Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week: Julie Allen: Queen of Sea Kings

Tony Altobelli

Last spring, Julie Allen was the new kid in town for the Corona del

Mar High girls track and field team.

In only eight short months, she’s the grizzled veteran on a Sea Kings’

cross country team thin on experience, but strong with raw talent.

“Last year, there was this core group and I was added to that group,”

Allen said. “This year, there’s a whole new group and, as a senior, it’s

my responsibility to help set a good example for the others.”

Allen, who transferred to CdM from Fountain Valley High at the

beginning of the year, quickly turned an already-strong, senior-heavy Sea

King team into one of the top squads in all of CIF.

This year, the seniors are gone and some quality returners have moved

on to other schools. Still, Allen knows the tradition at CdM and will not

settle for anything less that success.

“Julie is like an untrained stallion,” CdM Coach Bill Sumner said.

“She does the right stuff all the time, but there are times when I wish

she’d slow down a little bit. Some of the kids give me gray hairs for not

doing enough, Julie gives me gray hairs for doing too much.”

The key to Allen’s constant success is work, work, work. After logging

hundreds of miles over the summer workouts, the Daily Pilot Athlete of

the Week showcased her skills at last week’s Laguna Hills Invitational,

where she set a Division III course record with a time of 17:34,

shattering the record by 45 seconds. She was 22 seconds ahead of her

nearest competitor, Chadwick’s Kristen Cohoon (17:56).

“A fast time for me at this stage of the season is not important to

me,” Allen said. “I’m using these races as a good training method for

down the road. If I keep working hard, the fast times will come along

with them. My main focus is on November and December.”

Allen knows the success CdM has during those months when it comes to

cross country. The Sea Kings are two-time defending state champions and

Allen would like to keep the strong tradition alive.

“We’re young, but Coach (Bill) Sumner will have us prepared and ready

to go when it’s time to perform at our best. We’re young, but we’ve got

some very good runners here.”

Allen was a three-time CIF Southern Section and state finals

participant and, barring any type of injury, she’ll make it 4 for 4. “I’d

also like to qualify for nationals in December,” she said. “This is a

very important year for me. My running will have an impact as to what

type of college I go to next year, so I really want to do my best.”

It’s been a year-round training regimen for Allen, who also excels on

CdM’s track and field team in the spring.

“Basically, I had a two-week vacation from running after track season

and from there, I was back on the road running again,” Allen said. “As

far as my training goes, I had a couple of setbacks, but overall, I was

pleased with my training. I feel much fresher than I did at the start of

cross country last year.”

In running, some people use other people as motivation, but for Allen,

it’s her love for the sport which keeps her going.

“I never try to bring my running down to a personal level with other

runners,” Allen said. “I truly love running and the qualities of what I’m

doing is what makes me run hard. Hopefully when people watch me run, they

can see that I’m enjoying what I do.”