Entering the 2019 cross-country season, Saugus girls runner Hannah Fredericks was a little skeptical about what she could accomplish in her junior year.
“I didn’t have my best season last season, so after that I wanted to work off it and have a better season,” Fredericks said.
Using her sophomore campaign as motivation, Fredericks collected three first-place finishes and set multiple personal records to prove that she earned the 2019 All-SCV Girls Cross-Country Runner of the Year award.
But for Fredericks, it’s not all about her own glory or personal gains, it’s more about what she can do to carry on the long-standing tradition of winning and help the team as a whole.
“I wasn’t necessarily going into the season thinking about what I was going to do for myself, that’s kind of more like track,” Fredericks said. “But I was going into the season trying to keep the end goal in mind as a team and trying to help think of ways to help the team get to where we wanted to go.”
It’s the third time in four years a Saugus girls cross-country runner wins the award and Fredericks, who has been on the team since her freshman year, is no stranger to the amount of work that it takes to be mentioned among the valley’s greatest.
“I don’t think about it enough because it is such a great program and there is honestly, a decade of excellence that has been set before us,” Fredericks said. “Every time we go out there with an ‘S’ on our chest, we are thinking about all the people that have come before us and we want to make them proud, wanting to make our families proud, coaches and really make the alumni proud too because they have worked to make the program great.”
Over the course of three meets, Fredericks picked up two first-place finishes at Foothill League Meet No. 1 in 18 minutes, 4.12 seconds and at the 2019 SCV XC Invite in 17:09.68. She got runner-up honors in The Master’s University’s XC Invitational with a time of 17:59.1.
The Saugus girls team finished in first place in all three of the meets.
Fredericks earned her final first-place finish of the year at Foothill League finals beating her time in the first meet by almost nine seconds, in 17:55.22.
Fredericks concluded the season with a second-place finish in 17:33.1 at CIF-Southern Section Division 1 Finals and qualified for the CIF State Meet for the third time in her Saugus cross-country career.
She finished in 64th place, while helping the team to third place.
“I did my best for that day. It wasn’t what I was going for,” Fredericks said. “I’m just really happy that I got the opportunity to help my team and score for them and race with all my other best friends.”
All-SCV Girls Cross-Country Team
Angelee Berganio, senior, Canyon
As Canyon’s fastest girls cross-country runner, Berganio served as the Cowboys’ leader throughout the season finishing among the top 10 in all but four meets on the season. Berganio’s best finish came in the Kenny Staub/John Barnes Invitational where she clocked in a time of 19:36.0 for first place.
Isabella Duarte, sophomore, Saugus
The only underclassmen to make the list, Duarte’s undeniable passion for cross-country running is only growing as the years pass. Making the list for the second time in as many years, Duarte was mentioned among Saugus’ and the Foothill League’s best runners by finishing as the runner up at Foothill League finals in 18:05.1. At CIF-SS Division 1 finals, she set a season record in 17:39.1 to finish in eighth place.
Hailey Kirsch, senior, Valencia
One of Valencia’s most consistent runners, Kirsch rebounded from a setback in the first Foothill League meet to finish out the season with four top-seven finishes including the Ojai Invitational and Foothill League finals. Finishing in 16th place at the CIF-SS Division 1 finals, Kirsch was the lone Vikings runner to advance to the CIF State Meet for the first time in her varsity career.
Hailey Rutter, senior, Saugus
Closing out her senior season with a PR at the CIF State Meet in 18:07.7 for 19th place, Rutter had an eventful year. She finished as the runner up in Foothill League meet No. 1 before picking up three third-place finishes at the 2019 SCV Cross-Country Invite, Foothill League Finals and The Master’s University XC Invitational.
Danielle Salcedo, junior, Saugus
As a junior, Salcedo was a force to be reckoned with on the Saugus girls team. She began the Foothill League season with a fourth-place finish at the first Foothill League meet in 18:42.5 before beating her time at league finals by 30 seconds for her third fourth-place finish of the season.
Abigail Welch, senior, West Ranch
Welch led the West Ranch girls team to a second-place finish at Foothill League meet No. 1 after clocking in a time of 18:40.0 for a third-place finish. She set a season record at the CIF-SS Division 1 prelims with a time of 17:57.4 to qualify for finals as the lone Wildcats’ girls runner. She finished in 37th place.
