, sophomore Amanda Trotter was sixth, sophomore Katy Trotter was eighth and redshirt freshman Teresa McWalters was 11th.

In the men's race, Hall lost his battle on the final straightaway to Arizona sophomore Robert Cheseret, the current NCAA outdoor 5,000 track champ. The native of Kenya and Hall both were timed in 23:48.

Stanford sophomore Jacob Gomez was fourth in 24:28, junior David Vidal was seventh in 24:39, sophomore Brett Gotcher was 11th in 24:44 and sophomore Peter Meindl was 13th in 24:45. Arizona State was second in the team race with 64 points. University of Washington freshman Jeremy Mineau from Menlo-Atherton High finished 27th in 25:16 and was the Huskies' No. 3 finisher.

"I'm actually kind of surprised the team score came out as big a gap as it is, because it was a much closer race until late, late in the race," said Stanford men's coach Andy Gerard. "Arizona State really took their shot at the race. They put us in a hole early on. The guys were smart, they didn't panic."

The result was Stanford winning its eighth conference title in nine years, something the Cardinal has come to expect.

"It's definitely important to us," Gerard said. "There are very few teams that contend at the level we do at the national meet that lose their conference meet. It's bad for confidence. It's bad for momentum. So, we have to do well."

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